WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.580 This is The Reading Instruction Show. I'm your 00:00:03.580 --> 00:00:07.599 host, Dr. Andy Johnson. Topic of today's podcast 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:13.220 is orthographic mapping. Let's see if we can 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:18.339 learn a thing or two. Now, orthographic mapping 00:00:18.339 --> 00:00:23.379 is a term invented by Linnea Erie. So let's start 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:27.480 with her definition. Quote, orthographic mapping 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:31.179 occurs when in the course of Reading specific 00:00:31.179 --> 00:00:35.079 words, readers form connections between written 00:00:35.079 --> 00:00:38.159 unit, either single grapheme or larger spelling 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:42.439 patterns, and spoken units, either phonemes, 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:45.960 syllables, or morphemes. These connections are 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:49.240 retained in memory, along with meanings, and 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:52.799 enable readers to recognize words by sight. An 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.420 important consequence of orthographic mapping 00:00:55.420 --> 00:01:00.479 is that the spellings of words enter memory and 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.659 influence learning, the processing of phonological 00:01:04.659 --> 00:01:08.700 constituents in words, and phonological memory 00:01:08.700 --> 00:01:15.620 unquote. 2014, page 5 and 6. Now this is written 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:19.239 with all the stunning clarity of a Rorschach 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:22.480 inkblot test. So let's do a little on Packer 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:29.439 18 here. Orthography has to do with symbols representing 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:34.359 sounds and the arrangement of letters. The written 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:39.620 language that you read is an orthographic system. 00:01:39.859 --> 00:01:43.200 You're putting sound symbols together to create 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:47.810 words. Other written language systems use symbols 00:01:47.810 --> 00:01:52.810 to represent things. These are called logographic. 00:01:53.629 --> 00:01:58.010 A logo is a symbol representing a thing. So here 00:01:58.010 --> 00:02:01.390 you're putting symbols together to create meaning. 00:02:03.189 --> 00:02:07.670 Now mapping in a cognitive sense refers to how 00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:10.750 things are stored or connected in long -term 00:02:10.750 --> 00:02:15.199 memory. And orthographic mapping, as stated above, 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:19.120 and I'll try to make it a little clearer, orthographic 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:22.680 mapping, according to Airy, is the cognitive 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:25.939 process by which readers store written words 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:30.479 in long -term memory. Airy calls these stored 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:34.979 words sight words. And readers are said to be 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:38.639 able to effortlessly retrieve these and use them 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:43.229 to recognize words during reading. Orthographic 00:02:43.229 --> 00:02:47.750 mapping makes letter -sound connections and bonds 00:02:47.750 --> 00:02:50.990 these to the spelling, punctuation, and meaning 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:54.229 of words in long -term memory according to the 00:02:54.229 --> 00:03:01.050 theory of Linnea Erie. And the last term is upward 00:03:01.050 --> 00:03:05.870 lexical repurposing. Upward lexical repurposing. 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:09.300 is when important -sounding words are combined 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:13.659 to make non -things sound like important things. 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:17.759 And research is showing that upward lexical repurposing 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:21.680 significantly enhances one's ability to get grants, 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:25.759 book contracts, consulting jobs, and large speaking 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.180 fees. And orthographic mapping is an example 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:34.810 of this. So it all makes sense, yes? If knowledge 00:03:34.810 --> 00:03:38.189 was stored in long -term memory in the form of 00:03:38.189 --> 00:03:42.409 words, orthographic mapping might make a bit 00:03:42.409 --> 00:03:46.810 of sense. But knowledge is stored in the form 00:03:46.810 --> 00:03:52.250 of associative networks, not words. Things in 00:03:52.250 --> 00:03:55.689 long -term memory are connected to and organized 00:03:55.689 --> 00:04:01.030 around related things. Any mapping that takes 00:04:01.030 --> 00:04:06.229 place is primarily semantic mapping. For example, 00:04:07.009 --> 00:04:10.870 when you hear the word cat or see the word cat 00:04:10.870 --> 00:04:14.810 in print, you automatically associate it with 00:04:14.810 --> 00:04:19.610 cat things. Soft, purry, paws, kitty, pet. These 00:04:19.610 --> 00:04:23.230 things are closely related to cat. The neural 00:04:23.230 --> 00:04:26.110 pathways leading to these things are activated. 00:04:28.009 --> 00:04:32.850 things come to mind. Now what is not activated 00:04:32.850 --> 00:04:37.050 when you hear the word cat? You don't automatically 00:04:37.050 --> 00:04:41.089 think of short a words or cvc words or the at 00:04:41.089 --> 00:04:44.990 phonograms. You don't think about letter sounds 00:04:44.990 --> 00:04:50.910 or letter patterns. You think of things. Clearly 00:04:50.910 --> 00:04:54.810 we have access to semantic information when we 00:04:54.810 --> 00:05:00.740 see the word cat in print. Yes, there is orthographic 00:05:00.740 --> 00:05:05.240 information on the page and some form of orthographic 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:10.899 mapping is stored in the head, but semantic information 00:05:10.899 --> 00:05:14.899 takes precedent over orthographic information. 00:05:16.220 --> 00:05:19.959 And if we just walked around recognizing individual 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:24.279 words floating in space, then the theory of orthographic 00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:30.069 mapping would make a bit of sense. But semantic 00:05:30.069 --> 00:05:33.250 connections between words in long -term memory 00:05:33.250 --> 00:05:37.970 are much stronger than any orthographic connections. 00:05:39.110 --> 00:05:42.350 And reading is primarily a meaning -making process, 00:05:42.689 --> 00:05:48.029 not a word recognition process. So orthographic 00:05:48.029 --> 00:05:52.370 mapping may be a thing, but semantic mapping 00:05:52.370 --> 00:05:57.180 is much more of a thing. Now let's take a look 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:02.120 at orthographic facilitation. Orthographic facilitation 00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:05.779 means seeing the spelling of words as you are 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:10.920 learning them. Now this is another example of 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:16.579 upward lexical repurposing. Airy said, orthographic 00:06:16.579 --> 00:06:20.079 facilitation improves vocabulary, learning, and 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:25.930 spelling. In a 2017 study with 45 first grade 00:06:25.930 --> 00:06:31.189 students, she compared their memory of two novel 00:06:31.189 --> 00:06:34.509 sets of words. Now the first set, and I'm just 00:06:34.509 --> 00:06:39.670 giving you a brief overview, the first set contained 00:06:39.670 --> 00:06:42.930 just pictures of the novel word and along with 00:06:42.930 --> 00:06:46.829 a spoken definition. The other set contained 00:06:46.829 --> 00:06:50.790 pictures with the names of the word printed underneath. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:55.759 followed by a spoken definition. After two weeks, 00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:59.060 children were shown the pictures and asked to 00:06:59.060 --> 00:07:02.199 remember the word associated with it and the 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:06.339 meaning of the word. And it turns out that when 00:07:06.339 --> 00:07:10.060 the printed word was included in the original 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:14.660 exposure with the picture, children remembered 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:20.030 the pronunciation of it slightly better. Aerie 00:07:20.030 --> 00:07:24.029 reasoned that since pronunciation was the most 00:07:24.029 --> 00:07:27.670 difficult part of vocabulary learning, something 00:07:27.670 --> 00:07:30.810 I questioned, she reasoned that orthographic 00:07:30.810 --> 00:07:34.470 facilitation thereby enhanced vocabulary learning. 00:07:36.089 --> 00:07:39.930 Now, again, in case you missed that, students 00:07:39.930 --> 00:07:43.649 were able to remember the pronunciation of a 00:07:43.649 --> 00:07:47.649 word when it was presented with letters, with 00:07:47.649 --> 00:07:51.269 the word printed. And based on that, they were 00:07:51.269 --> 00:07:54.089 able to remember the pronunciation. And based 00:07:54.089 --> 00:07:56.750 on that, she says, ah, it facilitates vocabulary 00:07:56.750 --> 00:08:01.029 learning. This is an example of a research -based 00:08:01.029 --> 00:08:06.470 conclusion. You can technically say that orthographic 00:08:06.470 --> 00:08:10.730 facilitation is a research -based strategy. There's 00:08:10.730 --> 00:08:15.110 research to indicate it does something, but the 00:08:15.110 --> 00:08:18.610 research is not very good. and the something 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:22.490 it does is not really indicative of something 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:27.990 else. Remember the pronunciation of a word has 00:08:27.990 --> 00:08:33.990 very little to do with acquiring the word. Children 00:08:33.990 --> 00:08:37.330 learn between 3 ,000 and 4 ,000 words a year. 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:41.259 By the end of elementary school they know approximately 00:08:41.259 --> 00:08:45.259 25 ,000 words and by the end of high school approximately 00:08:45.259 --> 00:08:49.820 50 ,000 to 80 ,000 words. And how much orthographic 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:54.220 facilitation was taking place here? Children 00:08:54.220 --> 00:08:58.899 learned the vast majority of words with no orthographic 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:02.799 facilitation. They learned them by hearing them 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:07.120 used in conversation or by seeing the words in 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:11.110 print. In the study above, when children had 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:14.009 letter clues as they were learning the pronunciation 00:09:14.009 --> 00:09:17.830 or sound of the word, they were better able to 00:09:17.830 --> 00:09:21.330 remember the sound of the word when compared 00:09:21.330 --> 00:09:26.669 to having no letter clues. Yes, absolutely. Seeing 00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:30.610 sound symbols as you're learning the sound of 00:09:30.610 --> 00:09:34.289 a new word provides another modality for remembering 00:09:34.289 --> 00:09:39.299 the sound of the word. And if you have a visual 00:09:39.299 --> 00:09:41.980 representation of that sound while you're learning 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:46.139 the pronunciation, chances are that you're better 00:09:46.139 --> 00:09:49.299 able to remember the pronunciation. Most people 00:09:49.299 --> 00:09:54.759 could have told you that up front. So, orthography 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:59.860 and vocabulary learning. This is a 2008 study, 00:10:00.059 --> 00:10:02.580 Rosenthal and Airy, and there were two experiments 00:10:02.580 --> 00:10:05.590 in this article. The first one was conducted 00:10:05.590 --> 00:10:08.549 with 20 second grade students. They were given 00:10:08.549 --> 00:10:14.049 two sets of low frequency CVC nouns, 12 words 00:10:14.049 --> 00:10:17.669 total. One set was taught with the word given 00:10:17.669 --> 00:10:20.509 orally and a picture, and again with the word 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:24.570 printed on the picture. The other set was given 00:10:24.570 --> 00:10:27.789 the word orally, but picture, but no word on 00:10:27.789 --> 00:10:32.960 it. Vocabulary learning was determined by assessing 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:36.940 students' ability to remember the pronunciation 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:41.779 of the words and their meaning. It was found 00:10:41.779 --> 00:10:45.740 that these students could remember the pronunciation 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:48.600 and meaning of words better when it was accompanied 00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:52.279 by seeing the spelling of the word. The second 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:55.259 experiment was similar but was conducted with 00:10:55.259 --> 00:10:59.190 32 fifth grade students and 20 words. And after 00:10:59.190 --> 00:11:02.690 one day, vocabulary learning was assessed with 00:11:02.690 --> 00:11:06.049 an oral close task, remembering the word definitions 00:11:06.049 --> 00:11:08.450 and meaning, and to see if they could spell the 00:11:08.450 --> 00:11:12.570 words. Seeing the word while learning it improved 00:11:12.570 --> 00:11:15.610 their memory of spelling, pronunciation, and 00:11:15.610 --> 00:11:21.649 meaning of these 20 words. The results were followed 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:25.330 by four pages of general discussion in this research 00:11:25.330 --> 00:11:28.690 article to draw logical conclusions based on 00:11:28.690 --> 00:11:31.230 the data. And the authors concluded that, quote, 00:11:31.610 --> 00:11:34.529 elementary school students learned and remembered 00:11:34.529 --> 00:11:37.409 the pronunciation and meanings of new vocabulary 00:11:37.409 --> 00:11:40.509 words better when they were exposed to written 00:11:40.509 --> 00:11:43.590 forms of the word during study periods than when 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:48.090 they only heard and repeated the words, unquote. 00:11:49.450 --> 00:11:54.919 And this is why you must evaluate A sample size 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.100 of 20 in one experiment asks students to remember 00:11:58.100 --> 00:12:02.399 12 words, and 32 in the other group asks students 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:07.679 to remember 20 words. But one could hardly generalize 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:10.940 to elementary school students in general based 00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:15.740 on this. But the larger point is that this is 00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:20.879 a remembering experiment, not a vocabulary learning 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.440 experiment. Yes, if you provide an additional 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:30.100 variable, seeing the spelling of the word, this 00:12:30.100 --> 00:12:33.779 will likely enhance students' ability to remember 00:12:33.779 --> 00:12:37.759 the pronunciation and meaning of the word. But 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:43.809 it doesn't mean that orthography provided a mnemonic 00:12:43.809 --> 00:12:46.750 device that tied the spelling of words to the 00:12:46.750 --> 00:12:49.389 pronunciation and memory. It does not mean that 00:12:49.389 --> 00:12:52.490 spelling became bonded to word pronunciations 00:12:52.490 --> 00:12:56.889 and meaning as Airy tries to explain. It just 00:12:56.889 --> 00:12:59.690 means that this group of students remembered 00:12:59.690 --> 00:13:04.610 things better when you included spelling. And 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:08.070 I would posit that if you had students do a little 00:13:08.070 --> 00:13:11.990 dance as they learned one set of words, the dance 00:13:11.990 --> 00:13:16.570 set would show similar results. And this does 00:13:16.570 --> 00:13:19.590 not mean that word learning is tied to dance. 00:13:20.529 --> 00:13:23.389 It just means that when you present multiple 00:13:23.389 --> 00:13:27.330 forms of data with a thing, or if you're more 00:13:27.330 --> 00:13:30.950 engaged with the thing while learning, that thing 00:13:30.950 --> 00:13:35.149 is more easily remembered. This has been The 00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:37.809 Reading Instruction Show. I'm your host, Dr. 00:13:37.950 --> 00:13:38.490 Andy Johnson.