Preschool executive functioning and literacy achievement in Grades 1 and 3 of primary school: A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study examines the extent to which selected components of executive function (EF) measured in preschool children predict several indices of literacy-related achievement during primary school, controlling for general intellectual functioning and maternal education. Six EF measures were assessed in a sample of 5-year-old children (N = 175). The literacy achievement (reading/spelling and reading comprehension) of the same children was then tested in Grades 1 and 3. Using previous results obtained from the same sample of children (Usai, Viterbori, Traverso, & De Franchis, 2014), two EF components (inhibition and working memory-flexibility) were obtained by means of a confirmatory factor analysis. A full structural equation model was used to test the hypothesis that these two EF components predict literacy achievement in Grades 1 and 3. The results indicate that whereas reading comprehension was uniquely predicted by the WM-flexibility factor in Grade 3, EF did not uniquely predict the reading/spelling factor in either grade.