Cascaded Processing in Serial RAN and Reading Fluency: A Study with University Students

• Author / Creator

  Pamela Rose Eberharter

• The current study investigates the hypothesis that rapid automatized naming (RAN) is related to
  reading fluency because both tasks rely on the ability to simultaneously process multiple items
  presented in serial fashion (termed cascaded processing). One hundred undergraduate students
  (67 females, 33 males, Mage = 22.63 years, SD = 5.16) from the University of Alberta were
  assessed on RAN Digits (discrete and serial) as well as on word- and text-reading fluency. In
  addition, they performed a RAN Letters task in an eye tracking session. The results indicated that
  whereas performance in serial RAN accounted for unique variance in word- and text-reading
  fluency when discrete RAN performance was controlled for, the opposite was not true.
  Furthermore, eye movement parameters (fixation count, fixation duration, and regression count)
  in RAN Letters accounted for unique variance in text-reading fluency even after controlling for
  the effects of word reading fluency. Taken together, these findings extend those of previous
  studies with children and suggest that simultaneous processing of serial items is critical in
  understanding the RAN-reading relationship as well as how reading fluency develops.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Reading Fluency
  • Eye Movements
  • Cascaded Processing
  • Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN)

• Graduation date

  Fall 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-hexc-bp97

• License

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