Relations of digit naming speed with three components of reading

Abstract

The goal of the present investigation was to identify the reading processes that are impaired in children whose digit naming speeds are slow. Continuous digit naming speed was assumed to measure the automaticity with which character codes may be accessed in memory, and the automaticity of this process was assumed to be a prerequisite for the accurate performance of higher level reading processes. In Study I it was found, for children in grades 1 through 3, that digit naming speed was reliably correlated with reading of both irregularly spelled words and pronounceable nonsense words, and that most of the variance shared by irregular-word and nonsense-word reading was accounted for by digit naming speed. These results were interpreted as evidence that character-identification automaticity is equally important to the direct-access and speech-recoding routes of word recognition. Models of how character-identification automaticity might affect each of these routes are discussed. In Study 2 it was found, for children in grades 4 through 10, that the correlation of digit naming speed with reading comprehension was significantly smaller than its correlation with word recognition, and that the former correlation was completely accounted for when either WISC-R verbal IQ or word-recognition accuracy was controlled. These results are contrasted with comparable results reported by other investigators, and methodological differences are noted.

Text Reading and Rereading: Determinants of Fluency beyond Word Recognition

“…In a discussion of issues raised by Walsh et al (1988), Wolf (1991) reviewed the research literature indicating that both continuous-list and discrete-trial measures of slow naming speed are related to very poor reading skill, even among older readers. Spring and Davis (1988) also reported a substantial relationship between digit-naming speed and word recognition in a sample of children in Grades 4 to 10.…”

Does Training in Syllable Recognition Improve Reading Speed? A Computer-Based Trial With Poor Readers From Second and Third Grade

“…Indeed, in various studies rapid naming has been connected to reading accuracy (e.g., Spring & Davis, 1988), reading speed (e.g., Berninger, Abbott, Thomson, & Raskind, 2001; and reading comprehension, either directly (Badian, 1993; or via laborious word decoding (Spring & Davis).…”

The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents

“…Normal naming time for 50 stimuli would be approximately 20 s (i.e. 2.7 letters or digitsls; see Spring and Davis, 1988).…”

“…Our interest in studying continuous naming speed deficits in reading-disabled children stemmed from the pioneering work of Denckla and Rudel (1976) and from the impressive body of research by Wolf and her colleagues (Wolf, 1991;Wolf and Obregon, 1992;Bowers and Wolf, 1993) and by Spring and his associates (Spring and Capps, 1974;Spring and Perry, 1983;Spring and Davis, 1988). Bowers and Wolf (1993) have recently begun to write of the double deficit theory of reading disability.…”