Is Set for Variability Performance Dependent on Prior Successful Decoding Attempts for Certain Items? An Item-Level Examination

Purpose: The relationship between set for variability (SfV) performance and various isolated word reading measures in developing readers is high (.60–.80 across studies). SfV skill serves as a second step in the decoding process allowing the decoded form of the letter string to be matched with the stored phonological form. Alternatively, during item-based orthographic learning children produce and perhaps store a decoded form of the word that can be accessed during the SfV task, facilitating performance. In the current study we explore the possibility that this second hypothesis can help explain SfV performance for certain items. Method: In a sample of 499 children (Grades 2–5, M = 9.16 years, 51.3% female, 41.08% White, 40.08% African American, 18.84% from other racial/ethnic backgrounds), item-level analyses were used to explore the possibility that performance on certain SfV items might be dependent on prior successful decoding attempts (SDA) while controlling for important child attributes (e.g. decoding fluency) and word characteristics (e.g. spelling-to-pronunciation transparency). Results: Some (but not all) words on the SfV task may be dependent on prior SDA. Words that are dependent on prior SDA have significantly fewer phonemes and syllables, and trend toward having fewer letters, lower spelling-to-pronunciation transparency, and larger phonological distances between the mispronunciation and target word. Conclusion: To correctly complete the SfV task, certain items may require the word to have been previously decoded successfully. These findings have implications for how the SfV-word reading relationship is interpreted and tested moving forward.