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Relationship of Word- and Sentence-Level Working Memory to Reading and Writing in Second, Fourth, and Sixth Grade

H. Lee Swanson
University of California Riverside

Dan Lovitt
Pam Trivedi
Shin-Ju (Cindy) Lin
Laura Gould
Marci Youngstrom
Shirley Shimada
Dagmar Amtmann
University of Washington

Correspondence to first author at 322 Miller, Box 353600, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3600, vwb{at}u.washington.edu, or 206-616-6311 (fax).

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of working memory at the word-level and the sentence-level of language to reading and writing outcomes.

Method: Measures of reading, writing, and working memory at the word and sentence levels were administered to second (N = 122), fourth (N = 222), and sixth (N = 105) graders. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate whether the two predictor working memory factors contributed unique variance beyond their shared covariance to each of five outcome factors: handwriting, spelling, composing, word reading, and reading comprehension.

Results: At each grade level, except for handwriting and composition in sixth grade, the word-level working memory factor contributed unique variance to each reading and writing outcome. The text-level working memory factor contributed unique variance to reading comprehension in fourth and sixth grade.

Discussion: The clinical significance of these findings for assessment and intervention is discussed.

KEY WORDS: Working Memory, Levels of Language, Orthographic, Phonological, Reading, Writing

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