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During silent reading, multiple properties of a word are activated when a word is first encountered in print, including the word’s orthography (spelling), its meaning, and its phonology (sound). Additionally, words can be ambiguous with respect to these properties. For example, CALF (cow/part of a leg) has multiple meanings, and SEWER (drain/tailor) has multiple meanings associated with different pronunciations. Readers process these different types of ambiguous words in different ways (Folk & Morris, 1995). Readers can use sentence context to help resolve ambiguity. However, recent research suggests that higher- and lower-skill readers may use context in different ways to determine which meaning of an ambiguous word is intended (Abraham, Folk, Eskenazi, & Jones, 2016). This study investigated the role that the phonology (sound) of a word plays in activating meaning during silent reading and how reading skill affects this process. Two types of ambiguous words were embedded in sentences: noun-verb ambiguous homophones and heterophones. The noun-verb homophones had distinct meanings attached to different parts of speech (e.g. DUCK-bird/bend), and the noun-verb heterophones had distinct noun and verb meanings that were also pronounced differently (e.g., SOW-pig/plant). Sentence context that indicated the part of speech of the ambiguous word preceded it. Results indicate that heterophones were more difficult to process, despite the prior context, indicating that the sound of a word is activated early in word processing, even in silent reading. Thus, phonological activation contributes to activating word meaning during silent reading. Additionally, reading skill influenced how readers processed ambiguous words.

Text comprehension in adults is correlated with a number of other abilities including working memory span, inference making, and reading experience. There are fewer studies reporting correlations between lexical and sublexical skill and comprehension skill in adults. Comprehension skill in adults may constitute (1) a basic comprehension skill, like lexical skill, that drives the ability to construct representations of text and analyze them; (2) a more sensitive measure of lexical skill, for which it is difficult to measure sufficient variability in competent readers; or (3) a learned skill, derived from an individual’s reading experience. Reading a greater quantity and more varied texts increases the size of the knowledge base, the efficiency with which information can be accessed, the likelihood that effective reading strategies will be developed, and with these the enjoyment of reading and the desire to read more. These possibilities are explored in this experiment.We developed sensitive tests of lexical skill and measured comprehension skill and lexical skill using multiple tests in a large number of college students. In order to determine the effect of lexical skill on comprehension skill we divided participants into groups based on both variables in a two by two design. Using an artificial orthography allowed us to control reading experience.Patterns of responses to homophones and nonhomophones and to high and low frequency words indicate that differences in lexical skill affect not only the extent and time course of lexical activation but also the direction of the effect. There is some evidence for an interaction with comprehension ability.Lexical skill affected speed of learning and degree of learning success. Comprehension skill affected the ability to use the artificial orthography in other tasks, including ERP tasks. Effects were not mediated by working memory, inferencing, or lexical skill, suggesting the influence of a basic comprehension skill and an ability to assess the needs of new tasks and adapt their performance appropriately. Both lexical and comprehension skill affected performance on tasks in English, suggesting an influence of reading experience.