Phonological pathway: characteristics and functioning in reading

Let's see what is the phonological route and what are the phases in this reading process.

Within the dual pathway model we find two pathways that are believed to be used when we read: the lexical pathway and the phonological pathway. The lexical route is the most common when we have advanced reading skills and the words we see are already known, while the phonological route is used when we are still learning to read and when we are faced with unknown words.

Given the importance of the phonological route in the early stages of learning to read, any problem that may arise in this route is a major handicap in the learning of any subject in reading. in the learning of any subject in the school environment. Next we will see more in depth this second route and we will value its importance.

The phonological route within the dual-route model

Throughout the history of cognitive psychology, specifically the psychology of reading, attempts have been made to identify and understand the cognitive processes involved in reading and writing. The reason for this is not only to expand knowledge but also to orient it to meet the needs and possible difficulties in reading acquisition. possible difficulties in the acquisition of reading and writing in school-age children.. Having problems in reading is synonymous with having problems in learning.

Within the cognitive perspective we find that there are several methods for learning to read. There are alphabetic methods, focused on the pronunciation of letters, phonemes and syllables, while there are other more global methods, which focus on learning to pronounce words and say sentences in their entirety as a first contact with reading. These methods are useful depending on the language, with alphabetic methods being more appropriate for transparent languages such as Spanish or Italian, while the latter are more appropriate for languages that are not read as they are written, such as English or Gaelic.

It was as a result of the existence of these two types of reading acquisition methods that the dual-route model emerged.. As its name suggests, it is a theory that supports the existence of two routes involved in reading: the lexical route and the phonological route. We will now briefly discuss the lexical route to understand what the phonological route is all about and why it is so important in the acquisition of reading in languages that are read as they are written, as in our case.

The lexical route

The lexical or visual route is that way of reading by which we read words in their entirety, without having to break them down letter by letter or syllable by syllable.. This route is also called direct because the reader uses it to directly access the meaning of the word stored in the LTM (long-term memory) when the word in question is known. This particular identification process is called addressed phonology and is very similar to the one we use to identify any visual stimulus.

All of us who have acquired the ability to read have a mental or visual lexicon, which contains the representations of the words that are part of our vocabulary, but not their meaning. According to the model, when we read using the lexical pathway, what we do is to compare the form of the word in front of us with other words that we are familiar with and use frequently, such as "table", "chair", "dad", "car" or "ball".

To obtain the meaning of the word in question, it is necessary to access its semantic component. In the lexical pathway, phonology is not used to identify the word, since the orthographic representation is considered sufficient to activate the lexical input directly, since it is a word with which we are already familiar. In other words, when we know the word very well and already have it stored in our memory, we do not read it at all, but the representation associated with it is directly activated..

Thus, reading by the lexical route involves the following phases:

• Visual analysis of the written word: global processing of the word.
• Recognition of the word: looking for relationships and matching the word with those already stored in our visual lexicon.
• Association of the word with existing meanings in the semantic system.
• Oral production of the word (pronouncing it)

It is this pathway that explains why when we read fast and pay little attention we make errors such as substituting words that are similar, for example, "nightgown" for "song" or "bed" for "cana".. When this route is damaged, it happens that the person, despite knowing the word in front of him, has to resort to the phonological pathway, reading letter by letter as for example "m-e-s-a".

The phonological route

The phonological or indirect route is the one we use during the process of grapheme-phoneme conversion, that is, when letters are identified and transformed into separate sounds.. The reason why this route is called phonological is because a phonological recoding process is carried out, that is, we focus on the sounds (phonemes) of each of the letters (graphemes) that make up the written word (grapheme-phoneme conversion rules).

This is the first way used during reading acquisition in languages such as Spanish and Italian, because children are still acquiring literacy and, in order to learn to read, they are first taught the sounds of the letters separately. However, it is not a route used exclusively for school children, but is used at any age when faced with an unknown, very long, invented word or a word from another language. If we do not have a representation for that word stored in our MLP, we cannot recognize it globally and we read it letter by letter.

Thus, the main characteristic of the phonological route of reading is the identification of the letters that form a word, the main characteristic of the phonological route of reading is the identification of the letters that form a word, accompanied later by the transformation into sounds to recognize the written word aurally. to recognize the written word aurally. In this process, use is made of the MDT (working memory) and the words pronounced are stored in a component of this type of memory: the phonological loop, the system in charge of transiently conserving the verbally encoded material.

Phonological pathway stages

The phonological route is longer than the lexical route, involving many more steps which are as follows.

Visual analysis

In contrast to the lexical route, in the phonological route the word is not analyzed globally, but focuses on each of the letters and syllables of the word, processing it little by little.processing the word bit by bit.

2. Identification of the letters

Once the letters that make up the word have been analyzed, the next step is to identify them by searching for them in our memory.. That is to say, in the word "table" what the schoolchild does is to detect that it is composed of the letters "m", "e", "s" and "a", symbols that sound familiar or remember having learned.

3. Phoneme mapping and articulation

Phoneme mapping and articulation involves applying the rules of grapheme-phoneme conversion and phoneme articulation. That is, involves transforming the symbol into a sound and pronouncing it.. In this step the student would pronounce the letters of the word "mesa" separately as follows: /m/, /e/, /s/ and /a/.

4. Auditory analysis

When we pronounce the phoneme string orally, we hear what we are saying, we perform an auditory analysis of the sound stimuli and understand how it is pronounced globally.. In this case, the student would repeat the word this time in syllables or complete: /me-sa/ or /mésa/.

5. Understanding the meaning

Finally, the last step when using the phonological route is to recognize what we have pronounced. recognizing what we have pronounced, allowing us to access the meanings we have stored in our semantic system.. Here the schoolchild, once having said /mesa/ would know that he has said the word "table", understanding it as "a four-legged object on which things are placed".

It is important to note that, especially in children who do not yet know some of the rules of reading (e.g., "table", "table", "table", "table", "table", "table"). e.g., c+e,i = /ze, /se/ and /zi, /si/; g+e,i = /je/ and /ji/), mistakes will be made such as reading "cielo" for /kielo/ or "gente" for /guente/. These mistakes are completely normal, since they have not yet interirozado certain exceptions of the language and will read the words as they have learned to read each of the letters that make them up, letter by letter.

Learning difficulties and phonological pathway

Since the phonological pathway is critical in the early stages of learning to read, any problems with the phonological pathway will generate learning problems in general. Not being able to apply the grapheme-phoneme rules means that the child is practically incapable of reading in written form, and therefore it is especially difficult for him/her to read in written form. and, therefore, find any task associated with academics especially difficult.

Schoolchildren with reading difficulties usually show the following problems.

• Slow reading pace.
• Excessive syllabification.
• Segmentation of words into letters or syllables.
• Little or no reading comprehension.
• Inappropriate reading for their school or chronological age.
• Reading words marking the tonic syllable where it does not belong.
• Inappropriate pronunciation and intonation.
• Excessive following of letters with the finger.