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A behaviour‐genetic analysis of orthographic learning, spelling and decoding
Author(s) -
Byrne Brian,
Coventry William L.,
Olson Richard K.,
Hulslander Jacqueline,
Wadsworth Sally,
DeFries John C.,
Corley Robin,
Willcutt Erik G.,
Samuelsson Stefan
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of research in reading
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.077
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9817
pISSN - 0141-0423
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9817.2007.00358.x
Subject(s) - spelling , psychology , path analysis (statistics) , orthographic projection , literacy , cognitive psychology , decoding methods , reading (process) , linguistics , twin study , natural language processing , artificial intelligence , genetics , computer science , biology , machine learning , pedagogy , philosophy , heritability , telecommunications
As part of a longitudinal twin study of literacy and language, we conducted a behaviour‐genetic analysis of orthographic learning, spelling and decoding in Grade 2 children (225 identical and 214 fraternal twin pairs) in the United States and Australia. Each variable showed significant genetic and unique environment influences. Multivariate analyses revealed very high genetic correlations among the variables, indicating that the same genes are involved in their aetiology. These genes are partly independent of those contributing to intelligence. A further analysis indicated that the covariation between decoding and orthographic learning is mediated by shared genes rather than by a direct causal path. The authors argue that a learning parameter, most directly assessed by orthographic learning in this study, underlies all three literacy variables. The results are also discussed in relation to Share's self‐teaching hypothesis, which may require modification.