Supporting Students with Working Memory Challenges in English Literacy

The Challenges of Learning Literacy Skills with Poor Working Memory

Abstract

Working memory, the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information, is a critical cognitive skill for learning academic skills like reading, writing and spelling. Students with poor working memory face significant challenges when learning literacy skills, especially in a language like English which has a complex writing system. This article reviews research on how working memory relates to literacy development and the specific problems created for students with poor working memory. It also provides suggestions for instructional strategies and interventions to support these students.

Poor Working Memory and Early Literacy Skills

Working memory is essential for learning the key early literacy skills of phonological awareness, letter-sound mapping, and rapid automatized naming (RAN). Phonological awareness, or the ability to manipulate the sounds in words, relies heavily on the storage and processing functions of working memory to blend, segment, and manipulate word sounds (Loosli et al., 2012). Learning letter-sound relationships also requires retaining the visual symbol of letters while rehearsing and recalling sounds, engaging working memory. RAN, the ability to quickly retrieve and name visual symbols, is a skill constrained by working memory's processing speeds (Norton & Wolf, 2012). Children with poor working memory struggle to acquire these early skills critical for reading and spelling development.

Impact on Reading Fluency and Comprehension

Once early literacy skills are established, working memory remains critical for higher-level reading skills. Reading fluency requires the simultaneous storage of words while decoding text (Loosli et al., 2012). Reading comprehension involves holding information in mind, drawing inferences, and synthesizing ideas. For students with poor working memory, limited capacities make it harder to develop reading fluency and impede comprehension as their cognitive resources are consumed by basic decoding.

Difficulties Learning and Applying Spelling Rules

Working memory also facilitates the phonological loop used for retaining spellings in memory while writing (Berninger & Richards, 2002). Students with poor working memory struggle to memorize irregular word spellings. Learning spelling rules and generalizations requires holding information in mind and applying it to novel words and contexts. These steps engage working memory, posing challenges for students with impairment. They may know rules but lack the working memory to efficiently apply them while writing.

Conclusion and Implications

In summary, deficits in working memory significantly impact students' ability to acquire critical early literacy skills like phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge. They also impede fluency, comprehension, and spelling for developing readers and writers. Instructional strategies using multisensory techniques, graphical organizers, assistive technology, and explicit teaching of metacognitive strategies may help compensate for these working memory difficulties. More research is needed on how working memory training and support can facilitate literacy development for these students.

 Here are some hands-on, multimodal activities that can help build working memory to support reading development:

- Memory games - Simple card games like "Concentration" or "Memory" where students flip over cards and try to remember the location of matching pairs. This strengthens visual working memory.

- Sound manipulation - Use objects or instruments to segment and blend sounds in words. For example, snapping blocks together for each sound. Supports phonological awareness. 

- Movement sequences - Create sequences of actions or dance moves for students to remember and perform in order. Boosts spatial/motor working memory.

- Rhythm and rhyme - Clap or drum out rhythms for students to echo back. Recite rhyming verses and have students fill in the blanks. Engages auditory working memory.

- Story retelling - After reading a story, have students retell it orally or through a reenactment. Strengthens memory for narrative details and sequences. 

- Visual tracking - Have students follow along with their finger as you read aloud. The tactile-kinesthetic input augments auditory/visual processing.

- Connecting meanings - Associate words with gestures, pictures or objects. Students hold two things in mind while making meaningful connections. 

- Pattern reproduction - Repeat auditory patterns (e.g., A-B-A) or make visual patterns with beads for students to copy. Uses working memory to perceive and reproduce sequences.

The key is targeting working memory through fun, interactive activities that integrate movement, senses, emotions and meaning. Multimodal engagement can help strengthen memory skills to support reading, writing and spelling development.

References

Berninger, V. W., & Richards, T. L. (2002). Brain literacy for educators and psychologists. Academic Press.

Loosli, S. V., Buschkuehl, M., Perrig, W. J., & Jaeggi, S. M. (2012). Working memory training improves reading processes in typically developing children. Child Neuropsychology, 18(1), 62-78.

Norton, E. S., & Wolf, M. (2012). Rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading fluency: Implications for understanding and treatment of reading disabilities. Annual review of psychology, 63, 427-452.