Dutch is a regular language with a transparent orthography just like German or Spanish. In words of Jong & van der Leij (1999): "Reading problems in more consistent orthographies are primarily manifested as deficits in reading speed and not as problems in word decoding accuracy. Wimmer (1993) found that the ability that best differentiated normal and poor readers was rapid naming, and he argued that individual differences in rapid naming might be more important for learning to read in a language with a relatively consistent orthography". Therefore, the same results should be expected in a language such as Dutch.
Jong
and van der Leij (1999) in a study of 166 dutch children from K to
2nd grade, found that the importance of individuals differences in
phonological abilities for subsequent reading acquisition changed over
time. The relationship between individual differences in the development
of phonological abilities and reading achievement appeared to be dependent
on the time that these abilities were assessed and on the phase of reading
acquisition. At first, the effects of phonological abilities increased,
but after grade 1, these effects disappeared. Phonological awareness
and rapid naming had independent and specific influences on reading achievement.
Thus, the importance of phonological abilities for learning to read appeared
to be limited to the first year of reading instruction (the authors measured
phonological awareness by rhymes only, what could explain the different
results from previous studies). The authors argue that phonological awareness
at the level of phonemes develops alongside or is a consequence of learning
to read, because several studies also showed that nonreading children do
not possess phonological awareness. Indeed, in their study, those children
who knew the 10 most frequent letters of the Dutch alphabet did have higher
levels of phonological awareness. So, the level of phonological awareness
is dependent on letter knowledge. Furthermore, the consistent effects of
rapid naming on learning to read tend to support the suggestion of Wimmer
that in languages with fairly transparent GFC,
speed might be relatively important.
"After 1 year
of instruction (1st grade) the relationship between phonological
abilities and reading has stabilized. This is due to the consistency of
the dutch orthography. However, those children that
do
not acquire phonological abilities after 2
or 3 months of instruction are likely
to develop reading problems" (Jong
and van der Leij, 1999)
GFC: grapheme-phoneme correspondences
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