原著 effects of phonological analysis, rapid naming, and

9KOBAYASHI et al.: Factors Affecting Reading in Japanese

コミュニケーション障害学24, 9-21 (2007)

■ 原著

Effects of Phonological Analysis, Rapid Naming, and Visual Search

Performance on 5TH Grade Reading in Japanese*1

Maya Shiho KOBAYASHI*2 Charles W. HAYNES*3

Pamela E. HooK*3 Paul MACARUSO*4

ABSTRACT: This study examined the relative validity of phonological analysis (mora deletion, sound

matching), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and visual search (cross out speed and accuracy) abilities for

predicting fluent text reading and reading comprehension within typically developing Japanese 5th graders (39in all). Analogous abilities have been identified as important predictors of reading skills in alphabetic

languages like English. Given the differences between English and Japanese orthography, it was hypothesized

that unique patterns of relationships would be obtained for children reading Japanese. The results

demonstrate that mora deletion contributes significantly to speed of oral reading. When mora deletion was

excluded from the regression model, RAN (number, hiragana, kanji) also explained variance in oral reading

speed. Furthermore, visual search speed predicts accuracy of oral reading. When there is no influence of

visual search speed in the regression model, sound matching and kanji RAN are also significantly associated

with oral reading accuracy. General knowledge influenced reading comprehension. Based on our previous

studies on reading of Japanese kindergartners and first graders, the findings suggest that the predictive power

of these measures varies depending on the nature of the reading task and stage of development.

Key Words: Japanese reading fluency, phonological analysis, Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN),

visual search

1. INTRODUCTION

There has been increased interest in reading fluency in

recent years because of a growing recognition of its

importance in reading comprehension. Fluency requires not

only the ability to recognize words automatically, but also to

apply appropriate rhythm, intonation, and phrasing to the

text so that attention can be allocated to comprehension

(Meyer, Felton, 1999).

According to the results of the Programme for

International Student Assessment (PISA), which is an

internationally standardized assessment administered to 15-

year-olds school children in approximately 30 to 40

participating countries, Japan's performance in readingdecreased significantly from 2000 to 2003 (DECD, 2000,

2003). There is no clear explanation for this result; however,

considering the fact that Japan maintained high scores in

mathematics and science in the same years, it appears that

the number of Japanese adolescents who struggle with

reading is increasing.

The current study examined relationships between

reading skills and selected cognitive-linguistic predictors

including phonological analysis (mora deletion, sound

matching), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and visual

search (cross out speed and accuracy) in Japanese fifth

graders. Teachers and researchers are concerned with theearly detection of children who are at risk for reading

disabilities and also looking for the early prediction of

children's later reading achievement; therefore, establishing

reliable and valid assessment tools is of critical importance.

＊1 本稿の一部は日本LD学会第15回大会 (2006年10月7日,

札幌), The American Speech-Language-Hearing

Association Conference (2006年11月16日, マイアミ,

FL, U. S. A.) で発表した. 2006年11月25日受理.

＊2 上智大学, 日本学術振興会特別研究員 (〒102 -8554東京

都千代田区紀尾井町7-1). Sophia University, Research

Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of

Science (JSPS) for Young Scientists (7-1 Kioicho,

Chiyoda, 102-8554, Japan)

＊3 MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston,

Massachusetts

＊4 Community College of Rhode Island and Haskins

Laboratories, Lincoln, Rhode Island and New Haven,

Connecticut

10 コミュニケーション障害学 Vol. 24 No. 1 2007. 4.

A large body of research has demonstrated that

phonological analysis, RAN, and visual search abilities areimportant for the acquisition of word recognition, fluency,

and reading comprehension in alphabetic languages such as

English (Badi 1994, 1995, 1998; Cornwall, 1992;

Cunningham, Perry, Stanovich, et al., 2002; Meyer, Wood,

Hart, et al., 1998; Scarborough, 1998). English is an

alphabetic language based on grapheme-phoneme

relationships, whereas Japanese orthographies are

comprised of two syllabaries-hiragana and katakana, and a

system of morphosyllabic symbols ("kanji"). In our

previous studies, in Japanese kindergartners, hiragana RANand number RAN best predicted reading accuracy and

speed. In our Japanese first graders, however, kanji RAN

and hiragana RAN were the best predictors of oral reading

speed, mora deletion best predicted oral reading accuracy,

and kanji RAN, mora deletion, and phonological memory

best predicted reading comprehension (Kobayashi, Haynes,

Macaruso, et al., 2005; Kobayashi, Kato, Haynes, et al., 2003).

Additionally, deficits in phonological awareness, speeded

naming, and visual/orthographic abilities successfully

differentiated Chinese dyslexic readers from typically

achieving readers (Ho, Chan, Tsang, et al., 2002). We hope

that our current study will add to our general understanding

of the cognitive-linguistic skills that underlie the ability to

read Japanese and also provide additional support for

developing tasks that facilitate early detection of childrenwho may struggle with learning to read.

1.1 PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Phonological analysis, or phonological awareness, refers

to the ability to detect and manipulate explicitly and

segmentally the sounds in one's oral language. This ability

is found to be critical for the efficient decoding of printed

words and the ability to develop correspondences between

sounds and letters when spelling or reading English

(Badian, 1995; Cornwall, 1992). While phonological analysisis a strong predictor of early reading ability, it has been

suggested that the relationship is reciprocal: the ability to

read also facilitates phonological analysis (e.g., Bowey,

Francis, 1991). Phonological analysis skills can be assessed

by comparing and contrasting the sounds of words for

rhyme and alliteration, blending and segmenting into

syllables, and manipulating sounds at the phoneme level

(Adams, 1990). Previous studies have found thatkindergarten tasks involving manipulation of phonemes

were some of the strongest predictors of later reading

development (Wagner, Torgesen, 1987). In Japan, past

studies found a strong relationship between phonological

analysis and acquisition of reading skills (Amano, 1970,

1988, 1989; Hara, 1998; Oishi, 1998). Mann (1986) reported

that Japanese first graders were found to be aware ofsyllables and less aware of phonemes in comparison to mostAmerican first graders who were found to be aware of bothsyllables and phonemes. Moreover, Japanese children'ssyllable (mora) and phoneme counting ability significantly

predicted speed and errors in oral reading of hiraganawords. Endo (1991) reported that six-year-old Japanesekindergarten children develop phoneme awareness andtheir phoneme awareness performance contributessignificantly to reading ability. In our more recent studies, amora deletion task, which required a child to hear a real

word, repeat the word, delete one specified mora, and saythe reconstructed word, did not predict kindergartners'

reading speed and accuracy (Kobayashi et al., 2003;Kobayashi et al., 2005). However, in first graders, moradeletion predicted reading accuracy and readingcomprehension (reading comprehension was notadministered for kindergartners in our previous study).These results indicate that the first grade text which wasrelatively complex and consisted of hiragana, katakana, and

kanji characters required higher phonological analysis skillsthan the kindergarten text which was relatively simple andmainly consisted of hiragana characters. We expect that themore complex text for fifth graders will require higher

phonological analysis skills. This study examines thecontributions to reading performance of two phonologicalanalysis tasks 1) mora deletion from our previous study, and2) sound matching which requires phoneme recognition.1.2 RAPID AUTOMATIZED NAMING (RAN)

Rapid automatized naming (RAN), as well as phonologicalanalysis, has been extensively proven to be related toreading performance in English (Badian, 2005; Manis,

Seidenberg, Doi, 1999). RAN tasks require one to name aseries of five to six randomly repeated stimuli (colors,number, letter, common objects) as quickly as possible,

(Denckla, 1972; Denckla, Rudel, 1974). RAN and reading tapsimilar underlying processes; they require recognition and

identification of symbols, retrieval of a pronunciation foreach symbol and articulation of it, and then careful rapidscanning to the next symbol (Miller, C., Miller, S., Bloom, etal., 2006; Stringer, Toplak, Stanovich, 2004; Wolf, Bowers,1999). Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies havealso indicated that RAN tasks require the same neural

network as is involved in reading (Misra, Katzir, Wolf, et al.,2004). However, reasons why the association betweeninefficient RAN performance and weak reading abilities

occur are not fully understood. There have been numeroushypotheses regarding this association. RAN may require

automaticity of underlying component skills, may represent

general difficulty general difficulty in speed of processing, and/or could

11KOBAYASHI et al.: Factors Affecting Reading in Japaanese

reflectpoorcoordinationofthevariousunderlying

processes (Korhonen, 1995; Snyder, Downey, 1997; Wolf,

Bowers, 1999, 2000).

RAN's predictive power has been replicated in many

studies (Denckla, Cutting, 1999; Schatschneider, Carlson,

Francis, et al., 2002; Wolf, Bowers, 1999, Wolf, O'Rourke,

Gidney, et al., 2002). However, not all RAN tasks are equally

powerful in prediction of reading. Letter and number RAN

are robust predictors of reading ability, while object and

color RAN are less predictive (Denckla, Cutting, 1999). In

addition, letter and digit forms of the RAN are strong

predictors of single word reading, but not of reading

comprehension (Meyeretal., 1998). It has also been

suggested that when typically developing children's reading

fluency is high suchas in grade 3 or4, RAN may contribute

only minimally to their reading performance (McBride-

Chang, Manis, 1996).

In a study of Japanese 6-year-olds, the speed of rapid

alternating stimulus naming for objects and numbers

significantly correlated with identification of 6 hiragana

characters (Kaneko, Uno, Haruhara, 2004). In our previous

studies, we constructed four RAN tasks including objects

(chair, fish, pencil, star, key, ship), numbers (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8),

hiragana (た, に, を, い, の, と), andkanji (金, 人, 上, 手,

月, 山). The results indicated that hiragana and number

RAN predicted oral reading speed and accuracy in

kindergarten, and hiragana RAN and kanji RAN predicted

reading speed in first graders (Kobayashi et al., 2005;

Kobayashi et al., 2003). Moreover, kanji RAN significantly

contributed variance in reading comprehension in first

graders. In the current study, we wish to explore the

relationship of RAN performance to reading in a more

advanced level of grade school reading in Japanese.

1.3 VISUAL PROCESSING

As previously noted, there is well-established evidence

that phonological analysis and RAN play critical roles in

reading acquisition (Manis, Doi, Bhadha, 2000; Miller et al.,

2006), but there is growing evidence that various visual and

orthographic tasks also add significant variance to reading

(Badian, 2005; Swanson, Trainin, Nechoechea, et al., 2003).

Badian defined visual-orthographic skills as the ability to

recognize the correct orientation of letters and numbers

(Badian, 2005). Bowers and Wolf (1993) suggested that

orthographic processing skills can beassessed with visual

matching tasks which require careful scanning and

comparing of symbols and symbol sequences. Badian

(1994) reported that a visual-orthographic task in

kindergarten, which required the child to scan for matching

letters and word-like groups of letters, was the best predictor

of reading and spelling in first graders when compared to

phonological awareness and serial naming speed. In longitudinal studies, visual symbol matching was found to

significantly predict reading comprehension, reading

vocabulary, and spelling (Badian, 1995). Orthographic

pattern recognition task performance has also been relatedto word-level decoding (Bourassa, reiman, 2003).

In our previous studies of Japanese first graders, visual

search speed significantly correlated with speed of oral

reading and reading comprehension. In a study of Chinese,

a lexical decision task requiring children to distinguish

between correctly oriented radicals and those that are

reversed did not differentiate good readers and poor readers

among third graders (Penney, Leung, Chan, et al., 2005).

Katzir, Wolf, O'Brien, et al. (2006) have pointed out that

contributions of visual or orthographic processing skills to

reading fluency and comprehension are still under-

investigated. In addition, it has been suggested that intact

phonological processing skills alone is not sufficient enoughto fully explain development of fluent reading and

comprehension (Duel, Griffith, Gough, 1986). In the present

study, we employ a visual search task to investigate the

hypothesis that visual search processes may predict later

Japanese grade school reading.1.4 GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

We previously stressed "fluency" as a key to lead children

to reading comprehension; however, fluent decoding alone

is not sufficient for reading comprehension (Hirsch, 2003).

General knowledge, which includes prior or background

knowledge about the topic, cultural understanding, and

world and vocabulary knowledge, is important to deepen

reading comprehension (Hirsch, 2003; McNamara, Kintsch,

Songer, et al., 1996). The "fourth grade slump" refers to

the finding that a child's reading achievement starts to fall off

in around fourth grade even though he or she appears to be

making adequate progress in basic decoding skills (Chall,

Jacobs, 2003). According to Chall's reading stage theory, inthe beginning of Stage 3 (grades fourth to eighth), children

need to use basic decoding skill as a tool for learning new

words and ideas beyond their own language and their

knowledge of the world (Chall, 1983). Japanese national

curriculum standards for fifth and sixth grader reading

target the enhancement of the student's ability to identify

and choose reading materials independently and to

comprehend the content in order to obtain new information,

deepen their knowledge, and construct further thinking

(Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology; MEXT, 2003). Even though a reader can

successfully decode a text, if he or she fails to make rapid

connections between new and previously leaned content or

prior knowledge, adequate reading comprehension might

12 コミュニケーション障害学 Vol.24 No.1 2007.4.

not be achieved. Therefore, the current study will explore

the contribution of general knowledge to the comprehension

of fifth grade text.

Investigations of relationships between cognitive-

linguistic factors and developing reading abilities in

Japanese are under-researched. The lack of research onnon-alphabetic orthographies limits our accurate

understanding of both typical and impaired reading function

and it is critical to know whether a particular model applies

across different orthographies or to just one type of

orthography. The ultimate goal of the present study is to

contribute to the current understanding of the underlying

structures of different aspects of Japanese reading by

examining cognitive-linguistic measures which have already

been found to be related to English reading. In this study,

we sought to investigate following questions;

1) What are the relationships between selected cognitive

linguistics measures (phonological analysis, RAN, visual

search) and types of reading performance in Japanese 5th

graders?2) What are the relative contributions of each of these

cognitive linguistic measures to reading performance in

Japanese 5th graders?Based on the previous studies in English and on our

studies of Japanese reading among kindergartners and first

graders, we hypothesized that phonological analysis, RAN,and visual search would each predict unique variance in fifth

grade reading performance in Japanese. Additionally, weexpected that the contribution of each to reading

performance would differ from patterns found in Japanesekindergartners and first graders. We hypothesized that,

because fifth grade text is more complex and comprises

more kanji characters, in addition to phonological analysis

and RAM's contribution, visual search would contribute

more toward prediction of reading accuracy and speed. In

addition, phonological analysis performance at the phoneme

level would contribute more to reading accuracy than mora

deletion, and general knowledge would contribute to

reading comprehension.

2. METHOD

2.1 PARTICIPANTS

The participants were 39 (23 boys, 16 girls) monolingual

typically developing Japanese speakers aged 10 to 11 years

in a small suburban elementary school in Chiba prefecture.

Mean age at the time of testing was 11. 24 years of age (SD=

3. 3 months), with a range of 130 to 141 months. There were

no participants diagnosed with ADHD or any other

developmental disabilities.

2.2 MEASURES

The following measures were included in this study.

2.2.1 Phonological Analysis

There were two types of tasks administered in this study,

mora deletion and sound matching.

(1) Mora DeletionThe Japanese mora deletion test was based on the

Elision subtest of the Comprehensive Test of

Phonological Processing (CTOPP) (Wagner, Torgesen,

Rashotte, 1999), and was the same task used in our

previous studies (Kobayashi et al., 2003; Kobayashi et al.,2005). There were three practice items followed by

twenty test items. Children hear a real word, repeat the

word, delete one specified mora, and say the

reconstructed word. The number of morae for test items

increased from four to eight. If a child was not able to

perform the practice item, the test was not given. Testingwas discontinued when a child missed three items in a

row. Scores are reported as the number correct.

(2) Sound Matching TasksFirst Sound: This task was taken from Endo's (1991)

study. The student is asked to look at 1 target and 3

testing pictures. The examiner points to each picture and

says a word corresponding to each picture. Then the

student is asked to point a picture which starts with the

same sound (phoneme) as the target picture's name. The

original task had two testing choices, but this task was

modified to offer three testing choices to decrease the

influence of children's guessing (see Appendix A).

There were four practice items followed by 10 test items.

For all testing items, no feedback was given by the

examiner and testing. Scores are reported as the number

correct.

Last Sound: In this task, children were asked to

identify which word out of three words has the first mora

ending with the same sound (phoneme) as the first mora

of a target word orally presented by the examiner. The

same procedure from the First Sound task was employed

for this task (see Appendix B). There were four practice

items followed by 10 test items. Scores are reported as the

number correct.

2.2.2 Rapid Automatized Naming

This task requires the child to name as quickly as possible

six symbols repeated six times in random order anddisplayedonachartina4×9format.Two RAN tasks

(objects, number) were taken from the CTOPP (Wagner et

al. 1999). Two additional RAN tasks (hiragana, kanji),

constructed to simulate the format of RAN tests on the

CIOPP, were taken from our previous studies (Kobayashi et

al ., 2003; Kobayashi et al ., 2005). The examiner says to the

13KOBAYASxi et al.: Factors Affecting Reading in Japanese

participant, "I want you to say the names of all of theseobjects (or letters) as fast as you can. Try not to skip any.

Ready? Begin." The examiner starts a stopwatch timing as

soon as the participant says the name of the first object (or

letter) and stop timing when the name of the last item is said.

The scores were reported as the time taken in seconds to

complete the chart.

2.2.3 Visual Search

The short version of the cross-out subtest of the

Woodcock Johnson-Revised Cognitive Battery (WJ-R)

(Woodcock, Johnson, 1989) was included as a measure ofvisual processing. This task requires the child to look at a

target symbol on the left side of the page, and search for

(circle) five identical symbols included randomly in a row of19 stimuli. There were two practice rows and 11 test rows.

Scores recorded included the time taken in seconds to

complete the task and the error score which consisted of the

total number of missed targets and circled incorrect items.

2.2.4 General Knowledge

The WISC-III Information subtest (Azuma, Ueno, Fujita,

et al., 1998) was administered to each child to obtain

measures of general knowledge. The examiner asks a

question regarding factual knowledge and historicallyfamous people and the child is required to produce the

answer. Raw scores were analyzed.

2.2.5 Reading Speed and Accuracy

The child was asked to read aloud a short fifth grade level

passage comprised of hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Thescore for passage reading speed was time in seconds taken

to read the passage. Error scores were defined as the

number of morae read incorrectly.

2.2.6 Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension was tested by a standardized

reading comprehension measure (Okamoto, Muraishi,

1983). The Kuder-Richardson reliability coefficient was 0.93.

Validity, confirmed by good-poor analysis, was Z=3.662.

Twelve minutes were given to children to complete this test.

There were 28 multiple choice questions on seven short

passages including narratives (4) and expository texts (3).Children were required to read silently and circle the

answers. The score was the number of correct items.

2.3 PROCEDURES

The reading comprehension test was group-administered

to participants in their classrooms by classroom teachers.

The rest of the measures were administered individually in a

quiet room in their school, generally in two twenty minutessessions by the examiner. The sequence of tests was fixed in

an order that avoided consecutive administration of similar

tasks.

3. RESULTS

Means, standard deviations, and ranges for all variables

are given in Table 1 for the total sample.

3.1 CORRELATIONS

Question 1) What are the relationships between selectedcognitive linguistics measures (phonological analysis, RAN,

visual search) and types of reading performance in Japanese

5th graders?

Intercorrelations among scores on phonological analysis,

RAN, and visual search, and the three reading measures

were examined using Pearson correlation analyses,

controlling for children's age (see Table 2). Children's age

Table 1. Descriptive data for the total sample (N=39)

14 コミュニケーション障害学 V0l.24 No.1 2007.4.

was partialed out in order to examine the relationships

between variables after controlling for the age differences

(in months) among the participants in our sample.negative correlations of RAN, visual search (speed and

accuracy), and oral reading (speed and accuracy) with other

variables reflect the fact that higher scores indicate lower

performance.Mora deletion and all the RAN tasks except for object RAN

correlated with oral reading speed. Sound matching-last,

kanji RAN, and visual search speed correlated with oral

reading accuracy. WISC-III Information and sound

matching-last correlated with reading comprehension. All

the reading performance measurements correlated with

each other.

3.2 REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Question 2) What are the relative contributions of each

cognitive linguistic measure (phonological analysis, RAN,

visual search) to reading performance for Japanese 5th

graders?Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to

determine the unique variance contributed to reading

measures by each cognitive linguistic measure which

showed significant correlations with reading performance.

Each of the predictors was entered into the model

individually at the second step after participants's age and

Table2. Correlations between measures, partialing out age (Total=39)

*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

Note: WISC=WISC-III Information, MD=mora deletion, SM_F=sound matching (first sound), SM_L=sound matching (last sound),

RAN_O=Object RAN, RAN_N=Number RAN, RAN_H=Hiragana RAN, RANK=Kanji RAN, VS S=visual search (speed), VS A=visual search

(accuracy), OR S=oral reading speed, OR A=oral reading accuracy

Table3. Hierarchical regressions of variables separately

predicting reading performance

*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

Note: Each of the predictors was entered into the model

individually at the second step after participants's age and WISC-III

Information were entered into the model at the first step.


WISC-III Information were entered into the model at the first

step to control for the effects of these variables on reading

performance. As shown in Table 3, the results demonstratethat participants' performance on mora deletion, number

RAN, hiragana RAN, and kanji RAN tasks explained variance

in oral reading speed. Participants' performance on sound

matching-last, kanji RAN, and visual search speed were

significantly associated with their performance on oral

reading accuracy. Participants' performance on sound

matching last did not significantly explain variance in

reading comprehension beyond the participants' age and

WISC-III Information variables.

Stepwise regressions were conducted to determine the

best predictors of the reading measures (oral reading speed

and accuracy, reading comprehension) among the

processing variables (mora deletion, sound matching firstand last, object RAN, number RAN, hiragana RAN, kanji

RAN, visual search speed and accuracy) (see Table 4). Mora

deletion remained significant in explaining variance in oral

reading speed. For oral reading accuracy, the only

significant predictor was visual search speed. There was no

single processing variable found to predict reading

comprehension. When WISC Information was included in

the model, however, its contribution to the prediction of

reading comprehension was significant.

Reading fluency is one of several critical components

necessary for reading comprehension in English. Because

there was no single processing variable that predicted

reading comprehension, stepwise regressions were

conducted to determine which component of oral reading

performance (reading accuracy and/or reading speed)contributed to fifth grade reading comprehension. Oral

reading speed was the only significant contributor to reading

comprehension (see Table 5).

4. DISCUSSION

In this study, a group of Japanese fifth graders were

administered a battery of tests that included phonological

analysis (mora deletion, sound matching first and last), four

kinds of RAN (object, number, hiragana, kanji), and visual

search (cross out speed and accuracy), as well as WISC

Information and measures of reading comprehension and

fluency. There were two major goals in this study. The first

was to examine relationships between selected cognitive-

linguistic skills and reading performance (oral reading

speed and accuracy, reading comprehension). The second

was to determine which measures best predicted fifth grade

reading performance. We also examined whether a stage

theory of advanced level reading acquisition that had been

developed primarily from English populations also held for

Japanese fifth graders.Mora deletion, number RAN, hiragana RAN, and kanji

RAN each contributed to prediction of oral reading speed

independently and the measure that most effectively

predicted oral reading speed was mora deletion. Withrespect to oral reading accuracy, sound matching last, kanji

RAN, and visual search speed contributed variance

independently; however, when all the dependent measures

were entered into the stepwise regression, only visual search

speed consistently predicted oral reading accuracy. Sound

matching of the last phoneme significantly predicted reading

comprehension; however, when the stepwise regression

included all the dependent measures, its predictive power

was canceled. When WISC-III Information was entered into

the stepwise regression along with other processing

Table4. Summary of stepwise multiple regression

analyses for reading performance

*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

Note: These stepwise regressions included all the processing

variables (mora deletion, sound matching first and last, object RAN,

number RAN, hiragana RAN, kanji RAN, visual search speed and

accuracy).

*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

Note: This stepwise regression model included all the processing

variables and WISC-III Information.

Table5. Summary of stepwise multiple regression

analyses for reading comprehension

*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

Note: This stepwise regression included oral reading speed and

accuracy.


measures, its contribution towards prediction of reading

comprehension was the largest among all the variables.

Mora deletion correlated with all the RAN tasks except for

object RAN. This result is largely consistent with findings

reported in studies of alphabetic reading, and supports the

view that phonological analysis and RAN tap into some of the

same underlying processing abilities (e.g., retrieval and

production of phonological information) (Miller et al., 2006).Unlike some studies of alphabetic reading that have

indicated weak relationships between phonological analysis

and RAN (Wolf, Bowers, 1999; Swanson et al., 2003), this

study's correlations between a phonological analysis

measure (mora deletion) and RAN speeds were relatively

high (r=-.52to-.57, p<.001) and lend support to Miller et

al.'s (2006) conclusions.

Despite the above correlations, hierarchical regression

analyses demonstrated that both phonological analysis

(mora deletion) and RAN also contributed independentvariance to oral reading speed. This finding suggests that

certain underlying processing differences in these tasks may

be significant in predicting text-level fluency (e.g.,

recognition of visual stimuli, association of visual with

phonological symbols, manipulation of phonologicalinformation, speed). The independent contributions of

phonological analysis and rapid naming to prediction ofreading performance is consistent with a double deficit

hypothesis as proposed by Wolf et al. (2002). Further

support for this view is underscored by the finding that

functional magnetic resonance imaging shows basic

differences in underlying processes required by

phonological analysis and RAN measures (Misra et al.,2004).

Within the limitations of a cross sectional analysis, several

interesting questions arise. The data from our previous

study of first grade beginning readers (Kobayashi et al.,

2005) suggest some complex developmental similarities and

differences when compared with results of our current study

of fifth graders. In first graders, high correlations were

found between mora deletion and all measures of reading

(speed, accuracy and comprehension). In the current studyof fifth graders, mora deletion correlated only with oral

reading speed. In addition, performance on all of the RAN

tasks (object, number, hiragana, kanji) in first grade

correlated with oral reading speed and comprehension,

while symbol-based RAN tasks in fifth grade correlated

significantly with oral reading speed but not with

comprehension. There were also differences in correlations

between mora deletion and RAN tasks. In first graders,

object and kanji RAN correlated with mora deletion, while in

fifth graders the three symbol-based RAN tasks correlated

strongly with mora deletion. The following questions arise:

1) Why is a task of phonological analysis (mora deletion)

more highly correlated with RAN performance in the fifth

grade than in the first grade?2) Why does mora deletion continue to have a significant

correlation with reading speed in grade five?

3) Why are there correlations between reading

comprehension and performance on cognitive linguistic

tasks of mora deletion and RAN in the first grade data, but

not in the fifth?

4) In the fifth grade data, why is there no significant

correlation between reading comprehension and RAN

performance, given the strong correlation between RAN

performance and oral reading speed and between oralreading speed and reading comprehension?

Potential answers to these questions may lie in

developmental differences in the processing requirements

of reading and comprehending text at the first versus fifth

grade. One explanation for the first question as to why

phonological analysis (mora deletion) is more highlycorrelated with RAN performance in the fifth grade than in

the first grade, may lie in the different processes tapped by

the mora deletion task for older children. At the fifth grade

level, children typically manipulate stimuli of increased

length (up to eight morae); in order to be successful at this

level, it is possible that children may need to be able to

rapidly coordinate phonological memory, retrieval and

orthographic (kana) visualization processes. As noted

earlier, RAN makes similar requirements for coordination ofvarious underlying processes (Korhonen, 1995; Snyder,

Downey, 1997; Wolf, Bowers, 1999, 2000).

Our second question, as to why mora deletion continues to

have a significant correlation to reading speed in grade five

may also be related to the discussion above which

emphasizes differing requirements of the mora deletion task

at different grade levels. The text used in our study of first

graders consisted of 5% kanji characters whereas the fifth

grade text in the current study contained 23% kanjicharacters. Kanji characters require the retrieval of correct

sounds that may have multiple meanings and/or multiple

pronunciations. The increase in the number of kanjicharacters coupled with increased syntactic and semantic

complexity of text at this stage seems to place more

demands on working memory, perhaps in a similar manner

to the mora deletion task. This may explain why the

phonological analysis task best predicted rapid decoding ofthe fifth grade connected text in Japanese.

The third question, as to why there arecorrelations

between reading comprehension and performance on

cognitive linguistic tasks of mora deletion and RAN in the

17KOBAYASXI et al.: Factors Affecting Reading in Japanese

first grade data, but not in the fifth, may be related to

developmental differences in the processing requirements

of first versus fifth grade reading. Early elementary text

contains familiar concepts and decoding is sufficient for

comprehension; the emphasis is primarily on learning to

map sounds onto hiragana and katakana characters, which

have mostly regular symbol-sound correspondences. By

fifth grade he focus in reading comprehension tasks is on

gaining new information and assumes adequate wordidentification. Our findings support Manis, Seidenberg, and

Doi's hypothesis that phonological analysis is more related

to the learning of systematic letter-sound correspondences,

whereas the RAN task involves routinized, automatic

symbol-sound associations (1990). Both of these processes

are largely automatic in the typically developing fifth grade

reader. As Schatschneider et al. (2002) suggested, RAN

appears to best predict the elementary stage of word

recognition, and RAM's contribution to reading performance

may lessen when children's reading fluency becomes higher

such as in grade 3 or 4 (McBride-Chang, Manis, 1996).

Our fourth question was why there is no significant

correlation between reading comprehension and RAN

performance in the fifth grade, given the strong correlationbetween RAN performance and oral reading speed and

between oral reading speed and reading comprehension.

There does not appear to be a simple explanation for these

findings. They suggest, however, that the specific aspects of

RAN that correlate with oral reading speed may involve

processes that are distinct from those tapped in therelationship between reading speed and comprehension.

Current research is emphasizing the complexity of the

reading task and supports the view that "in reading fluency,

the whole is more than its parts" (p. 77, Katzir et al., 2006).

From our perspective, this would certainly hold true for

reading comprehension as well.

Our previous study showed that mora deletion

contributed to prediction of the first grader's oral reading

accuracy (Kobayashi et al., 2005); however, in this study,

visual search speed consistently contributed variance to oral

reading accuracy even after accounting for the influence of

all other processing variables. Thirty nine percent of the

total oral reading errors (hiragana errors 50%, katakana

errors 11%) came from incorrect decoding of kanji

characters; this suggests that the ability to accurately

recognize and recall visually complex configurations

partially influences fifth graders' reading accuracy. Poorvisual search speed performance may be related to poor

orthographic memory and eventually leads to failure to

retrieve accurate pronunciations for each character. In our

previous studies, in kindergartners, visual search speed did

not correlate with any aspect of reading performance,

however, in first graders, it correlated moderately with

reading speed and reading comprehension (Kobayashi et al.,

2003; Kobayashi et al., 2005). As children's mastery level of

reading advances, visual or orthographic processing may

become more important in explaining more advanced

reading in Japanese. This study's findings suggest the value

of a visual search task for explaining accuracy of reading.

Incorporation of this task in assessment and prediction

studies may prove very useful for older children.

Whereas morn deletion explained variance in oral reading

speed, sound matching last only explained variance in

reading comprehension. These findings suggest that even

though both mora deletion and sound matching tasks are

phonological analysis measures, they may tap into differentcognitive and linguist requirements. This is also

demonstrated in the comparatively weak correlation

between these two tasks. Mora deletion involves

manipulation of speech sounds at the mora level while sound

matching last requires recognition of final phonemes in

words. The metalinguistic skills underlying manipulation at

the mora level is consistently found to be important across

three decades of research, but phoneme identification in

Japanese has been less investigated. Lack of predictive

power of sound matching first can be explained by previousfindings that phoneme awareness of the initial sound of a

word is easier than that of the final sound (Spector, 1995).

The mean score for sound matching first (m=8.56, SD=2.17)

was significantly higher than the mean for sound matching

last (m=6.85, SD=3.42), p=0.003. Thus, sound matching

first was a relatively easy task, which did not tap into

underlying cognitive linguistic processes required to

perform any of the reading outcome measures.Even though, there was no single cognitive-linguistic

measure that significantly predicted fifth grade reading

comprehension, our results indicate that general knowledge

plays an important role in this area. The WISC-IIIInformation subtest reflects the richness of the child's

background knowledge. Our results indicate that successful

reading comprehension of fifth grade materials requires not

only fluent decoding skills, but also general knowledge

which appears to enhance basic comprehension and leave

room for making connections between the new information

and previously learned knowledge, drawing inferences, and

thinking over implications (Hirsch, 2003).Moreover, the

findings from this study have implications for intervention;

instruction and practice in fluency by training for

phonological analysis, rapid decoding, and recognition oforthography need to be accompanied by instruction and

practice in general knowledge.


In conclusion, our research offered an insight into

underlying cognitive-linguistic skills required by Japanese

fifth grade reading. This study indicates that Japanese fifth

graders learning to speak and read Japanese also developsome of cognitive-linguistic skills found to be important for

reading in English. However, performance on phonological

analysis, RAN, visual search, and general knowledge only

partially explained accuracy, fluency, and comprehension ofreading. It has been suggested that different cognitive-

linguistic skills tap different aspects of linguistic processing

and, therefore, relate differently to reading (Ramus, 2003).

Therefore, there will be more cognitive-linguistic skills

related to explaining reading performance in Japanese, and

these skills are expected to vary according to grade level,

children's reading experience, and components of reading

assessed. As noted, some of our analyses are based on cross

sectional data; a longitudinal study would help clarify the

predictive power of these skills as children advance through

grade school. Further research will also provide us with atheoretical framework and refined understanding of

cognitive-linguistic skills of reading in Japanese and may

suggest guidance for practical remediation approaches.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our appreciation to the students and teachers

who participated in the study as well as to Emiko Saito for

her dedication in coordinating and supporting this fieldwork.

We also thank to Kyoko Iitaka and Mitsuko Shindo for their

continuous understanding and support. This work was

partly supported by a research fund of the Japan Society forthe Promotion of Science.

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APPENDIX A Stimulus Words Used for Sound Matching First

(Underlined letters indicate target sounds)

APPENDIX B Stimulus Words Used for Sound Matching Last

(Underlined letters indicate target sounds)

小学5年生における音韻認識, RapidNaming, 視覚探索課題の読み能力への影響

小林マヤ (志帆) CharlesW. HAYNES Pamela E. HooK Paul MACARUSO

近年, 読解の重要性が明らかになるにつれ, 読みにお

ける “流暢性 (fluency)”が着目されている. “Fluency”

とは, 文字の音声化を自動的かつ容易にできるだけで

はなく, その文脈に合った正しいリズム, イントネー

ション, 間 (ポーズ) を適用しながら読めることを意味

する. この “fluency”を所持する読み手は, 自分の注

意力を文書の内容, メッセージへと向けることができ

るため, 効果的な読解が可能になると考えられている

(Meyer, Felton, 1999). 英語圏では, この “fluency”に

関わる認知言語的能力として, 音韻分析 (phonological

analysis), Rapid Automatized Naming (以下RAN), 視

覚探索 (visual search) などが報告されている (Badian,

1994, 1995, 1998; Cornwall, 1992; Meyer, Wood, Hart,

etal., 1998; Scarborough, 1998; Cunningham, Perry,

Stanovich, et al., 2002). 今回の調査では, 日本の公立学

校の普通学級に在籍している小学5年生 (N=39) を対

象に, これらの認知言語的能力と読み能力 (流暢性と読

解) との関係, そしてそれぞれの読み能力に対する予測

精度を調査した.

音韻分析 (phonological analysis), または音韻認識

(phonological awareness)は, 音声言語の音韻構造を分

析し, それを操作する能力を意味する. 英語圏の研究で

は, 音韻分析能力と音読・スペリング・読解などとの関

連性が明らかになっており, そしてその能力は将来の

読み習得度を予測することが報告されている(Badian,

1995; Cornwalｌ, 1992). 日本語圏においても, 児童の音

韻分析発達と読み能力との関連性についての研究が報

告されているが(天野, 1970, 1988, 1989; 原, 1998;


大石, 1998), 日本語の音韻分析能力を測定する標準化

された検査は依然として存在しない. 今回の調査では

以前の調査で使用したモーラ削除課題と, モーラ操作

よりも難易度が高いとされる音素認識課題 (遠藤,

1991) を使用した.

RANは, 不規則かつ連続的に列記された5～7種類

のオブジェクト, 文字, 数字, 色などをできるだけ早く

読み上げるという課題である (Denckla, 1972; Denckla,

Rudel, 1974). 英語圏で, 読み障害児のRAN課題を行う

スピードが健常児よりも著しく遅いことが報告されて

以来, RANと読みパフォーマンスとの関連研究が多数

報告されている (Denckla, Cutting, 1999;

Schatschneider, Carlson, Francis, etal., 2002; Wolf,

Bowers, 1999, Wolf, O'Rourke, Gidney, et al., 2002).そ

して欧米ではRAN課題が音韻分析課題と並び, 読み障

害児 (ディスレキシア) のスクリーニング. テストとし

て広く使用されている. 我々の調査では, オブジェクト

(椅子, 魚, 鉛筆, 星, 鍵, 船), 数字 (2, 3, 4, 5,

7, 8), ひらがな (た, に, を, い, の, と), 漢字 (金,

人, 上, 手, 月, 山) の4種類のRAN課題を使用した.

視覚探索とは, 文字や図形の形態を迅速に弁別する

能力である (Badian, 2005). これは, 類似する形または

文字が並べられている背景群の中から, 目標とする形・

文字を検出する課題で測定する (Bowers, Wolf, 1993).

その処理能力が自動的かつ容易であるほど文字を流暢

に読むことができると考えられている (Adams, 1990).

近年欧米では, 視覚探索能力の読みパフォーマンスに

対する予測精度に関する報告が増加する傾向にあるが,

音韻分析とRANに比べるとその報告例は少なく, 今後

さらなる研究が必要な領域である (Katzir, Wolf,

O'Brien, et al., 2006).

効果的な読解を達成するためには,“流暢性

(fluency)”に加えて,“一般的知識 ”が重要な役割を果

たすことが報告されている (Hirsch, 2003). 一般的知識

とは, 主題にまつわる背景的知識, 文化に対する造詣,

世界観や語彙などを含める (Hirsch, 2003; McNamara,

Kintsch, Songer, et al., 1996). 文字を音声化するという

基本的なスキルをマスターしたとしても, その読み手

の一般的知識が乏しいものだった場合, 読書から入手

しようとした新しい知識と自分が既に有する知識との

関連付けに失敗し, 結局は効果的な読解が達成できな

いと考えられている (Hirsch, 2003). 今回の調査では,

基本的な読字スキルをマスターしたレベルにある小学

5年生を対象にしているため, 認知言語的能力に加え

て一般的知識の読解に対する影響を検証する.

我々のこれまでの調査により, 英語圏において読み

能力に関連するとされる認知言語的能力は日本人幼稚

園年長, 小学1年生の読み能力にも関っていることが

確認された (Kobayashi, Haynes, Macaruso, et al., 2005;

小林, 加藤, ヘインズ, et al., 2003).

日本人の幼稚園年長児の音読 (速さと正確度) を予測

した課題はひらがなRANと数字RANであった. 日本人

の小学校1年生を対象にした調査では, 音読の速さを

予測した課題はひらがなRANと漢字RANであったが,

音読の正確度を予測したのは, 音韻分析課題であった.

さらに, 小学1年生の読解を予測したのは, 漢字RAN,

音韻分析, 音韻記憶であった.

今回の調査では, 小学5年生というやや高レベルの

日本語読みに関わる認知言語的能力を解明すること,

そして読みに困難を生じている児童を検出するために

必要な予測精度の高い認知言語的課題を構築するため

の手がかかりを示唆することを目的としている.

調査の結果, 小学5年生の音読の速さにおいて一番

高い予測精度を示したのは, モーラ削除であった. モー

ラ削除の影響がない場合, 数字RAN, ひらがなRAN, 漢

字RANが音読速さ予測に寄与した. 音読正確度におい

て, 一番高い予測精度を示したのは視覚探索であった.

視覚探索の影響がない場合, 音素認識, 漢字RANが音

読の正確度予測に寄与した. 音素認識とWISGIII知識

の双方は読解との相関が有意であつたのにもかかわら

ず, 予測精度を示したのはWISC-III知識のみであった.

今回の調査によって, 日本語における小学5年生の

読みが必要とする基盤的な認知言語的能力の理解を深

めることができた. また, 欧米で構築された読み能力獲

得のための理論体系が日本語の小学5年生の読みにお

いてもほぼ応用可能であるということが示された. そ

して幼稚園年長児, 小学1年生の調査結果を踏まえる

と, 読み能力を予測する認知言語的能力は読む課題の

種類 (音読の速さ, 正確さ, 読解), 児童の学年などに

よって変化することが示された. 臨床への手がかりと

しては, 読解指導は文字の音声化だけではなく, 一般的

な知識の向上も含めて指導していくことがより効果的

な読解につながることが示唆された.

しかしながら, 今回取り上げた音韻分析, RAN, 視覚

探索, そして一搬的知識は, 小学5年生の読みの流暢性

と読解の一部を予測したのにすぎず, 他の認知言語的

能力が読み能力予測に関わっている可能性がある. 今

後, 横断的, 縦断的調査を実施することによって, 日本

人児童の読み能力に関わる認知言語的能力のさらなる

解明と, 治療教育へのガイダンスを示唆することが可

能であると考えられる.

原著 effects of phonological analysis, rapid naming, and

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