Phonological Processing Abilities and Reading Competence: Theory and Evidence

Phonological processing abilities specifically include three distinct but related components: phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming. The knowledge of interrelationships between phonological processing abilities and reading development has led to an improved understanding of the nature of the reading process. However, numerous studies have produced inconsistent results regarding the independence of rapid naming in predicting L1 and L2 word reading. There is also controversy over the conceptualization of rapid naming. This book aims to rethink theoretically the nature of phonological processing abilities and their link to reading and examine empirically the relationship of phonological processing abilities to component skills of reading competence, with a focus on the relation of rapid naming and reading skills. The Lexical Quality Hypothesis and Model of Information Processing are introduced as the theoretical frameworks for analysis first, and then both the cross-sectional approach and the quasi-experimental approach are adopted to address the key research questions. The book concludes by discussing theoretical implications of the findings, contributions and limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research.