Incidental orthographic learning via colour detection task improves children’s orthographic performance in English

Purpose – Protopapas et al. (2017) demonstrated that a visual perceptual learning task without articulation results in incidental orthographic learning (improved reading and spelling) in Greek-speaking children (8-11 years). We investigated the effects of the same incidental learning procedure on 21 English-speaking children (7-8 years).

Method – Stimuli were 20 difficult to spell English words comprised of two sets of 10 (Set A and Set B). In a cross-over design, Set A were targets for half of the participants (Set B: distractors) while Set B were targets for the other half (Set A: distractors). There were 200 filler words. Participants were assigned to Group 1 (Set A: targets) or Group 2 (Set B: targets). During the learning task, targets (red-coloured) were presented on a computer screen in rapid succession interleaved among distractors and filler items (black-coloured). Participants pressed a button upon viewing something red. Reading and spelling of target/distractor items was tested before and after the task.

Results – A 2 x 2 ANOVA (WordType [targets vs. distractors] x Group [1 vs. 2]) using pre-post spelling accuracy difference scores as the dependent variable revealed a significant main effect of WordType, F(1, 19) = 6.75, p = .02, ƞp2 = .26. Children made greater gains on targets vs. distractors. There was no significant main effect of Group and no significant WordType x Group interaction. As most children were at ceiling on reading, there were no significant effects.

Conclusion – Incidental learning via a visual perceptual task improves spelling performance in English as it does in Greek.