Early Literacy Skills and Later Reading and Writing Performance Across Countries: The Effects of Orthographic Consistency and Preschool Curriculum

Marinella Majorano,Tamara Bastianello,Lisa Vescogni,Raluca Trifu,An Standaert,Dorina Talas,Marco Lombardi,Eddy Hoste,Patrizia Fantuzzi,Valentina Persici,Carolina Bodea-Hategan,Giulia Fontana

doi:10.1007/s10566-021-09611-7

Abstract

BackgroundStudies have reported a strong association between children's early literacy skills at preschool and their reading and writing skills at primary school. However, it is unclear whether this association is affected by language and curriculum practices.ObjectiveThe study investigates (i) whether early literacy skills are influenced by orthographic consistency and by preschool curriculum, and (ii) how early skills are related to later literacy skills across countries.MethodThree countries, Italy (n = 73), Romania (n = 65), and Belgium (n = 109) were involved in the study, for a total of 247 children. Language and early literacy in preschool were assessed using a novel assessment tool (the ‘Talk’). Early visual-phonological and manual aspects integration were investigated using rapid automatized naming and grapho-motor tasks. The children’s reading and writing skills nine months later were assessed using standardized tests.ResultsResults showed higher early literacy scores for the groups of children speaking languages with more transparent orthographic systems and for the group taking part in preschool activities designed to enhance literacy acquisition. Later reading and writing skills were predicted by early competences, albeit with differences across countries.ConclusionsFindings suggest that literacy acquisition trajectories are not only associated with early skills but are also influenced by language characteristics and curriculum practices. The study also presents preliminary findings relative to the ‘Talk’, an assessment tool that may have important implications for early identification and intervention of language and literacy difficulties, as well as for improving cross-country curriculum practices.

Highlights

Studies have shown that the possession of the skills that are at the basis of literacy acquisition at preschool is associated with more successful reading and writing acquisition processes at primary school
The first aim of the present study was to assess whether variability in the skills that are at the basis of literacy acquisition across countries is influenced by the orthographic transparency of the language spoken and/ or by the curriculum activities carried out at preschool
We hypothesized that Italian and Romanian children would score better than Flemish children in the Talk assessment and in the Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) task and that all children would score in the grapho-motor task

Summary

Introduction

Studies have shown that the possession of the skills that are at the basis of literacy acquisition at preschool is associated with more successful reading and writing acquisition processes at primary school. Literacy acquisition entails the development of the ability to discriminate, encode, and manipulate the language sound structures (i.e., phonological awareness; Bar-Kochav & Nevo, 2019; Daffern, 2018; Goswami, 2014; Lervåg et al, 2009; Pennington et al, 2001; see Melby-Lervåg et al, 2012, for a review); the ability to store them in memory (i.e., phonological memory; Gray et al, 2019); the ability to manipulate and combine meaningful language units (i.e., morpho-syntax; Snowling et al, 2003); the ability to quickly retrieve and produce words (measured using Rapid Automatic Naming tasks, hereafter RAN; see Araújo et al, 2015, for a meta-analysis; see Kirby et al, 2010, and Norton & Wolf, 2012, for a review); the ability to produce language and express ideas (Cain & Oakhill, 2011; Quinn et al, 2015; Sénéchal et al, 2006); and the ability to coordinate visual and motor processes (or visual-motor coordination; Dinehart, 2015; Zemlock, Binci-Booher, & James, 2018) Assessing these skills at an early stage of the child’s life is important, as a delay in their development may be an early sign of a language delay or a reading disorder. The study presents preliminary findings relative to the ‘Talk’, an assessment tool that may have important implications for early identification and intervention of language and literacy difficulties, as well as for improving cross-country curriculum practices

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