Abstract
In this study we investigated the cognitive abilities underlying Hangul reading development from grade 1 to 4 in Korean children. We tested Korean children for their abilities to read (reading accuracy and fluency), cognitive abilities including phonological and visual processing related with reading skill, and size of vocabulary. In Hangul reading accuracy, the factors of phoneme awareness, syllable awareness, naming speed and lexicon were unique predictors based on the results of multiple regression analyses. The naming speed factor was a unique predictor only in grade 1, the phoneme and syllable awareness factors were unique predictors until grade 2, and the lexicon factor was the most unique predictor from grade 3 to 4 for accurate reading. In Hangul reading fluency, naming speed, syllable awareness, and lexicon were unique predictors based on the results of the multiple regression analyses. Moreover, the results showed that naming speed contributed substantially to reading fluency in all grades. In reading fluency, similar to reading accuracy, syllable awareness was a unique predictor until grade 2. These findings suggest that the relative importance of underlying skills as predictors of reading accuracy and fluency may change during the course of development.
