The scientific study of reading has taught us much about the beginnings of reading in childhood, with clear evidence that the gateway to reading opens when children are able to decode, or ‘sound out’ written words. Similarly, there is a large evidence base charting the cognitive processes that characterise skilled word recognition in adults. Less understood is how children develop word reading expertise. Once basic reading skills are in place, what factors are critical for children to move from novice to expert? This paper outlines the role of reading experience in this transition. Encountering individual words in text provides opportunities for children to refine their knowledge about how spelling represents spoken language. Alongside this, however, reading experience provides much more than repeated exposure to individual words in isolation. According to the lexical legacy perspective, outlined in this paper, experiencing words in diverse and meaningful language environments is critical for the development of word reading skill. At its heart is the idea that reading provides exposure to words in many different contexts, episodes and experiences which, over time, sum to a rich and nuanced database about their lexical history within an individual’s experience. These rich and diverse encounters bring about local variation at the word level: a lexical legacy that is measurable during word reading behaviour, even in skilled adults.

阅读的科学研究已经为我们提供了许多有关儿童阅读开始的知识，这清楚地表明，当儿童能够解码或“说出”书面文字时，阅读的大门便打开了。同样，有大量的证据表述了表征成年人熟练单词识别的认知过程。少有人了解孩子如何发展单词阅读能力。基本的阅读技能到位后，哪些​​因素对儿童从新手到专家的成长至关重要？本文概述了阅读经验在此过渡中的作用。在文本中遇到单个单词为孩子提供了机会，使他们可以进一步了解拼写如何代表口头表达的知识。但是，与此同时，阅读经验所提供的不仅仅是隔离地反复接触单个单词。根据本文概述的词汇传统观点，在各种有意义的语言环境中体验单词对于提高单词阅读能力至关重要。其核心思想是，阅读使人们能够接触到许多不同情境，情节和经历中的单词，随着时间的流逝，它们总结成一个丰富而细微的数据库，这些数据库包含了个人经历中的词汇历史。这些丰富多样的相遇在单词级别带来局部差异：这是一种词汇传承，即使在熟练的成年人中，也可以在单词阅读行为中对其进行测量。其核心思想是，阅读使人们能够接触到许多不同情境，情节和经历中的单词，随着时间的流逝，它们总结成一个丰富而细微的数据库，这些数据库包含了个人经历中的词汇历史。这些丰富多样的相遇在单词级别带来局部差异：这是一种词汇传承，即使在熟练的成年人中，也可以在单词阅读行为中对其进行测量。其核心思想是，阅读使人们能够接触到许多不同情境，情节和经历中的单词，随着时间的流逝，它们总结成一个丰富而细微的数据库，这些数据库包含了个人经历中的词汇历史。这些丰富多样的相遇在单词级别带来局部差异：这是一种词汇传承，即使在熟练的成年人中，也可以在单词阅读行为中对其进行测量。