The Role of Phonological Processing and Language Skills in the Longitudinal Development of Reading Fluency

Abstract

The acquisition and development of reading fluency, consisting of three components: accuracy, automaticity, and prosody, require the utilization of various language and cognitive skills due to their complex and multifaceted nature. Phonological processing skills are frequently emphasized in the literature, with a clear connection established between phonological processing and fluent reading. Additionally, existing literature indicates that predictors of reading in alphabetic languages are largely universal, but their contributions vary based on the transparency of orthography. In this context, it is important to determine the impact of phonological processing and language-based components on the development of reading fluency, especially in transparent orthographies such as Turkish. This research aims to determine the role of phonological processing and receptive and expressive language mesured in the beginning of first grade in the longitudinal development of text reading fluency over three semesters in first and second grades. The study, conducted in a correlational design, involved 310 participants selected randomly from 45 schools representing lower, middle and upper socioeconomic levels in Ankara. The Passage Reading Test of the Literacy Assessment Battery was used to assess participants' reading fluency, while the Phonological Awareness subtests of the Test of Early Literacy, Object and Color Naming subtests of the Rapid Naming Test, and the verbal memory subscales of the Working Memory Scale were employed to evaluate the phonological processing skills. A measurement model analysis was conducted within the Structural Equation Models, followed by the addition of predictive variables to the longitudinal development model to identify their roles in the developmental process. Results indicated that participants' reading fluency performances increased in each semester throughout the study, and the phonological processing and expressive language skills in the beginning of first grade significantly contributed to participants' reading fluency development in first and second grade. These findings suggest that deficiencies in phonological processing and language development observed in the early stages can be considered significant indicators of reading difficulties.