DIRECT VERSUS INDIRECT ENVIRONMENTAL PRINT INSTRUCTION AND EARLY READING ABILITY IN KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN

Abstract

By the time most young children come to kindergarten they have been exposed to a barrage of print in their environment such as logos, billboards, signs, labels, clothing, and fast‐food paraphernalia. A study was conducted to ascertain if there were any significant differences in the early reading ability of kindergarten children who received direct instruction with environmental print; those who received indirect (center‐based) instruction with environmental print; and those who received no instruction with environmental print. One hundred and six kindergarten children from six classrooms in a large inner‐city school system in the Southeastern United States composed the convenience sample. A quasi‐experimental pre‐ and post‐test design was used with two classes designated as the control group; two classes receiving direct instruction with environmental print activities; and two classes receiving indirect instruction with environmental print activities. The research was conducted in three phases which included pretest, treatment, and post‐test phases. The Test of Early Reading Ability ‐‐ 2 was individually administered followed by a treatment period which lasted 8 months. The first author modeled lessons for the direct instruction group and assisted in setting up the learning centers for the indirect instruction group. The control group teachers were instructed not to use any environmental print activities. An analysis of covariance was used to ascertain any differences between the three groups on the pre‐ and post‐test scores of the TERA‐2. After several statistical procedures were applied, it was revealed that the control group and the indirect instruction groups scored significantly higher than the direct instruction group.