Reading difficulties in Russian

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics of developmental reading and spelling difficulties in the Russian language. In terms of the regularity of print to sound mappings, Russian is usually assumed to be a highly transparent orthography. This assumption has resulted in relative neglect of reading difficulties in Russian speaking children. However, despite of an absolute regularity at a lexical level for reading words, Russian words also can be characterized by a varying degree of regularity at a sublexical level for both feedforward and feedback mappings. Method 150 first graders were tested in typical Russian schools on word and nonword reading, spelling, RAN, first and final phoneme isolation, phoneme and syllable deletion and letter knowledge. Two groups - of proficient and poor readers - were then identified. The characteristics of the poor reading group in comparison to proficient readers will be reported with special focus on the impact of varying regularity of bidirectional mappings between phonology and orthography. Results and Conclusions Based on the reported findings it will be argued that developmental reading difficulties might be prevalent in Russia. Furthermore, the theoretical claim of spelling to sound transparency in the Russian writing system is challenged given the present results. It is concluded that such properties of the Russian writing system as irregularity of sound to print correspondences as well as inconsistency at sublexical level have impact on reading and spelling of both proficient and poor readers resulting in slower responses and lower accuracy rates of the latter group.