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Making sense of a “complete mess”: a study of reading comprehension in Danish

Lindsted, Helle LU (2026) ALSK13 20261
Division of Linguistics , Cognitive Semiotics and Rhetoric
General Linguistics
Abstract
Various factors may impact the process of reading. The depth of the orthography influences the reading strategy for readers of shallow and deep orthographies because the complexity of the mapping between graphemes and phonemes increases with depth. In this thesis, reading comprehension in Danish, considered a deep orthography, is examined. While phonological awareness is commonly recognized as an underlying cause of reading difficulties, little is known about the effect of VAS in Danish readers. An experiment consisting of three tasks involving phonological awareness, visual attention span (VAS) skills and reading comprehension respectively is conducted with 22 adult L1 Danish readers. It is investigated which of the two reading subskills... (More)
Various factors may impact the process of reading. The depth of the orthography influences the reading strategy for readers of shallow and deep orthographies because the complexity of the mapping between graphemes and phonemes increases with depth. In this thesis, reading comprehension in Danish, considered a deep orthography, is examined. While phonological awareness is commonly recognized as an underlying cause of reading difficulties, little is known about the effect of VAS in Danish readers. An experiment consisting of three tasks involving phonological awareness, visual attention span (VAS) skills and reading comprehension respectively is conducted with 22 adult L1 Danish readers. It is investigated which of the two reading subskills of phonological awareness and VAS skills has the highest contribution to reading comprehension. The results show that phonological awareness is low in declared dyslexic readers as well as in those with the poorest reading comprehension in general but that these groups on average perform well on VAS tasks. It is also found that those with the best VAS accuracy exhibit the best reading comprehension. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Lindsted, Helle LU
supervisor
organization
course
ALSK13 20261
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Orthographic depth, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, visual attention span (VAS), Danish, dyslexia
language
English
id
9246204
date added to LUP
2026-07-09 14:38:01
date last changed
2026-07-09 14:38:01
@misc{9246204,
  abstract     = {{Various factors may impact the process of reading. The depth of the orthography influences the reading strategy for readers of shallow and deep orthographies because the complexity of the mapping between graphemes and phonemes increases with depth. In this thesis, reading comprehension in Danish, considered a deep orthography, is examined. While phonological awareness is commonly recognized as an underlying cause of reading difficulties, little is known about the effect of VAS in Danish readers. An experiment consisting of three tasks involving phonological awareness, visual attention span (VAS) skills and reading comprehension respectively is conducted with 22 adult L1 Danish readers. It is investigated which of the two reading subskills of phonological awareness and VAS skills has the highest contribution to reading comprehension. The results show that phonological awareness is low in declared dyslexic readers as well as in those with the poorest reading comprehension in general but that these groups on average perform well on VAS tasks. It is also found that those with the best VAS accuracy exhibit the best reading comprehension.}},
  author       = {{Lindsted, Helle}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Making sense of a “complete mess”: a study of reading comprehension in Danish}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}