Orthographic Knowledge-Involved Factors and Relations to Reading and Dyslexia

Abstract

This chapter is a critical review of the existing literature on orthographic knowledge, focusing on research derived mostly from transparent orthographies, such as Greek. Specifically, the purposes of the chapter are a) to clarify existing terms related to orthographic knowledge; b) to present the existing literature related to the development of orthographic knowledge and the factors that are causally linked to it, such as decoding, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming; c) to describe how orthographic knowledge is linked to reading, based on the dominant reading theories and models; and d) to present the relations of orthographic knowledge with dyslexia, suggesting possible interpretations of their connection. The literature is reviewed and discussed in relation to the level of orthographic transparency and the developmental level of reading.