Sounds, letters and meanings: the independent influences of phonological, morphological and orthographic skills on early word reading accuracy

This study was designed to examine the independent contributions of phonological awareness, orthographic processing and morphological awareness on early word reading. English‐speaking children in Grades 1 and 3 completed measures of these three constructs, as well as standardised measures of real and pseudoword reading and of vocabulary. Each of the three reading‐related variables made an independent contribution to both real and pseudoword reading. Independent contributions of phonological awareness (7–17%) were consistently larger than those of orthographic processing (5–10%) or of morphological awareness (1–2%). In terms of differences between the grades, there was particular evidence of an increase in greater contribution of orthographic processing to pseudoword reading at Grade 3 than at Grade 1. These findings are discussed in light of current models of reading development.