This study investigated the effectiveness of the Model of Reading Engagement (MORE), a content literacy intervention, on first graders' science domain knowledge, reading engagement, and reading ...comprehension. The MORE intervention emphasizes the role of domain knowledge and reading engagement in supporting reading comprehension. MORE lessons included a 10-day thematic unit that provided a framework for students to connect new learning to a meaningful schema (i.e., Arctic animal survival) and to pursue mastery goals for acquiring domain knowledge. A total of 38 first-grade classrooms (N = 674 students) within 10 elementary schools were randomly assigned to (a) MORE at school (MS), (b) MORE at home, (MS-H), in which the MS condition included at-home reading, or (c) typical instruction. Since there were minimal differences in procedures between the MS and MS-H conditions, the main analyses combined the two treatment groups. Findings from hierarchical linear models revealed that the MORE intervention had a positive and significant effect on science domain knowledge, as measured by vocabulary knowledge depth (effect size ES = 0.30), listening comprehension (ES = 0.40), and argumentative writing (ES = 0.24). The MORE intervention effects on reading engagement as measured by situational interest, reading motivation, and task orientations were not statistically significant. However, the intervention had a significant, positive effect on a distal measure of reading comprehension (ES = 0.11), and there was no evidence of Treatment × Aptitude interaction effects. Content literacy can facilitate first graders' acquisition of science domain knowledge and reading comprehension without contributing to Matthew effects.
ABSTRACT
Research has indicated that reading aloud to young students can enhance their foundational reading skills and their reading motivation, but such research has been lacking in African ...contexts. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of story read‐aloud lessons in improving students’ foundational reading skills in Nigeria. The experiment took place in a cluster randomized trial of 199 schools in Northern Nigeria. In treatment schools, second‐grade teachers conducted weekly read‐aloud lessons as an addition to the core learning curriculum. In control schools, second‐grade teachers implemented only the core curriculum, without weekly read‐aloud lessons. We found that story read‐alouds led to positive effects on listening comprehension, letter sound recognition, nonword decoding, and reading fluency, with effect sizes between 0.17 and 0.33 standard deviations. These outcomes suggest that enhanced student motivation from read‐alouds may enhance text‐based skills. To identify the effects of increased teacher experience on read‐aloud effectiveness, we employed a two‐period difference‐in‐differences approach. We found that increased teacher experience explained between 26% and 51% of the overall read‐aloud effect, depending on the literacy subskill. We also found that the read‐aloud effects coupled with increased teacher experience had an equalizing effect on the reading outcomes of students from divergent home literacy environments.
It is well established that phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks reliably predict children's developing word reading abilities across a wide range of languages. ...However, existing research has not yet demonstrated unequivocally whether RAN and PA are independently and causally linked to reading, nor has it fully explored the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Most existing research has assessed PA and RAN in children who may already have some reading skill, making direction of influence hard to ascertain. To address this, the current longitudinal research initially assessed RAN and PA in a very young sample of 91 English children (M age = 3 years 11 months; SD = 3.7 months) demonstrated to be nonreaders. Children were reassessed on RAN, PA, and word-level reading at 18 months (Time 2) and then a further year later (Time 3). To explore underlying mechanisms, separate measures of reading accuracy and fluency were taken, and reading tasks varied according to the extent to which they required alphabetic decoding and lexical, orthographic knowledge. Path analyses revealed that from Time 1 to Time 2, both RAN and PA predicted word reading, indicating temporal precedence, though there was some degree of reciprocity in these relationships. However, by Time 3, while RAN still predicted accuracy and fluency of reading, PA only predicted reading accuracy. Furthermore, findings suggested that while RAN was robustly related to both alphabetic decoding and lexical, orthographic aspects of reading, PA's relationship was restricted to alphabetic decoding accuracy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
This longitudinal study showed that preschool children's phonological awareness (sensitivity to sounds in words) and performance in rapid automatized naming (RAN; fluency in naming familiar objects) went on to predict first steps in alphabetic decoding skill. However, only RAN was also linked to lexical (sight vocabulary) development and to both fluency and accuracy in reading a further year later. Findings have implications for early screening of potential reading difficulties and for the development of effective interventions.
We present a meta-analysis to test the validity of the Simple View of Reading Gough & Tunmer (Remedial and Special Education, 7:6—10, 1986) for beginner readers of English and other, more ...transparent, orthographies. Our meta-analytic approach established that the relative influence of decoding and linguistic comprehension on reading comprehension is different for readers of different types of orthography during the course of early reading development. Furthermore, we identified key differences in the relations among different measures of decoding and reading comprehension between readers of English and other more transparent orthographies. We discuss the implications for reading instruction and the diagnosis of reading difficulties, as well as our theoretical understanding of how component skills influence reading comprehension level.
We examined the developmental relationships between home literacy environment (parent teaching, shared book reading) and emergent literacy skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, ...vocabulary, rapid naming speed) in kindergarten, reading accuracy and fluency in Grade 1, and reading comprehension in Grades 2 and 3 in a sample of Canadian children learning to read English (N = 214). Results from a latent variable model showed that parent teaching predicted letter knowledge and phonological awareness, and shared book reading predicted vocabulary and rapid naming speed after controlling for family socioeconomic status. Moreover, both parent teaching and shared book reading contributed indirectly to reading accuracy and fluency in Grade 1, which then mediated the effects of home literacy environment on reading comprehension in Grades 2 and 3. The results suggest that the effects of home literacy environment on later reading development are distributed via more pathways than previously thought.
This study examined developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Grades 1 to 9 (ages 7 to 15) in a large Finnish sample (N = 2,518). In addition, early predictors of the ...profiles were analyzed with respect to kindergarten cognitive skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automized naming RAN, number counting, word reading, vocabulary, and listening comprehension), parental factors (level of education, reading difficulties), and gender. Four different profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension development were identified using latent profile analysis. These comprised one profile with persistent reading difficulties across the grades, one with early poor reading skills but with a resolving tendency, one with average reading skills, and one with good readers who started with very high reading fluency but scored average over time. Of the kindergarten measures, parental reading difficulties, being male, low paternal level of education, slow RAN, difficulty in reading easy words, and low scores in phonological skills, letter knowledge, number counting, and vocabulary predicted reading difficulties. The children belonging to the profile with the resolving tendency showed an increased rate of family risk and multiple cognitive deficits but managed to resolve their reading difficulties. Being female, and good number counting and vocabulary skills predicted a tendency to resolve early reading difficulties. The results confirm the previous findings on the early predictors of reading difficulties and add to the literature by identifying skills that predict resolving patterns.
Intentional from the Start Helmers, Carolyn; Vincent, Susan
Stenhouse Publishers,
2021, 2021-00-00, 2023-10-10
eBook, Book
In
Intentional from the Start: Guiding Emergent Readers in Small Groups
, Carolyn Helmers and Susan Vincent take a concentrated look at the often-underestimated reading and writing work that occurs ...during the emergent reading stages of literacy development (PreA-D) and the seemingly simplistic books we use to teach them in small-group guided reading. Though both may appear unsophisticated, these earliest readers and the texts we use to meet their needs are each unique and full of nuances that generally go overlooked.
The authors explore how emergent readers learn best and position text levels appropriately in the service of students. They also turn their attention to a comprehensive exploration of the particular needs of emergent readers and how the work they do at text levels PreA-D lays a critical foundation necessary for them to continue growing successfully into text levels E and beyond. As they examine the needs of learners working at each emergent text level individually, the authors:
Detail specific demands books in that text level make on young readers and the best ways to coach students as they work through them
Highlight instructional procedures for reading, writing, and word study that can be implemented immediately at your small group table
Suggest optimal schedules, techniques, and formats for efficient instruction at that level
Unpack the book characteristics specific to that level and demonstrate ways to capitalize on them to intentionally support emergent readers and writers.
With plenty of useful classroom examples, as well as additional online resources with literacy center ideas that correlate directly with the work students are doing at particular levels, this book is a resource your emergent reading teacher heart will reach for again and again.
This open access book is a unique study of the impact of lived experience on literate life, exploring how children’s reading development is affected by their home setting, and how this sense of place ...influences textual interpretation of the books they read. Based on qualitative research and structured around interviews with twelve participants, Space, Place and Children’s Reading Development focuses on the digital maps and artistic renderings these readers were asked to create of a place (real or imagined) that they felt reflected their literate youth, and the discussions that followed about these maps and their evolution as readers. Analysing the participant’s responses, Margaret Mackey looks at the rich insights offered about the impact on childhood stability after experiences such as migration; the “reading spaces” children make based on their social relationships and domestic spheres; the creation of “textual spaces” and the significance of the recurring motif of forests in the participants’ maps; the importance of the Harry Potter novels; the basis of life-long reading habits; psychological spaces and whether readers visualize when they read. Blending theoretical perspectives on reading from many disciplines with the personal experiences of readers of diverse nationalities, languages, disciplinary interests, and life experiences, this is an enlightening account of the behaviors of readers, reading histories, and place-based reader responses to literature. By building greater understanding about the broad and subtle processes that enable people to read, this study refines the kind of questions we ask about reading and moves towards developing a multidisciplinary language for the study and discussion of reading practices in contemporary times. The open access edition of this book is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
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