Expanding the neighbourhood watch: Orthographic neighbours in isiXhosa reading and spelling

Reading & Writing

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Expanding the neighbourhood watch: Orthographic neighbours in isiXhosa reading and spelling
 
Creator Cox, Paige S. Bowles, Tracy N.
 
Subject Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Computational Linguistics Orthographic neighbourhood density; orthographic neighbourhood frequency; neighbourhood effects; word length; word frequency; early literacy; isiXhosa; spelling; word reading; lexical decision
Description Background: Lexical properties such as orthographic neighbours have been shown to have an influence on reading and writing; however, this phenomenon is yet to be explored in the Southern Bantu languages.Objectives: We investigate the role of orthographic neighbourhood density and neighbourhood frequency in reading and spelling in Grade 3 isiXhosa home-language learners. The aim is to establish whether orthographic neighbours facilitate or hinder reading and spelling. The dual-route model of orthographic processing is used to interpret our findings.Method: Data were collected from 97 Grade 3 isiXhosa home-language learners. Lexical decision, word reading, and spelling tasks were administered. Tasks included both real and pseudowords varying in orthographic neighbourhood density and neighbourhood frequency, while controlling for word length and word frequency.Results: Findings show a significant inhibitory effect of orthographic neighbourhood frequency and word length for spelling accuracy. Longer words with higher frequency neighbours were more likely to be spelt incorrectly. No effect was recorded for the lexical decision and word reading tasks.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that spelling in isiXhosa relies partially on lexical processing strategies, which allows for the inhibitory effects of orthographic neighbours to be observed. While in reading, sublexical processing is more prominent, therefore mitigating the effect of orthographic neighbours.Contribution: Empirical evidence for the effects of orthographic neighbours, specifically in a Southern Bantu language, provides a clearer picture of the underlying cognitive-linguistic processes involved in reading and writing. This evidence may contribute to the development of targeted pedagogical practices to address spelling errors.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor Dr. Maxine Schaefer Prof. Dion Nkomo Dr. Bulelwa Nosilela Rhodes University Centre for Social Development Guy Butler Resarch Award
Date 2024-07-31
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative; Cross-sectional; Correlational
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/rw.v15i1.461
 
Source Reading & Writing; Vol 15, No 1 (2024); 12 pages 2308-1422 2079-8245
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/461/1081 https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/461/1082 https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/461/1083 https://rw.org.za/index.php/rw/article/view/461/1084
 
Coverage South Africa — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Paige S. Cox, Tracy N. Bowles https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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