Phonological processing and rapid automatized naming in young people and adults in regards to literacy level

• Grant number: 16/23674-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2017
• End date: January 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Fundamentals and Assessments in Psychology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Elizeu Coutinho de Macedo
• Grantee: Matheus Sant'Ana Michelino
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Reading is a complex cognitive ability and its acquisition depends on accessing the school system and in the teaching system quality. However, the quality of education and the school dropout rate still produce high rates of illiteracy and low reading skills. Data from 2015 indicate that 27% of the Brazilian population can be classified as functional illiterates. However, although the use of reading tests in national assessments is important to detect illiteracy rates in the adult population, the results are inconclusive on the impact of the different cognitive and linguistic processes underlying reading. There is a lack of specific knowledge about the cognitive processes involved in young people and adults that are learning to read, and to what extent these processes differ from learning at an appropriate age. Thus, it is still unclear whether the predictive skills of successful reading acquisition and writing in children are similar to those presented in this population. The aim of this study is to evaluate predictive reading learning abilities, ie, phonological awareness and naming speed, in young people and adults functionally illiterate and to compare with children in the literacy process and fully literate adults. 90 people will participate in the study, 30 young people and adult subjects illiterate or with functional illiteracy, 30 children matched by the level of reading and 30 young people and adults in the proficient level of literacy. All participants will be assessed using a broad battery of neuropsychological, reading and writing tests. In addition, eye movements in Reading, Rapid Automatized Naming, and Lexical Decision Making will be evaluated. The results will be analyzed in order to compare the performance of young people and adults functionally illiterate adults with the two other groups in each of the tests separately (AU)