Development Of Early Literacy Skills Research Articles

Using Empirical Information to Prioritize Early Literacy Assessment and Instruction in Preschool and Kindergarten

Early literacy skill development predicts later reading success, and development of skills in specific domains during the preschool years has been established as both a prerequisite and precursory for reading. Early literacy assessments typically include measures of separate skills across domains, and results can assist with determining where instructions may be most needed. When multiple areas of need are identified, understanding which skills to prioritize can be a challenge. Therefore, empirically identifying the relative contribution of each skill measured in preschool to subsequent reading success can promote more efficient systems of assessment. This study, conducted in the United States, examined the predictive validity of early literacy skills measured in preschool compared to skills measured in kindergarten, with a specific practical focus on identifying the most efficient predictive model for understanding reading readiness. Participants were 119 preschoolers (mean age = 66 months) who mostly spoke English as their primary language (79%). Results indicated early literacy and language skills in preschool are highly predictive of early reading in kindergarten, accounting for 59% of the variance in a reading composite score. The most parsimonious model indicated that first sounds, letter sounds, early comprehension, and expressive vocabulary measures adequately explained 52% of the variance in children’s kindergarten reading performance.

Teachers’ perceptions of letter learning among adults: The case of basic literacy education in Swedish for immigrants

This article sets out to examine teacher perceptions of letter learning in literacy programmes for L2-adults with limited earlier schooling, as demonstrated in their teaching. The theoretical frame is taken from New Literacy Studies, with literacy perceived as socially shared and organised. The study draws on occasions during lesson observations where teachers addressed the issue of coding and decoding of letters. Findings suggest that these teachers follow patterns that build on assumptions and traditions with roots in the teaching of L1 children and use the material that they have at hand. The teachers’ prosodic knowledge in relation to letters and spelling was insufficient. We argue that when teachers are not aware of the phonetic and phonological challenges facing adult L2 learners, they may not give students enough support in their development of early literacy skills. Although explicit letter teaching represents only a small part of overall teaching, if teachers miss out on phonetic and phonological knowledge, they may not be able to identify difficulties for students and may even create unnecessary stumbling blocks for them. We conclude that there is a strong need for the development of basic literacy education for L2-adults to include both teacher knowledge and teaching aids.

A Teacher‑Implemented Shared‑Reading Intervention to Promote Early Literacy Skills of Preschoolers Children in Turkey

This study was conducted in a preschool in Hatay, Turkey. The effect of the shared-reading method on the early literacy skills of preschool children is examined. Four preschool classes (two experiments and two control) participated in the research. Tools included the intervention program, intervention checklists, interviews, and early literacy skills tests. Pretests were applied to both groups. The first took a 12-week intervention. Post-tests revealed that children in the experimental showed significant improvement and improvement in early literacy skills compared to baseline performance results. The findings provide educators with an understanding of ways to foster the development of early literacy skills at the preschool level.

Maternal warmth moderates the longitudinal associations of family economic pressure with early reading and writing skills among Chinese children

Little is known about the joint role of family poverty and parent-child relationships in the development of early literacy skills—a strong predictor of later cognitive and academic outcomes—among Chinese children. This study examined the longitudinal associations of family economic pressure with early Chinese reading and writing skills and tested maternal warmth as a moderator. Participants were 330 kindergarten children (mean age at Time 1 = 4.81 years; 56 % were girls) and their mothers from Hong Kong, China. Children completed tests on Chinese word reading and writing at Times 1 and 2; mothers completed questionnaires on family economic pressure and parental warmth at Time 1. Multilevel models indicated that family economic pressure was linked to declines in child Chinese word reading and writing skills for children with low but not high maternal warmth, highlighting the possibility of targeting maternal warmth to promote child development in financially disadvantaged Chinese families.

The contribution of inhibitory control to early literacy skills in 4‐ to 5‐year‐old children

Inhibitory control is associated with the pre-academic skills, nevertheless it is unclear the role of the diverse inhibitory control dimensions especially in the development of early literacy skills. In the present longitudinal study, the multi-componential structure of inhibitory control was investigated, and the roles of two different inhibitory control abilities were examined with respect to early literacy skills, with other variables (vocabulary, working memory, and visual-motor integration skills) controlled. A sample of 147 typically developing children from 4 to 5 years of age was assessed in the winter (T1) and then in the spring (T2) at a preschool educational center. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a response inhibition dimension and an interference suppression dimension. Path analysis was conducted to examine the contribution of these dimensions, considered formative indices, on phonological awareness and procedural writing knowledge, with the other variables controlled. The latent change score approach was used to investigate the variables associated with change in phonological awareness and procedural writing knowledge at T1 and T2. Our results demonstrated that interference suppression was concurrently associated with phonological awareness and procedural writing knowledge tasks together with the other measures at T1. Moreover, interference suppression is associated with changes in phonological awareness, whereas the other measures did not contribute significantly to literacy growth.

Early literacy skill development and motivation in the low-income context of Haiti

Research on literacy interventions occasionally focuses on motivation, but such research in low- and mid-income countries is all but nonexistent. Recently, Guzmán, Schuenke-Lucien, D’Agostino, Berends, & Elliot (2021) demonstrated that an intervention, Read to Learn, had a positive influence on literacy skills of first and second grade Haitian students; motivation was assessed, but not examined, in that study. We used the Guzmán, Schuenke-Lucien, D’Agostino, Berends, & Elliot (2021) data set and an integrative conceptual approach to test relations between the intervention, seven theoretically-grounded achievement motivation variables, and two “gold standard” outcomes – reading achievement and intrinsic interest in reading. Results showed that the intervention had a positive influence on mastery-approach goals and importance, and that these variables predicted several indicators of achievement and intrinsic interest; indirect effects of these motivational processes were documented for one indicator of achievement and for intrinsic interest. Findings are discussed with regard to the need for more research on reading motivation in low-income contexts.

Development of a French‐language early literacy scale: structural analysis and links between the dimensions of early literacy

BackgroundThe development of early literacy skills in preschoolers is an important predictor of future academic performance. Four main domains of early literacy are currently observed: letter knowledge, vocabulary, phonological awareness and oral comprehension. A multiplicity of tasks or tests measures these domains in English language. However, there are currently no French‐language tools for evaluating and monitoring the early literacy abilities of young children in francophone contexts.MethodsThis paper addresses this lack by presenting a new French‐language scale – the Echelle Préscolaire de Littératie Emergente (EPLE) – for assessing the early literacy skills of preschoolers. In addition to examining the EPLE's psychometric properties, we used path analysis to determine possible links between different dimensions of early literacy and children's characteristics (sex, age and socioeconomic status).ResultsThis study involves 167 French preschoolers (mean = 5.17 years, standard deviation = 0.59) attending kindergarten. All the participants were tested individually, and a specific entry in the tasks was proposed depending on the age of the children. First, the EPLE had good psychometric properties. Then, factor analysis of the data collected revealed a similar hierarchical factor structure as found in the literature. In addition, we found links between the four dimensions of early literacy measured by the EPLE and both children's age and socioeconomic status.ConclusionThe EPLE creates several new opportunities for early literacy research in French‐speaking contexts. First, this tool reduces the gap in the field of testing young children skills. Then, it allows the comparison with worldwide researches. Moreover, this tool proposes pedagogical implications. In the next few years, the EPLE will be used by teachers or school psychologists to test the early competences of French children.

Development of early literacy skills: A Comparison of two early literacy programmes

Abstract The aim of the present study is to monitor the effectiveness of a new conception of early literacy curriculum (in force since September 2016) which provides – unlike the previous one – a wide range of purposeful literacy practices and literacy events. The study compares graduates of previous early childhood literacy curriculum (tested in June 2016) with children who attended kindergarten in the years 2016-2019. Several indications of early literacy development were selected especially those that are culturally more sensitive, i.e. are significantly shaped by the social environment offering the broad spectrum of reading experiences. Results show statistically significant relationship of story listening comprehension with comprehension monitoring and narrative production, especially at the level of understanding the implicit meaning. The most profound group differences were found again in narratives and implicit meaning comprehension. On the other hand, no differences were found in indicators of phonemic awareness, comprehension monitoring and understanding the explicit meaning. The results are discussed in terms of their implications to educational practice.

Peran Orang Tua Dalam Perkembangan Ketrampilan Awal Literasi Anak

Background: Literacy is a supporting component of children's academic success. Literacy ability is influenced by interdependent language skills. Limitations on early literacy skills increase the chance of academic process obstacles at school age. The role of parents is crucial in the child's development process especially in literacy. Aim this study is to describe correlation between parental variabels and early literacy skills. Methods: This cross sectional research was conducted with a survey approach. The instrument was developed to explore demographic information, socioeconomic status, and the role of parents in developing early literacy skills. Statistic descriptive and correlation study was conducted to analyse 180 respondent data. Results: The role of parents has contributed to the development of early literacy skills. Parental history, mother's education, and language activities have a positive relationship with the development of early literacy skills. Conclusions: The role of parents is one of the multivariate variables that play a role in the development of early literacy skills. Further search is needed to see the extent of the role of parents in carrying out specific activities that are relevant to children's literacy abilities.

Literacy-related school readiness through play in Croatia

ABSTRACT Within the Croatian educational system, the school readiness programme is defined by the obligation of attending a pre-school curriculum in the year before school. Besides facilitating the transition into school, the programme also focuses on the development of early literacy skills, where play has a significant role. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyse the types of play being applied during this pre-school programme. Forty-two future educators (third-year students) and eight early childhood educators participated in the study. Qualitative methodology was used in the analysis of the students’ written preparation within the course Language-Communication Integrated Curriculum. It was found that most students independently developed incentives and use different types of play in their planning. Quantitative methodology was used to analyse collected data from observing educators enaging through different types of play, and similar results were determined. These findings suggest a positive impact on the development of early literacy skills and children's well-being. Since the different play activities did not carry equal elements of early literacy, the study has strong implications for the modification of educators’ study programmes in Croatia.

Describing patterns of early literacy skill development in the first year of school and reading instruction in a New Zealand sample.

This study describes trajectories of early literacy skill development of 99 children (n = 55 boys) in their first year of primary school in New Zealand (NZ). Children were assessed twice weekly for 8 weeks on Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2011) First Sound Fluency (FSF) and AIMSweb Letter Sound Fluency (LSF; Shinn & Shinn, 2002), with other early literacy and beginning reading skills assessed before and after progress monitoring. FSF and LSF growth trajectories were modeled separately. Multilevel modeling indicated improved performance; however, growth mixture modeling indicated 3 growth trajectories (i.e., latent classes; FSF and LSF, respectively): typical (77.6% of children, 65.7%), developing (10.8%, 14.6%), and limited progress (11.6%, 19.7%). Beginning of year screening was sometimes associated with latent class membership, whereas latent class membership differentiated mid- and year-end literacy skills. Results support progress monitoring of early literacy skills within the NZ context to aid earlier identification of children at-risk for difficulties with reading acquisition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring the Impact of Toy Libraries on Preschool Children's Early Literacy Development: From the Perspective of “Playing”

This study aims to adopt a perspective of “play” to explore the impact of toy libraries on preschool children’s early literacy development. This study is qualitative in nature, taking place in two toy libraries affiliated with public libraries which hold large-scale toy collections and have offered long-standing toy lending services. Observations and interviews were conducted to explore the caregiver-child interactions and conversations mediated by toy collections in toy libraries and their impact on the development of early literacy skills. Study participants included 76 preschool children, 62 caregivers, and 7 librarians. Findings suggest that the impact of using toy collections in the toy libraries on preschool children’s early literacy development included: print motivation, vocabulary, oral language, narrative skills, letter knowledge (including English letters and Chinese characters), and school readiness (including social skills, logical thinking, hand-eye coordination, attention and persistence, creativity, and interest exploration). Meanwhile, findings also show that toy libraries help alleviate family economic pressure and become a place for caregivers and preschool children to socialize and share learning resources.Keywords: Toy Libraries; Preschool Children; Early Literacy; Play; Qualitative Research 【摘要】本研究旨從「玩」的觀點探究玩具圖書館對學齡前兒童早期素養之影響。本研究採質性研究，以玩具借用服務年資長且玩具館藏較具有規模性的兩間附屬於公共圖書館的玩具圖書館作為研究場域，研究者透過觀察法與訪談法瞭解學齡前兒童在玩具圖書館透過玩具館藏和照護者產生的互動、對話的活動情形，並從活動過程中探討其對早期素養技能發展的影響。研究對象包含76位兒童、62位照護者、7位圖書館館員。研究結果顯示學齡前兒童到訪玩具圖書館使用玩具館藏對學齡前兒童在早期素養技能的培養具有啟蒙的作用，包含：愛好書籍、詞彙、口語表達及敘述能力、字母知識（包括：英文、中文）、學前準備（包含：邏輯思考、人際關係及分享的概念、手眼協調、專注力及耐心、創造力、探索興趣）。同時，也發現玩具圖書館的存在，能夠緩解家庭經濟壓力並成為照護者與學齡前兒童社會交流與學習資源共享的場所。關鍵字：玩具圖書館、學齡前兒童、早期素養、玩、質性研究

Does Introducing the Letters Faster Boost the Development of Children’s Letter Knowledge, Word Reading and Spelling in the First Year of School?

ABSTRACTLearning the relationships between letters and sounds is a key component of early literacy development and a central aim during the first year of school. Introducing one new letter a week is the most common approach in many countries, but little is known about how the pace of letter instruction contributes to the development of early literacy skills. This study used a natural experiment to investigate how a faster pace of letter instruction influences the development of letter knowledge, word reading, and spelling during the first year of school. Regression analysis showed that a faster pace yielded significantly better results for all outcome measures, and logistic-regression models showed that the lowest-performing children benefited more than the highest-performing one from a faster pace. The study concludes with a discussion of those novel findings and suggestions about their implications for teaching practice.

What Clinicians Need to Know About Early Literacy Development in Children With Hearing Loss.

Purpose Children with hearing loss may not reach the same level of reading proficiency as their peers with typical development. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have important roles to play in preventing this problem early in children's development. In this tutorial, we aim to communicate how the habilitation practices of audiologists and intervention services of SLPs can support early literacy skill development in children with hearing loss. Method We describe key findings from peer-reviewed research articles to provide a review of early literacy skill development, to explain the relationship between early literacy skills and conventional reading skills, and to highlight findings from early literacy skill intervention studies that included children with hearing loss who use spoken language. We conclude with a hypothetical case study to illustrate how audiologists and SLPs can support early literacy acquisition in children with hearing loss. Conclusion Findings from studies of young children with hearing loss suggest that a promising approach to improving reading outcomes is to provide explicit early literacy instruction and intervention.

Examining the Impacts of Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy (SEEL): Attention to Teacher Practices and Classroom Effects Across the Kindergarten Year

ABSTRACTThis study examined teachers’ implementation of an early literacy intervention, Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy (SEEL), on kindergarten children’s development of early literacy skills. One hundred forty-nine kindergarten children (102 treatment) across six classrooms participated in this study. Results reveal that children who received SEEL instruction evidenced greater learning outcomes in relation to children in the comparison group on rhyme awareness, rhyme generation, letter knowledge, and letter-sound association but not on spelling, blending, or reading tasks. Results also reveal that children with limited phonological skills benefited most from the intervention, in that they made significantly greater gains in literacy skills than children with more proficient phonological skills. Results are examined with attention to teachers’ fidelity of SEEL implementation. Findings are discussed in relation to the important role that intervention fidelity has on teachers’ implementation of systematic and engaging instruction and its effect on children’s letter knowledge and phonological awareness development.

Fostering parent–child dialog through automated discussion suggestions

The development of early literacy skills has been critically linked to a child's later academic success. In particular, repeated studies have shown that reading aloud to children and providing opportunities for them to discuss the stories that they hear is of utmost importance to later academic success. CloudPrimer is a tablet-based interactive reading primer that aims to foster early literacy skills by supporting parents in shared reading with their children through user-targeted discussion topic suggestions. The tablet application records discussions between parents and children as they read a story and, in combination with a common sense knowledge base, leverages this information to produce suggestions. Because of the unique challenges presented by our application, the suggestion generation method relies on a novel topic modeling method that is based on semantic graph topology. We conducted a user study in which we compared how delivering suggestions generated by our approach compares to expert-crafted suggestions. Our results show that our system can successfully improve engagement and parent---child reading practices in the absence of a literacy expert's tutoring.

Practices and Challenges of Writing Instruction in K-2 Classrooms: A Case Study of Five Primary Grade Teachers

Given the interrelated role of writing and the development of early literacy skills, recommendations have been made to increase instructional writing experiences in K-2 classrooms. In an effort to increase the amount of writing in the primary grades that leads to later literacy success, it is important that teachers engage in instructional practices that align with how early writing skills develop in young children. To this end, early childhood teachers and teacher educators can benefit from an enhanced understanding of the writing instructional practices teachers have engaged in and the associated challenges they have experienced as they respond to the expectation to increase writing experiences in their classrooms. Thus the purpose of this study was to examine how five K-2 teachers perceived, implemented, and reflected on writing instruction in their classrooms. Using a case study design, researchers examined interview, survey, and observational data, resulting in an in-depth description and analysis of the writing instructional experiences of these five teachers. Qualitative analyses identified two meta-themes related to writing instruction: opportunities and obstacles. Implications for K-2 teacher preparation and professional development are discussed.

Links between preschoolers' literacy interest, inattention, and emergent literacy skills

There is strong evidence that inattention and interest are associated with academic-related skills in school-age children. However, less research has examined the unique and overlapping relations between these constructs in early childhood. This study examined the relations between inattention, literacy interest, and early literacy development in 169 preschool-age children. Inattention was assessed with both teacher reports and a continuous performance test. Literacy interest, as a component of motivation for literacy, was assessed with parent reports, and early literacy skills were assessed with the Test of Preschool Early Literacy. Inattention and literacy interest uniquely related to each other and to early literacy skills in regression analyses. Mediation analysis indicated that the relation between inattention and early literacy skills was partially mediated by children's interest in literacy. These findings indicate that literacy interest and inattentive behaviors contribute individually, directly, and indirectly to the development of early literacy skills.

Executive functioning and reading achievement in school: a study of Brazilian children assessed by their teachers as "poor readers".

This study examined executive functioning and reading achievement in 106 6- to 8-year-old Brazilian children from a range of social backgrounds of whom approximately half lived below the poverty line. A particular focus was to explore the executive function profile of children whose classroom reading performance was judged below standard by their teachers and who were matched to controls on chronological age, sex, school type (private or public), domicile (Salvador/BA or São Paulo/SP) and socioeconomic status. Children completed a battery of 12 executive function tasks that were conceptual tapping cognitive flexibility, working memory, inhibition and selective attention. Each executive function domain was assessed by several tasks. Principal component analysis extracted four factors that were labeled “Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility,” “Interference Suppression,” “Selective Attention,” and “Response Inhibition.” Individual differences in executive functioning components made differential contributions to early reading achievement. The Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility factor emerged as the best predictor of reading. Group comparisons on computed factor scores showed that struggling readers displayed limitations in Working Memory/Cognitive Flexibility, but not in other executive function components, compared to more skilled readers. These results validate the account that working memory capacity provides a crucial building block for the development of early literacy skills and extends it to a population of early readers of Portuguese from Brazil. The study suggests that deficits in working memory/cognitive flexibility might represent one contributing factor to reading difficulties in early readers. This might have important implications for how educators might intervene with children at risk of academic under achievement.

Redefining Individual Growth and Development Indicators

Learning to read is one of the most important indicators of academic achievement. The development of early literacy skills during the preschool years is associated with improved reading outcomes in later grades. One of these skill areas, phonological awareness, shows particular importance because of its strong link to later reading success. Presented here are two studies that describe the development and revision of four measures of phonological awareness skills: Individual Growth and Development Indicators Sound Blending, Syllable Sameness, Rhyming, and Alliteration 2.0. The authors discuss the measure development process, revision, and utility within an early childhood Response to Intervention framework.