Use of semantic context in visual word recognition in young readers

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the extent to which junior high school students use semantic context for predicting processes during visual word recognition in sentences. Two groups of students from first and third grades read sentences that varied depending on the semantic constraints and ending in orthographically correct and incorrect word forms. Final words in sentences with strongly semantic constraining contexts were easier to anticipate (e.g., The washing machine washes the clothes) than those in sentences with weakly semantic constraining contexts (e.g., María cleans the floor). Both groups of participants showed longer reading latencies to incorrect word forms, reflecting the orthographic processing skills of students. In addition, reading latencies for incorrect word forms were significantly shorter for strongly constraining sentences. These findings suggest that both groups of participants were able to use semantic contexts to apply predictive strategies that facilitate word recognition.