Orthography Facilitates Memory for Proper Names in Emergent Readers

AbstractThe authors examined whether exposing young students to spellings as they learn proper names would facilitate memory for the spoken names when tested without the spellings present (i.e., orthographic facilitation), whether emergent readers with letter knowledge would show this effect, and whether phonemic segmentation (PS) training would enhance the effect. Sixty 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds who knew letter names but read few, if any, words were randomly assigned to three PS training conditions: segmentation of consonant‐vowel (CV) words with letters, segmentation of CV words with nonalphabetic markers, or irrelevant rhyme training. Following PS training, students were given several trials to learn pronunciations of 10 made‐up CV words that named drawings of characters with distinctive features. Half of the drawings were accompanied by spellings representing sounds in the names and the other half by familiar but unrelated two‐digit numbers. Students were exposed to spellings or numbers during study and feedback periods but not during recall tests. Results showed that all three training groups recalled proper names better when they had seen spellings than numbers, but spellings did not enhance recall of distinctive visual features associated with the names. PS training with letters improved students’ invented spellings but did not affect orthographic facilitation. Findings reveal that even prereaders with letter knowledge can spontaneously use the letters as mnemonics to enhance memory for proper names. Results suggest that when preschool and kindergarten teachers define words orally, they should also write them. Findings support a developmental connectionist theory of orthographic facilitation effects and carry implications for the use of appropriate direct instruction in early childhood education.