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Visual attention span, the number of orthographic units that can be processed at a glance, has been shown to predict reading performance in orthographically opaque languages (i.e., French and English), independent from phonological awareness. Whether this relation is also found in Dutch, a more transparent orthography, was examined in two studies. Two unresolved issues are addressed. First, whether the contribution of visual attention span to reading was independent of rapid naming. Participants were 117 second graders and 111 fifth graders. Visual attention span was a significant predictor of both beginning and advanced word reading fluency, after controlling for rapid naming. Second, we examined the relation of visual attention span with spelling performance in a sample of 255 fourth graders. Visual attention span was a unique predictor of both orthographic knowledge and spelling performance. Based on the results we discuss the possibility of a slightly different interpretation of visual attention span.

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UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Developmental changes in the relations between RAN, phonological awareness, and reading in Spanish children

Throughout reading development, a gradual shift is seen in the processes underlying word identification from serial decoding toward parallel processing or sight word reading. It has been argued that this shift can be detected in the correlations between serial and discrete naming of alphanumeric symbols (digits and letters) and words. In the current study, we examined the relations between alphanumeric symbol naming and reading of monosyllabic and multisyllabic words and nonwords in two languages that differ in orthographic consistency: English and Dutch. A sample of 92 English-speaking Canadian children and 101 Dutch children, all in Grade 5, were assessed on discrete and serial naming of digits and letters and on serial and discrete naming of monosyllabic and multisyllabic words and nonwords. Results showed that discrete naming of alphanumeric symbols closely resembled discrete reading of monosyllabic words, suggesting that these words are processed in parallel in both languages. Both serial and parallel reading processes were found to underlie identification of multisyllabic words as well as monosyllabic nonwords. However, differences between the two languages emerged when processing multisyllabic nonwords. Whereas English-speaking children relied more on parallel reading processes to read multisyllabic nonwords, Dutch-speaking children processed these items serially. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.