READING & SPELLING IN A SHALLOW ORTHOGRAPHY : MALAY

Abstract

Models of alphabetic reading development and the dual-route model of skilled reading were examined with specific reference to a shallow orthography, Malay. Primary Three students were tested on three different tasks: phoneme-deletion, spelling and reading. Six reading subtests which comprised: words vs nonwords, irregularity, number of syllables, nonwords, content vs function and affixes, were compiled into the Malay Reading Test. The complete tests were administered to 32 Primary Three students and 29 Primary Four students were administered two subtests of reading : the test of irregularity and the test of number of syllables. Two hypotheses were tested. First, whether alphabet models of reading development can be applied to a shallow orthography like Malay and second, whether reading in a shallow orthography is a dual-route process involving both the lexical and the phonological routes. Results suggest that reading development in a shallow orthography begins with phonemic mediation, and progresses into visual recognition, ie, it involves both the lexical and the phonological routes. The implications of this finding for reading acquisition and skilled reading in a shallow orthography are discussed.