Effects of three early literacy interventions in the preschool classroom: comparing phonological awareness training, dialogic reading, and a combination condition in small groups

Abstract

Phonological awareness, oral language, alphabet knowledge, and print awareness are the building blocks for emergent literacy. These skills can be divided into embedded and explicit domains of early literacy interventions. Dialogic reading, a well-researched embedded method of reading intervention, incorporates oral language and print awareness through adult-child storybook reading. Phonological awareness interventions utilize explicit skills such as phonemic instruction and letter knowledge to increase early literacy. The current study examined three early literacy interventions, dialogic reading, phonological awareness, and a combination condition, in comparison with each other and a control condition. Thirty-seven preschool children were randomly assigned to a condition and interventions were carried out in small groups for four weeks. Each child was assessed using measures of letter naming, initial sound, and word use prior to and following the investigation along with two progress monitoring assessment sessions equally spaced during the study. Results offered evidence to support significant changes in early literacy skills over a short period of time as well as underscoring the benefits of regular progress monitoring with preschool age students. Future research is needed to examine these treatment conditions for with an at-risk population and include follow-up data in order to examine whether one proves to be superior in increasing early literacy skills.