Understanding the relationship between rapid automatized naming and reading in Chinese

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading in Chinese through manipulating four processes involved in RAN’s production: access and retrieval, articulation, naming and serial processing, as well as the developmental pattern of this relationship. A total of 126 Hong Kong children with 42 in Grade 1, 41 in Grade 3 and 43 in Grade 5 were assessed on both the digit and picture versions of Discrete RAN, Continuous RAN, Yes/No Naming and Cancellation tasks, in addition to Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices, Chinese word and text reading fluency. The results of the regression analyses suggested serial processing and articulation were core component processes that underlied the RAN-reading relationship in Chinese across all three grades, while naming, i.e. the oral production of names of stimuli, was found to be a significant underlying process in Grades 1 and 3 only. Comparison between the present findings and those of a past research on an alphabetic language, i.e. Greek, indicated serial processing and naming were common component processes of their RAN-reading relationships, while the role of articulation was only significant in Chinese. Implications for developing visual scanning and articulation training for Chinese poor readers were suggested.