Direct and Indirect Contributions of Executive Function to Word Decoding and Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten

Stephanie L Haft; Jocelyn N Caballero; Hiroko Tanaka; Leo Zekelman; Laurie E Cutting; Yuuko Uchikoshi; Fumiko Hoeft

doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2019.101783

Direct and Indirect Contributions of Executive Function to Word Decoding and Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten

Learn Individ Differ. 2019 Dec:76:101783. doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2019.101783. Epub 2019 Oct 31.

Authors

Stephanie L Haft^{1

2}, Jocelyn N Caballero¹, Hiroko Tanaka³, Leo Zekelman⁴, Laurie E Cutting^{5

6

7}, Yuuko Uchikoshi⁸, Fumiko Hoeft^{1

7

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
² Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA.
³ Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of Arizona, 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
⁴ Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, 1350 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁵ Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Pl, Nashville, TN 37203, USA.
⁶ Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, 465 21 Ave South, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
⁷ Haskins Laboratories, 300 George St #900, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
⁸ School of Education, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁹ Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC) & Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut, 850 Bolton Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, 35 Shinanomachi Shinjuku Tokyo, 160-8582 Japan.

Abstract

Extant research is increasingly recognizing the contribution of executive function (EF) to reading comprehension alongside established predictors like word decoding and oral language. The nature of the association between EF and reading comprehension is commonly investigated in older children and in those with reading impairments. However, less is known about this relationship in emerging readers in kindergarten, where word decoding and reading comprehension are highly intertwined. Moreover, a better understanding of the mechanisms by which EF influences reading comprehension is needed. The present study investigated direct contributions of EF to reading comprehension, as well as indirect contributions via word decoding in 97 kindergarteners. Results indicated that there was a significant indirect effect of EF on reading comprehension, with word decoding mediating this association. The direct contribution of EF to reading comprehension was not significant. Implications for reading instruction and intervention for early readers are discussed.

Abstract

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