The different linguistic profiles in Arabic speaking kindergarteners and relation to emergent literacy
This study aimed to investigate the relationship between phonological skills, non-phonological skills (including vocabulary, morphological and syntax awareness), and basic literacy ability (including letter naming and word recognition) in Arabic before the start of formal reading. A large sample of 1160 Arabic-speaking children in kindergartens performed a battery of tasks tapping phonological awareness (PA), morphology, syntax, and vocabulary. Factor analysis based on the whole sample was conducted to classify these tasks. Different profiles were constituted and compared across linguistic and literacy tasks using non-para...
Source: Reading and Writing - January 3, 2023 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Does vocabulary knowledge matter in the effectiveness of instructing reading strategies? Differential responses from adolescents with low academic achievement on growth in reading comprehension
This article examines to what extent vocabulary knowledge influences the effect of a two-year intervention program focused on teaching reading strategies to adolescents with low academic achievement in the Netherlands. We hypothesized that st udents (N = 310) with different levels of vocabulary knowledge would respond differently to the treatment, given that vocabulary knowledge is an important factor in reading comprehension. Results showed that vocabulary knowledge moderated the effect of the treatment, suggesting that low vocabula ry knowledge negatively affected the impact of an intervention focused on reading stra...
Source: Reading and Writing - December 30, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Supporting inference-making during COVID-19 through individualized scaffolding and feedback: a natural experiment
AbstractThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of the Early Language Comprehension Individualized Instruction (ELCII) program in supporting kindergarteners ’ learning of inference-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two different cohorts of pre- and in-pandemic students completed the ELCII program, which was designed to teach them how to make inferences. Results suggest that kindergarteners during COVID-19 made slower growth over the course of the i ntervention compared to their counterparts who completed the intervention before the pandemic. However, when growth rates between the two cohorts were compared ac...
Source: Reading and Writing - December 30, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Spelling development in Hong Kong early Chinese –English literacy learners
This study highlights the complexity of cross-language transfer, especially in the early stages of literacy learning. In early bi-literacy learning, the cross-language transfer b etween Chinese and English may change dynamically. (Source: Reading and Writing)
Source: Reading and Writing - December 29, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Writing about the significance of historical agents: the effects of reading and writing instruction
AbstractHistorians often present their interpretation of the past in written accounts. In order to gain deeper knowledge of the discipline of history, students must learn how to read and write historical accounts. In this experimental pretest –posttest study, we investigated the impact of a domain-specific reading instruction followed by domain-specific writing-strategy instruction as well as a repeated domain-specific reading instruction on the quality of written texts and on procedural knowledge regarding reading, reasoning, and writ ing of 142 10th grade students. Results indicated that both instructions had a positiv...
Source: Reading and Writing - December 29, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Perceptual span in reading Aksharic Kannada
AbstractPerceptual span, the effective visual field in reading covered in a single fixation, varies across orthographies. The perceptual span for reading English covers 3 –4-character spaces to the left of fixation and around 14–15-character spaces to the right of the fixation while for Chinese it is one character space to the left and 3-character spaces to the right of the fixation. In the present study, we estimated the perceptual span for Kannada, a major Sout h Indian language written in akshara (abugida type) using the gaze-contingent moving window paradigm. We recorded eye movements from skilled Kannada readers w...
Source: Reading and Writing - December 26, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Teaching Chinese characters to first and second graders during the first covid-19 school closure in China: an observational study
AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic disrupted education around the world, resulting in the implementation of different forms of remote instruction. The present study provided a description of one interesting and unique approach to providing such instruction by analyzing 144 language arts lessons designed and implemented by 61 distinguished and experienced teachers in Xiangzhou, China. The lessons were used to teach first and second grade students the pronunciation, meaning, recognition, and writing of simplified Chinese characters. These lessons provide a possible model for teaching Chinese characters in the future. The 144 less...
Source: Reading and Writing - December 23, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Correction to: Properties of a combined measure of reading and writing: the Assessment of Writing, Self-Monitoring, and Reading (AWSM Reader)
(Source: Reading and Writing)
Source: Reading and Writing - December 21, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Reading intervention research with emergent bilingual students: a meta-analysis
AbstractReading in English is an essential skill that emergent bilingual students in the United States (U.S.) must master to be successful in school and to fully take advantage of the affordances reading in English offers. The current meta-analysis examined the extent to which reading instruction improved English reading outcomes for preschool to grade 12 emergent bilingual students in the U.S. Across 38 experimental and quasi-experimental treatment –control group comparisons, teaching reading to these students had a positive impact on multiple aspects of their reading. When standardized and unstandardized reading assess...
Source: Reading and Writing - December 20, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Covid-19 and literacy: an introduction to the special issue
(Source: Reading and Writing)
Source: Reading and Writing - December 17, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Introduction to the special issue on synthesis tasks: where reading and writing meet
(Source: Reading and Writing)
Source: Reading and Writing - December 13, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Vocabulary, text coverage, word frequency and the lexical threshold in elementary school reading comprehension
In this study, we first used vocabulary knowledge to estimate text coverage based on test scores fromN = 924 German fourth graders. Second, we compared linear with non-linear models of text coverage and vocabulary knowledge to explain text comprehension. Third, we used a broken-line regression to estimate a lexical threshold. The results showed an exponential relationship between text coverage a nd text comprehension. Moreover, text coverage explained text comprehension better than vocabulary knowledge, and text comprehension increased more quickly above 56% text coverage. From an instructional perspective, the results...
Source: Reading and Writing - December 8, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
The effect of a dialogically oriented intervention program on the reading abilities of struggling readers in second grade
AbstractStudies have shown that dialogic instruction can promote reading comprehension, but its contribution to lower-level skills like reading fluency is not as well understood. The paper reports on a dialogically oriented small group intervention for struggling second-grade Hebrew readers, targeting both comprehension and fluency. Rather than top-down instruction, the program focused on providing ample opportunities for students to engage with literacy in enriching and meaningful ways. Nine schools from the same Israeli city were randomly assigned to the intervention or business-as-usual control conditions. Sixty student...
Source: Reading and Writing - November 27, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
Facilitators and barriers to writing instruction in Chile: teachers ’ preparation and knowledge about teaching writing
AbstractThirty-eight fourth-through sixth-grade teachers (28 female; 10 male) in urban schools in Chile were interviewed to determine how teachers ’ preparation to teach writing and their knowledge of how to do so acted as facilitators and/or barriers to classroom writing instruction. Teachers overwhelmingly identified their preservice preparation as a barrier to teaching writing, although several teachers viewed this mode of preparation as a facilitator. For teachers who expressed views about in-service and personal preparation as well as teaching experience, they almost unanimously indicated such modes of preparation f...
Source: Reading and Writing - November 26, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
How does word knowledge facilitate reading comprehension in a second language? A longitudinal study in Chinese primary school children learning English
This study aims to advance our understanding of the role of word knowledge in second language (L2) reading comprehension by exploring whether morphological awareness and vocabulary assessed one year ago contribute to decoding and listening comprehension which in turn contribute to reading comprehension in Chinese children learning English as an L2. A total of 167 Grade 3 and 4 primary school students (Mage = 8.99 years) in Hong Kong were tested on English morphological awareness and vocabulary at Time 1, and they were also tested on English decoding, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension at Time 2, one ye...
Source: Reading and Writing - November 26, 2022 Category: Child Development Source Type: research
