There is a well-established correlation between students’ reading skills and how quickly they can name letters and pictures. Naming speed before formal instruction can even predict later reading skills. But the cause of the correlation is unclear.
The talk will summarize a series of studies showing that 1) what is being named (letters or pictures) is important for the correlation with different reading subskills (word identification or reading comprehension), 2) that naming is particularly useful in the prediction of reading speed, and 3) that naming is important for early identification of reading difficulties, but that the identification accuracy may pose practical challenges.