Orthographic Learning: What role for the visual-attention span ? – ORTHOLEARN

Even in opaque orthographies as French or English, children develop word recognition with such remarkable speed that, by the end of primary school, they can immediately recognize by sight over 50,000 words. How do we learn word orthographic patterns and remember them for a lifetime? Why is it so difficult for some children (and adults) to learn the spelling of words, something good spellers do so effortlessly? What kind of remedial technique improves spelling performance? The ORTHOLEARN project has the ambition to provide new insights on these challenging issues. ORTHOLEARN is about orthographic learning, e.g., the process by which children acquire word specific orthographic knowledge, with the purpose of better understanding the cognitive and neurobiological bases of orthographic knowledge acquisition. Previous studies have established that alphabetic and phonological skills (phoneme awareness, verbal short term memory) are strong predictors of orthographic learning. However if they are necessary, alphabetic skills are not sufficient for the development of good orthographic knowledge. An original feature of ORTHOLEARN is to focus on the role of visual attention (VA) span – a new cognitive component we have recently identified-- in orthographic knowledge acquisition. In delineating the amount of orthographic information processed simultaneously during reading, the VA span appears as a promising candidate to account for word specific orthographic learning. Apart from the coordination task (Task 1), ORTHOLEARN consists in four distinct tasks. In providing experimental evidence in support of VA span involvement in orthographic knowledge acquisition, Task 2 will result in new orthographic acquisition modelling. In Task 3, a large sample study will be conducted in secondary school children. This task carried out in close collaboration with the “Rectorat de Grenoble” will allow estimating the rate of poor spellers who are in need of special help for successful academic achievement. We will further explore the cognitive weaknesses associated with poor spelling in this population. Thus, Task 3 will have strong impact on public health policy and fight against academic failure. In Task 4, Transcranial magnetic stimulation will be used to inhibit functioning of the brain regions involved in VA span and show concurrent modulation of orthographic learning. Thus, Task 2, 3 and 4 will contribute to the development of a neurocognitive model of orthographic knowledge acquisition. The ORTHOLEARN project further includes (Task 5) the creation and validation of two tools: a synchronous reading software (Action 1) and a recreational tool based on incident learning (Action 2). Originality of the software is twofold. It will favour simultaneous processing of the word visual and phonological relevant units AND highlight the printed string using variable focus window lengths that will be manipulated to trigger VA span abilities. ORTHOLEARN will thus result in new teaching materials to improve spelling acquisition. Although word specific orthographic acquisition is mainly implicit, no attempt has been made to use incident learning as a way to trigger spelling acquisition in every day life. Thanks to our collaboration with Play Bac Editions, ORTHOLEARN will create and validate a new educative tool favouring word spelling incident learning. The product will then be largely distributed for ecological use at home. Overall, ORTHOLEARN will provide evidence for the key role of VA span in orthography acquisition, which in addition to previous evidence for its involvement in reading, will contribute to strengthen a Theory of the visual attention span. Such new theory is empowered to trigger new trends of research at the national and international level.