Phonological representations of adult poor readers: An investigation of specificity and stability

Abstract

The phonological representations of adult less skilled readers (n = 25) were studied in comparison to those of adult skilled readers (n = 25) and adolescent reading-age controls (n = 25). Participants were tested on a paired confrontation naming and spelling test, given two times to evaluate consistency of performance, and a pseudoword repetition task. On confrontation naming, less skilled readers were less accurate and less consistent, and they made more phonological errors. Likewise, their spellings were less accurate and consistent than those of the control groups; inaccurate naming influenced their spelling significantly more often than it did the spelling of adult skilled readers. They also had fewer correct responses on the pseudoword repetition task. The results confirm that there are weaknesses in the phonological representations of known and new words for adult less skilled readers, with observable consequences for spelling.