Mnemonic Benefits of Digit—List Organization: Test of the Developmental Lag Hypothesis of Reading Retardation

Abstract

Abstract This study tested the hypothesis that poor readers lag behind good readers in their awareness of the mnemonic utility of digit-list organization and in their use of such organization to enhance serial recall. Groups of second-, third-, and fifth-grade good readers and third- and fifth-grade poor readers were employed. Digit lists were chunked, sequenced, or randomly organized. A paired-comparison procedure was used to determine children's awareness of the mnemonic utility of list organization before and after exposure to a series of digit-span estimation trials. Results indicated grade differences among good readers for recall and prediction accuracy measures; only one difference was observed between same-grade good and poor readers. For all children, recall and accuracy of prediction were greater with the organized lists than with the random lists. The developmental lag hypothesis was not supported.