Reading and Phonological Processing

To clarify the special role of phonological processes in reading and learning to read, this article explains how language structures are incorporated into writing systems. All writing is based on speech, hence all writing somehow exploits phonology. Alphabetic writing does so by symbolizing meaningless particles of spoken words and consonant and vowel phonemes. Awareness of phonemic segmentation of words is key to learning to read alphabetic writing, but attaining it is often difficult for beginners, leading to difficulties in mapping. Dyslexia is interpreted as a deficit in phonological processing that permanently impairs learning to decode written words. Genetic studies and brain science have confirmed the phonological basis of dyslexia and reading differences.