What happens during orthographic mapping?

What happens during orthographic mapping?

• A. It occurs when readers ignore spoken units.
• B. It bonds written units to meaning but not spoken units.
• C. It occurs when readers form connections between written units, spoken units, and meaning.
• D. It is unrelated to decoding.

Answer: (C)

Orthographic mapping is the process by which readers form and strengthen connections between how a word is written (its letters and spelling), how it sounds when spoken (its phonology), and what it means (its semantics). This integration lets a reader move from sounding out a word to recognizing it instantly as a whole, because the written form, the spoken form, and the meaning are linked in memory. The correct idea here captures all three elements—written units, spoken units, and meaning—working together to store and retrieve words efficiently. It wouldn’t fit to say we ignore spoken forms or that print and meaning alone are connected, since decoding and the phonological representations of words are essential parts of mapping and fluent reading.

Orthographic mapping is the process by which readers form and strengthen connections between how a word is written (its letters and spelling), how it sounds when spoken (its phonology), and what it means (its semantics). This integration lets a reader move from sounding out a word to recognizing it instantly as a whole, because the written form, the spoken form, and the meaning are linked in memory. The correct idea here captures all three elements—written units, spoken units, and meaning—working together to store and retrieve words efficiently. It wouldn’t fit to say we ignore spoken forms or that print and meaning alone are connected, since decoding and the phonological representations of words are essential parts of mapping and fluent reading.