Spelling-to-pronunciation transparency ratings for the 20,000 most frequently written English words

Journal article


Edwards, Ashley A., Rigobon, Valeria M., Steacy, Laura M. and Compton, Donald L.. (2023). Spelling-to-pronunciation transparency ratings for the 20,000 most frequently written English words. Behavior Research Methods. pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02205-2
AuthorsEdwards, Ashley A., Rigobon, Valeria M., Steacy, Laura M. and Compton, Donald L.
Abstract

Given English orthography’s quasi-regular nature, applying common decoding rules to a word does not always result in a correct pronunciation matching the stored phonological form (e.g., the word tongue). To arrive at a correct pronunciation, developing readers must make the match between a decoded pronunciation and a word’s correct pronunciation stored in memory. Developmentally, this matching process varies as a function of child skill (e.g., decoding, vocabulary) and word characteristics (e.g., spelling-to-pronunciation transparency, concreteness), with each being continuously distributed. Spelling-to-pronunciation transparency ratings represent a global measure of the ease of arriving at a word’s correct pronunciation from its decoded pronunciation and in experimental studies has been shown to be a critical dimension in assessing the difficulty of a word for developing readers (e.g., Steacy et al., 2022a, 2022b). This study aimed to create a database of spelling-to-pronunciation transparency ratings for the 23,282 most frequently written English words, made available in the supplemental materials for future analyses. We asked adults to rate words’ spelling-to-pronunciation transparency on a scale of 1–6 (1 = very easy to match, 6 = very difficult). Results of multiple regression analyses revealed variance in ratings to be unaccounted for by other word features, demonstrating the uniqueness of these ratings. Furthermore, words that are considered irregular, classified previously as strange, or contained at least one schwa received higher ratings, demonstrating strong associations between transparency and regularity. Lastly, these ratings significantly predicted both adult word naming time and child word reading accuracy above and beyond other word features known to predict reading.

Keywordsspelling-to-pronunciation transparency; regularity; set for variability; word ratings
Year2023
JournalBehavior Research Methods
Journal citationpp. 1-14
PublisherSpringer
ISSN1554-3528
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02205-2
PubMed ID37587326
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85168122457
Page range1-14
FunderEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusIn press
Publication dates
Online16 Aug 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted24 Jul 2023
Deposited28 Nov 2023
Grant IDP20HD091013
R21HD108771
R324B190025
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