In this study, we aimed to determine the early cognitive and home environmental predictors of reading in Turkish‐speaking children. A total of 362 children participated in the study. We monitored the ...children for 3 years and assessed the home environmental variables and cognitive skills in kindergarten, reading fluency at the end of the first grade, and reading comprehension at the end of the second grade. We found that home literacy environment and socioeconomic status predicted early literacy skills in kindergarten as they also predicted reading fluency and reading comprehension through early literacy in later years. In addition, we found that phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming predicted reading fluency, while language and verbal working memory predicted reading comprehension. The results of the study showed us that it is important to consider reading and reading comprehension in Turkish‐speaking children holistically, together with cognitive skills and home environmental variables.
Practitioner Points
Early cognitive and home environmental factors affect the development of reading and reading comprehension in Turkish‐speaking children.
Early home literacy environment and socioeconomic status predict reading success through early cognitive factors.
Phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming are essential variables for the development of reading fluency in Turkish, a highly transparent language.
This study investigated endogenous and exogenous predictors of early literacy in Turkish-speaking children. Whether children's language and working memory performances (as the endogenous factors) and ...home literacy environment (as the exogenous factor) in the beginning of kindergarten predict the children's current and year-end early literacy skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, receptive and expressive vocabulary) was examined. The participants consisted of 441 kindergarten children. Results showed that language development, working memory, and home reading environment predicted children's both current and year-end phonological awareness. Language and home writing activities were significant predictors of the year-end letter knowledge. Working memory was a significant predictor for both the current and year-end letter knowledge. Language, working memory and home reading environment significantly predicted the acquisition of receptive and expressive vocabulary. In conclusion, results suggest that each of the early literacy skills is related to both the developmental characteristics of children and their home literacy environment.
The purpose of this study was to examine the power of phonological awareness and rapid naming longitudinally in predicting reading achievement in a highly transparent orthography, Turkish. Children ...were followed in kindergarten and first grade and assessed at four time points. While phonological awareness and rapid naming skills of children were assessed in the fall and spring semesters of kindergarten and in the fall semester of first grade, their reading skills were assessed at the end of fall semester of first grade. A total of 365 children participated in all assessments. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the prediction status of phonological awareness and rapid naming on reading achievement. Results revealed that although phonological awareness was a better predictor of reading than rapid naming, both skills predicted reading achievement significantly at all three time points, and that the contribution of these skills to reading differed at various points in time. In conclusion phonological awareness and rapid naming are strong predictors of reading achievement in a highly transparent orthography as indicated by the previous research. Thus, by assessing these skills, children at risk for reading difficulties can be identified and supported early to increase their chance of success in school.
Araştırmada, anasınıfına devam
eden ve düşük anne eğitim düzeyine sahip çocukların sözcük bilgisi ve
sesbilgisel farkındalık becerilerinin gelişimsel profillerinin daha üst anne
eğitim düzeyine sahip ...çocuklarla karşılaştırmalı olarak incelenmesi
amaçlanmıştır. Çocuklar anasınıfının güz, bahar ve birinci sınıfın güz
döneminde değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırmaya normal gelişim gösteren ve anadili
Türkçe olan 531 çocuk katılmıştır. Çocukların sözcük bilgileri Türkçe İfade
Edici ve Alıcı Dil Testi, sesbilgisel farkındalık becerileri ise Erken
Okuryazarlık Testinin Sesbilgisel Farkındalık alt alanı ile
değerlendirilmiştir. Anne eğitim düzeyleri, ilkokul, ortaokul, lise, lisans ve
lisansüstü olmak üzere beş düzeyde sınıflandırılmıştır. Karma model varyans
analizi ile gerçekleştirilen analizler sonucunda anne eğitim düzeyleri farklı
olan çocukların sözcük bilgileri ve sesbilgisel farkındalık becerilerinin üç
dönem için benzer oranda değişim gösterdiği belirlenmiştir. Anneleri ilkokul,
ortaokul ve lise mezunu olan çocuklar sözcük bilgisi ve sesbilgisel farkındalık
becerilerinde anneleri lisans ve lisansüstü mezunu olan çocuklara göre daha düşük
performans göstermişlerdir. Sonuçlar bu becerilerde düşük performans göstererek
anasınıfına başlayan çocukların ilerleyen dönemlerde de düşük performans
göstermeye devam ettiklerini ve bu açıdan risk grubunda
değerlendirilebileceklerini göstermektedir.
In this study, we aimed to compare the early literacy skills and home literacy environment (HLE) of children on the autism spectrum and typically developing (TD) children, and to determine the ...predictors of early literacy skills in children on the autism spectrum. The sample in this study consisted of 30 children on the autism spectrum and 31 TD children whose receptive language ages were matched. Results indicated that children on the autism spectrum had significantly higher letter knowledge and significantly lower phonological awareness and vocabulary compared with TD children. No significant difference was found between the groups in terms of the HLE. Moreover, nonverbal cognitive ability predicted letter knowledge, and language and working memory predicted both vocabulary and phonological awareness.
Research has often emphasised that children who experience difficulties in learning to read get poorer in their performance, and the gap between good and poor readers increases over time which ...describes the well-accepted phenomenon called the Mathew Effect. However, some studies have shown that the Matthew Effect has not been confirmed. In this study, the reading growth curves of Turkish-speaking children and the existence of the Matthew Effect in their performances were examined. For this purpose, the reading skills of 482 children were measured twice a year in the first and second grades. A quadratic growth model successfully fit the data to explain overall reading performance across four-time points. Further, three latent classes, named as good, moderate, and poor readers, were identified on the basis of individual trajectories. Accordingly, the difference in performance between good readers and poor readers continued in all time points. Although the difference between classes continued to increase especially in the second and third time points, and supported the Matthew Effect, it showed a horizontal slope in the fourth time point. This slope shows that reading differences between classes may close in the future. The results were discussed on the basis of Turkish sample.
Bu araştırmada öğrenme güçlüğü olan ve normal gelişim gösteren çocukların (yüz ifadeleri, hareket/duruş, ses tonları ve sosyal hikayelerle aktarılan) duyguları tanıma becerileri ve isimlendirme ...süreleri karşılaştırılmıştır. Çalışma grubunu üçüncü, dördüncü, beşinci sınıfa devam eden 60 öğrenme güçlüğü olan ve 60 normal gelişim gösteren toplam 120 çocuk oluşturmuştur. Değerlendirmeler “Sözel Olmayan İpuçlarını Algılama Becerilerini (SOİAB) Değerlendirme Aracı” kullanılarak yapılmıştır. Çocuklardan, değerlendirme aracında yer alan 6 duyguyu (mutluluk, üzüntü, kızgınlık, korku, şaşkınlık ve tiksinme) isimlendirmeleri istenmiştir. Tek yönlü varyans analizi sonucunda, öğrenme güçlüğü olan çocukların duyguları tanımada normal gelişim gösteren akranlarından daha düşük performans gösterdikleri ve duyguları daha yavaş isimlendirdikleri belirlenmiştir. Mutluluk, yüz ifadeleri ve sosyal hikayeler alanlarında tüm çocuklar tarafından en doğru yanıtlanan duygu olmuştur. Korku duygusu yüz ifadeleri alanında en sık şaşkınlıkla karıştırılmıştır. Çocuklar korku duygusunu en kolay hareket/duruş alanında tanırken; kızgınlığı en kolay ses tonları alanında tanımışlardır. Elde edilen sonuçlar alanyazın çerçevesinde tartışılmış ve öneriler sunulmuştur.