Orthographic processing is a key predictor of reading fluency in good and poor readers in a transparent orthography

Publication date: Available online 7 January 2019Source: Contemporary Educational PsychologyAuthor(s): Natalia V. Rakhlin, Catalina Mourgues, Cláudia Cardoso-Martins, Alexander N. Kornev, Elena L. GrigorenkoAbstractWe used structural equation modeling to investigate sources of individual differences in oral reading fluency in a transparent orthography, Russian. Phonological processing, orthographic processing, and rapid automatized naming were used as independent variables, each derived from a combination of two scores: phonological awareness and pseudoword repetition, spelling and orthographic choice, and rapid serial naming of letters and digits, respectively. The contribution of these to oral text-reading fluency was evaluated as a direct relationship and via two mediators, decoding accuracy and unitized reading, measured with a single-word oral reading test. The participants were “good” and “poor” readers, i.e., those with reading skills above the 90th and below the 10th percentiles (n = 1,344, grades 2-6, St. Petersburg, Russia). In both groups, orthographic processing skills significantly contributed to fluency and unitized reading, but not to decoding accuracy. Phonological processing skills did not contribute directly to reading fluency in either group, while contributing to decoding accuracy and, to a lesser extent, to unitized reading. With respect to the roles of decoding accuracy and unitized reading, the results for good and poor readers diverged: in goo...

Source: Contemporary Educational Psychology - January 7, 2019 Category: Child Development Source Type: research