Exploring the relationships among RAN, linguistic/cognitive variables and early reading skills in first- and second-grade students

The main purpose of the study was to examine the relationship of Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) to cognitive, linguistic, and basic reading skills (word/nonword reading). Concurrent relationships among RAN, Phonological Awareness (PA), Verbal Short-Term Memory (STM), Processing Speed (PS), Letter Knowledge (LK) and Early Reading Skills (READ) were examined in 133 first- and second-grade children. The sample consisted of students who demonstrated a variety of reading skills. Causal models of RAN and Basic Reading skills were developed. The proposed direct and indirect relationships among variables were examined and appropriateness of the path models was tested through path analyses. Path analyses revealed that RAN digits/letters (RAN-DL) and PA were important and independent predictors of READ at each grade level. The findings demonstrated that RAN-DL had an increasingly predictive role in READ, whereas the importance of PA relatively diminished in the second grade. LK had a consistent predictive role in READ in both grades, whereas STM and PS had changing direct and indirect roles in READ in both grades. RAN objects (RAN-OBJ) had no significant role in READ at either grade level. Results indicated that STM and LK made significant contributions to RAN-DL and RAN-OBJ in the first grade; however, PS explained significant variance in only RAN-OBJ. PA did not explain any significant variance in RAN-DL and RAN-OBJ at either grade level. Interestingly, none of these four variables contributed to RAN-DL and RAN-OBJ in the second grade