Contextual control during single word reading aloud

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Reading is a remarkable human achievement.  Yet, despite our dependency on written communication many people in Canada are functionally illiterate.  It is widely believed that a better understanding of how experts read (in the present case how they generate the pronunciation of a word from print) will help us understand and remediate reading problems.Figuring out how to pronounce a word can be an elaborate and effortful process for novice readers.  In contrast, figuring out how to pronounce a word seldom requires any thought or effort for expert readers.  Although experts are largely unaware of how they generate a pronunciation to printed words, the time taken to read a word aloud often depends on the context in which it is being read.  It is therefore possible that how an expert reader computes the pronunciation of a written word depends on the context in which the word appears. The present research examines this possibility.Presently, the received view is that expert readers cannot change how they generate a word's pronunciation.  Indeed, the goal of reading instruction is often about getting to the point where this does not need to happen.  So, if it were established that central feature of expert reading is the ability to effortlessly change how a pronunciation is generated from print, then this would lead to a dramatic reconceptualization of what it means to be an expert reader and how novice readers should be instructed.