An Information Processing Approach to Language and Reading Problems

Abstract

This paper reviews current evidence linking language processes with reading problems and presents an information processing model which reconceptualises these relationships. Five areas of language oriented studies of reading are discussed: analyses of errors committed during oral reading, studies of syntactic ability and syntactic complexity, language structure training studies, studies of language flow and studies of lexical access. The results of these studies are discussed in terms of Das, Kirby and Jarman's (1979) model of information processing. Studies of brain damaged, learning disabled and normal subjects are used to support the linking of simultaneous processing with direct lexical access and semantic comprehension, and of successive processing with decoding and syntactic skills. Studies of children with reading problems indicate that their major difficulty is the use of simultaneous processing when successive is more appropriate. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect of possible causes and recommended remedial approaches.