The Role of Visual Attention Span and Phonemic Awareness in Learning to Read

This study aimed to verify the relationship between visual attention span (VAS), phonemic awareness (PA) and reading performance in a sample of 48 students from the 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th grade from a public elementary school in Sao Paulo. Children were assessed in three sessions through a battery of tasks, which included single word reading, VAS, PA, nonverbal intelligence, phonological memory and letter identification threshold. Results showed that the VAS and PA correlated with performance in reading from 1^st to 5^th grade, and they play a more important role at 1^st grade, but remain relevant in 3^rd and 5^th grade, especially in the reading of nonwords and irregular words.

Visual attention span; phonemic awareness; reading performance