Rapid naming: The importance of different reading and spelling dimensions

Abstract

This research extends the empirical evidence regarding the influence of rapid naming on the acquisition of reading and spelling of European Portuguese in third and fourth grade children. In reading, it addresses different dimensions (accuracy and fluency) and materials (words, pseudowords, and text) and it controls the influence of phonological awareness. In spelling, it addresses the accuracy and the fluency in the codification of words and pseudowords and it controls the influence of phonological awareness and handwriting fluency. In reading, rapid naming explained higher variance percentages in fluency than in accuracy. The main effect was registered on text reading fluency by a RAN digit test. In spelling, rapid naming predicted a small, but significant, percentage of word spelling fluency.