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Longitudinal Contributions of Phonemic Awareness to Reading Greek Beyond Estimation of Verbal Ability and Morphological Awareness

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Abstract

This longitudinal study considers the contributions of language awareness to children’s learning to read and spell. The aim of the study was to examine whether the connection between phonemic awareness and literacy in Greek is constant over time even when appropriate controls are taken into account. I examined this hypothesis with Greek Cypriot children (N = 404) ages 6 to 10. Results showed that after an interval of 8 months and even after I controlled for the estimation of verbal ability and morphological awareness, phonemic awareness predicted children’s performance in reading. Phonemic awareness predicted spelling only after I controlled for the estimation of verbal ability. In terms of the need to establish more general theories about phonemic awareness and literacy, this study contributes the long-term relation between phonemic awareness and literacy in Greek. In practice, this study contributes valid measures for assessing phonemic and morphological awareness in Greek.

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... 2014; Binamé & Poncelet, 2016;De Bree & van der Boer, 2019;Furnes & Samuelsson, 2011;Georgiou et al., 2012;Georgiou et al., 2016;Harrison et al., 2016;Milburn et al., 2017;Moll et al., 2014;Nielsen & Juul, 2016;Ouellette & Senechal, 2017;Pinto et al., 2016;Pittas, 2018;Rothe et al., 2014;Vaessen & Blomert, 2013). These variables appear to correlate to a greater or lesser extent with writing, and their influence is modulated by the age or literacy of the students and by the linguistic complexity or consistency of the language (Bar- Kochva & Nevo, 2019;De Bree & van den Boer, 2019;Ferroni et al., 2016;Georgiou et al., 2012;Inoue et al., 2017;Juul et al., 2014;Pittas, 2018). ...
... 2014; Binamé & Poncelet, 2016;De Bree & van der Boer, 2019;Furnes & Samuelsson, 2011;Georgiou et al., 2012;Georgiou et al., 2016;Harrison et al., 2016;Milburn et al., 2017;Moll et al., 2014;Nielsen & Juul, 2016;Ouellette & Senechal, 2017;Pinto et al., 2016;Pittas, 2018;Rothe et al., 2014;Vaessen & Blomert, 2013). These variables appear to correlate to a greater or lesser extent with writing, and their influence is modulated by the age or literacy of the students and by the linguistic complexity or consistency of the language (Bar- Kochva & Nevo, 2019;De Bree & van den Boer, 2019;Ferroni et al., 2016;Georgiou et al., 2012;Inoue et al., 2017;Juul et al., 2014;Pittas, 2018). In particular, more transparent and consistent languages such as Spanish, Italian, Finnish, or Norwegian have a finer grain structure, because graphemes more accurately represent phonemes, while more opaque or inconsistent languages such as English, Danish, or Chinese have a coarser grain structure, as graphemes less accurately represents phonemes. ...
... Phonological awareness makes it easier to break words down into their phonemes and translate them into their corresponding graphemes in different transparent languages, making a relevant contribution to the explanation of word writing (Aram et al., 2014;Babayigit & Stainthorp, 2011;Biname & Poncelet, 2016;De Bree & van der Boer, 2019;Milburn et al., 2017;Moll et al., 2014;Nielsen & Juul, 2016;Pinto et al., 2016;Pittas, 2018;Vaessen & Blomert, 2013). Research evidence suggests that phonological awareness is a good predictor of writing words in Spanish at the beginning of the learning process, between the ages of 4 and 6 (Gutiérrez & Diez, 2018;Suárez-Coalla et al., 2013). ...
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Interest in the cognitive precursors of literacy has been increasing in recent years since reading and writing are essential components of functional learning in the first years of schooling and of school success in later educational stages. However, it can be observed that while studies on the relationship between cognitive variables and reading are frequent, those carried out about writing are scarcer and in different languages and ages. The purpose of this study is to explore the joint contribution made by certain cognitive variables, measured at the ages of 6 and 7, to word writing among Spanish children in the second year of Primary Education (7 years old). In this longitudinal study, 116 Spanish-speaking pupils participated, from schools located in an average socio-cultural area, without special educational needs. Participants were evaluated in terms of their letter knowledge, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric rapid automatised naming at 6 and 7 years of age, and word writing at 7 years of age. Descriptive-exploratory analyses, bivariate analyses, and multivariate regressions were modelled. In general, the findings show a different contribution for the cognitive variables considered in word writing at the age of seven, although this contribution does not vary substantially between the ages of 6 and 7 among Spanish pupils. Phonological knowledge at 6 and 7 years of age is the variable that best predicts the writing of words at 7 years. The contribution of non-alphanumeric speed naming remains constant and alphanumeric speed naming does not contribute to the explanation of writing at this age. Phonological memory at 6 years of age contributes to the explanation of writing at the age of 7 and letter knowledge contributes at the age of 7. These results have implications for educational practice and for the theory of writing acquisition in transparent languages.
... Most studies on the learning of writing in languages with different orthographic consistency analyse cognitive predictors such as letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatised naming, and phonological memory, although not together in many cases (Bar-Kochva & Nevo, 2019; Batnini & Uno, 2014; Binamé & Poncelet, 2016; de Bree & van der Boer, 2019;Georgiou et al., 2020;Harrison et al., 2016;Milburn et al., 2017;Moll et al., 2014;Nielsen & Juul, 2016;Ouellette & Senechal, 2017;Pinto et al., 2016). These variables appear to correlate to a greater or lesser extent with writing, and their influence is modulated by age and/or the linguistic complexity or consistency of the language (Bar- Kochva & Nevo, 2019;De Bree & van den Boer, 2019;Ferroni et al., 2016;Georgiou et al., 2016;Inoue et al., 2014;Pittas, 2018). In addition, in some languages, this relationship depends on whether reading is more transparent than writing, such as Greek or German (Verhoeven & Perfetti, 2022). ...
... Phonological awareness (PA) has also been found to be one of the most relevant predictors of writing in languages with different orthographic consistency since this makes it easier for learners to break down and identify the sounds of words, prior to their conversion into graphemes (Biname & Poncelet, 2016;De Bree & van der Boer, 2019;Malpique et al., 2020;Milburn et al., 2017;Moll et al., 2014;Nielsen & Juul, 2016;Pinto et al., 2016;Pittas, 2018;Suarez-Coalla et al. 2013;Vaessen & Blomert, 2013). However, its contribution to the explanation of writing differs according to the characteristics of the language and age of the schoolchildren (Ding et al., 2018). ...
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This study analyses the impact of certain cognitive processes on the writing of words in languages with different orthographic consistency (Spanish and Arabic) in the first and second years of Primary Education. One hundred twenty-eight schoolchildren from Ecuador and 109 from Algiers participated in this study. All the participants were aged between 6 and 7 years old, came from the middle classes, and had no special educational needs. We evaluated all the participants for word writing, knowledge of letters, phonological awareness, rapid automatised naming (alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric), and phonological memory. We performed descriptive-exploratory analyses and bivariate and multivariate regressions for the writing of words in each language. The results show that most of the cognitive variables considered do not contribute equally to the explanation of word writing in both languages at 6 and 7 years of age. However, in each language, at these ages, similar variables contribute to the explanation of word writing. These results have important implications for educational practice, as well as the explanatory theory of writing acquisition.
... A synthesis by Duncan (2018) indicates that morphological awareness explains additional variance in word reading from that of phonological awareness. The contribution of morphological awareness appears to be effective from the 3rd grade on, while the contribution of phonological awareness progressively decreases after the 2nd grade in English and French (Kirby et al., 2012;Mahony et al., 2000), and even faster in more consistent orthographies (Diamanti et al., 2017;Pittas, 2018). Moreover, morphology appears to facilitate immediate word recognition. ...
... This reciprocal link is likely to be influenced by the degree of consistency of the orthographic systems, as it has been shown that its strength is more important in inconsistent orthographies like English (Mousikou et al., 2020) than in consistent ones such as German, Greek and Norwegian. (Görgen et al., 2021;Pittas, 2018;Torkildsen et al., 2021). The potentially stronger reciprocal link between derivational morphology and reading may explain why morphological processes are more developed in English adults compared to French, German, or Italian readers, whereas morphological complexity is less important in English than in these other languages (Mousikou et al., 2020). ...
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Morphological awareness has been shown to contribute to the acquisition of literacy in various languages. The current study focuses on an explicit derivational morphology training program in French-speaking fourth graders with the aim of measuring direct effects on morphological awareness and transfer effects on spelling and reading. The intensive training given in class consisted of (1) learning how to segment words into smaller units and (2) understanding the meaning of affixes in relation to words. Thirty-six children received the morphology training and 34 age-matched participants followed an alternative visuo-semantic training matched for intensity. The results of this pre-post group comparison study show a significant Group by Time interaction: Substantial progress in morphological awareness is observed for the group trained in morphology, on both trained as well as on untrained items. A similar gain was observed for the spelling of morphologically derived words, for trained and untrained words. Both roots and affixes were spelled more accurately. For reading however, we found a learning effect in speed and accuracy on trained words, but no generalization to untrained words. All effects were maintained four months after training. These results highlight the role that morphology plays in children’s literacy development.
... This author reports that phoneme segmentation and blending skills are important constructs to develop optimal reading skills, especially in opaque orthographies. Furthermore, in Greek -a language with a transparent orthography -the early performance of children on PhA was related to their later reading skills (Pittas 2018). The moderately strong correlation found in the current study may be explained by the transparent orthography of Afrikaans. ...
... The moderately strong correlation found in the current study may be explained by the transparent orthography of Afrikaans. Transparent orthographies have a weaker association with PhA because of the consistency between phonemes and graphemes (Pittas 2018). However, some researchers propose that deficits in PhA skills may be a consequence of reading difficulties rather than a cause (Rakhlin et al. 2019). ...
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Background: Phonological awareness (PA) skills and working memory (WM) are universally regarded as crucial precursors to skilled reading. The orthography of the language being read influences the ease with which a child learns to read. Research has been undertaken on reading in languages with an opaque orthography. Research on the role of PA and WM in Afrikaans with its transparent orthography is limited. Aim: The study investigated and described the role of WM in the acquisition of PA and ultimately reading in Afrikaans. Setting: The research study was conducted in private schools with Afrikaans as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in Grade 2. Method: A descriptive research design with correlational components was applied. Results: Phonetic decoding was employed more than eidetic decoding. Word reading skills developed rapidly and exceeded the expectations in the first two quarters of the year. Participants who read the comprehension test fluently scored higher on the questions than those who did not read fluently. The correlation between WM and reading comprehension was not statistically significant. The statistically significant correlation between WM and word reading seems to be present in both transparent and opaque orthographies. The statistically significant correlation between PA and word reading was not found in other transparent orthographies. The correlation between phonemic awareness (PhA) and word reading is the same in other orthographies. Conclusion: The statistically significant correlation between WM and word reading indicates that WM supports reading development as the ability to hold information in memory supports phoneme-grapheme associations.
... The findings revealed that while most countries implemented a remote educational curriculum, the most marginalized groups of children and those attending pre-primary classes were in most cases excluded. Overall, the findings of these studies support the conclusion that preschool closures led to losses in learning that may affect the smooth transition to primary school because foundational skills (e.g., phonological awareness) which support later educational performance (Pittas, 2017) were affected. ...
Article
This paper aims to provide a first systematic research overview of the effects of the pandemic on the educational performance of children with SEND according to children’s/youths and caregivers’ perspectives following the PRISMA statement. The studies, published between February 2020 and June 2022, were identified through the search of SCOPUS, EBSCO, PubMed, PsycInfo and two preprint-servers related to Education. In determining which studies to include in the review, the selection criteria were based on (1) articles focusing on ages 4 -18 years, (2) articles focusing on children with special educational needs and (3) articles focusing on student achievement during COVID-19. The exhaustive reading and quality assessment left a final sample of nine scientific papers. According to children’s/youth’s and caregivers’ perspectives, there is clear evidence for a negative effect of COVID-19 on the educational performance of children with SEND in the areas of (1) speech and language development (2) home learning (3) academic achievement (4) learning performance and (5) remote learning. The most important findings are to be found in the difficulties faced by children in homework completion, in paying attention during online learning, in efficiently completing tasks, in managing their time and in making progress on their IEP goals during school closures.
... Interestingly, our results supported a predictive role for PA, possibly due to the nature of the reading comprehension test used in the present study in grade 2, which may assess both reading comprehension and fluency due to the time limit needed for its completion. Previous research evidence in Greek has shown the contribution of PA to children's performance on this test Pittas, 2017). ...
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The present longitudinal study examined whether early oral language skills of Greek-speaking children assessed in grade 1 can predict the type of reading difficulties (RD) in grade 2. Sixty-six typically developing (TD) children and eighty-seven children with RD were assessed on phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), and vocabulary in the mid of grade 1. Children were classified in the two groups based on whether they scored consistently low (below the 25th percentile) or typically (above the 25th percentile) on standardized measures of text-reading fluency and reading comprehension at the end of grade 1 and the beginning of grade 2. Next, children with RD were assigned to two subgroups: the first group included children (N = 28) with predominantly reading fluency difficulties (RFD) and the second group included children (N = 59) with single reading comprehension difficulties (RCD). A series of binomial logistic regressions showed that children’s classification in an RD group than a TD group was predicted by PA, RAN, and vocabulary achievement. Subsequent multinomial logistic regressions indicated that vocabulary, PA, and MA predicted children’s classification in the RCD subgroup more than in the TD group. Furthermore, lower PA levels and higher RAN score predicted the classification of children in the RFD group than in the RCD or the TD group. These findings highlight the contribution of early oral language assessment to the identification of children with RD and specific types of RD. Theoretical implications for the role of oral language in reading will be discussed as well as practical implications for implementing customized interventions to match children’s educational needs on specific oral language deficits.
... Predictive validity findings are consistent with previous evidence verifying well known predictors of literacy achievement (Kendeou et al., 2009;Torppa et al., 2010;Melby-Lervåg et al., 2012;Catts et al., 2016;Pittas, 2018). In more detail, phonological awareness accounted for variance in spelling skill and it also explained the variance in reading outcomes as Frontiers in Psychology 11 frontiersin.org ...
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In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have been utilized until now usually focusing on a single or a few language subcomponents, along with very few language rating scales for parents and educators. The need for a comprehensive language assessment tool for preschool and early school years children which could form the basis for valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions, led to the development of a new norm-referenced digital tool called Logometro®. The aim of the present study is to describe Logometro® as well as its psychometric characteristics. Logometro® evaluates an array of oral language skills across the different language domains such as phonological awareness, listening comprehension, vocabulary knowledge (receptive and expressive), narrative speech, morphological awareness, pragmatics, as well emergent literacy skills (letter sound knowledge and invented writing) in Greek-speaking 4–7 years old children. More specifically, Logometro® has been designed in order to: (a) map individual language development paths as well as difficulties, (b) provide a descriptive profile of children’s oral language and emergent literacy skills, and (c) assist in the identification of children who are at risk for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD). The sample consisted of 926 children aged from 4 to 7 years, which were recruited from diverse geographical provinces and represented a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds in Greece. Eight hundred participants were typically developing children (Nboys = 384 and Ngirls = 416), 126 children (NSLI = 44 and NSLD = 82) represented children with Special Educational Needs, and 126 children were typically developing peers matched for gender and age with the clinical groups. The administration lasted 90 min, depending on the participant’s age and competence. Validity (construct, criterion, convergent, discriminant, and predictive) as well as internal consistency and test–retest reliability were assessed. Results indicated that Logometro® is characterized by good psychometric properties and can constitute a norm-referenced battery of oral language and emergent literacy skills. It could be used to inform the professionals as well as the researchers about a child’s language strengthsand weaknesses and form the basis on which they can design an appropriate individualized intervention if needed.
... Predictive validity findings are consistent with previous evidence verifying well known predictors of literacy achievement (Kendeou et al., 2009;Torppa et al., 2010;Melby-Lervåg et al., 2012;Catts et al., 2016;Pittas, 2018). In more detail, phonological awareness accounted for variance in spelling skill and it also explained the variance in reading outcomes as Frontiers in Psychology 11 frontiersin.org ...
Article
Full-text available
In educational and clinical settings, few norm-referenced tests have been utilized until now usually focusing on a single or a few language subcomponents, along with very few language rating scales for parents and educators. The need for a comprehensive language assessment tool for preschool and early school years children which could form the basis for valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions, led to the development of a new norm-referenced digital tool called Logometro®. The aim of the present study is to describe Logometro® as well as its psychometric characteristics. Logometro® evaluates an array of oral language skills across the different language domains such as phonological awareness, listening comprehension, vocabulary knowledge (receptive and expressive), narrative speech, morphological awareness, pragmatics, as well emergent literacy skills (letter sound knowledge and invented writing) in Greek-speaking 4–7 years old children. More specifically, Logometro® has been designed in order to: (a) map individual language development paths as well as difficulties, (b) provide a descriptive profile of children’s oral language and emergent literacy skills, and (c) assist in the identification of children who are at risk for Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD). The sample consisted of 926 children aged from 4 to 7 years, which were recruited from diverse geographical provinces and represented a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds in Greece. Eight hundred participants were typically developing children (Nboys = 384 and Ngirls = 416), 126 children (NSLI = 44 and NSLD = 82) represented children with Special Educational Needs, and 126 children were typically developing peers matched for gender and age with the clinical groups. The administration lasted 90 min, depending on the participant’s age and competence. Validity (construct, criterion, convergent, discriminant, and predictive) as well as internal consistency and test–retest reliability were assessed. Results indicated that Logometro® is characterized by good psychometric properties and can constitute a norm-referenced battery of oral language and emergent literacy skills. It could be used to inform the professionals as well as the researchers about a child’s language strengths and weaknesses and form the basis on which they can design an appropriate individualized intervention if needed.
... Some studies argue that the influence of these variables on reading varies according to orthographic consistency, but they do not all agree on the role played by each of these variables in different languages (Furness & Samuelsson, 2009;Tibi & Kirby, 2018;Vaessen et al., 2010;Ziegler et al., 2010). Hence, some studies highlight that at early ages, for example, phonological awareness seems to be more relevant in more consistent languages, whereas rapid automatized naming seems to be more relevant in less consistent languages (Babayigit & Stainthorp, 2011;Georgiou et al., 2008;Landerl et al., 2019;Pittas, 2018). Other studies note that, as children get older and have more reading experience, phonological awareness becomes more relevant in less consistent languages, and rapid automatized naming is more relevant in more consistent languages (Georgiou et al., 2008;Nielsen & Juul, 2016;Vibulpatanavong & Evans, 2019). ...
Article
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This study analyzes the impact of certain cognitive processes on word and pseudoword reading in languages with different orthographic consistency (Spanish and Arabic) in the first year of Primary Education. The study was conducted with a group of 113 pupils from Algeria and another group of 128 pupils from Ecuador, from a middle-class background and without any special education needs. The participants were assessed in terms of their reading ability of words and pseudowords, knowledge of letters, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and phonological memory. Using a correlational design, descriptive-exploratory, bivariate, and hierarchical multivariate regressions were applied to the different measures of reading in each language. The findings show that knowledge of letters, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and phonological memory contribute differently to the explanation of reading ability in each group at the start of compulsory schooling. These results have important implications for the teaching of reading skills and the prevention of specific learning disabilities, as well as the theory of reading acquisition.
... Nevertheless, other studies have shown that phonological awareness predicts both reading fluency and accuracy, and that it continues to be a good predictor in consistent languages and at older ages, due to the importance of the grapheme-phoneme correspondence in reading processes (Casillas and Goikoetxea, 2007;Furnes and Samuelsson, 2010;González-Trujillo et al., 2014;González-Valenzuela et al., 2016;Bar-Kochva and Nevo, 2019). On the other hand, some studies indicate that phonological awareness might be important only during the first years of schooling in consistent languages (Leppänen et al., 2006;Pittas, 2018) and during subsequent years in inconsistent languages (Nielsen and Juul, 2016;Vibulpatanavong and Evans, 2019). That is, the role of phonological awareness in reading depends on the orthographic consistency, the reading variable considered and the age of the students (González-Valenzuela et al., 2016). ...
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The objective of this study is to determine the contribution made by knowledge of letters, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric rapid automatized naming at the ages of six and seven to the ability of Spanish children to read words at 7 years of age. A total of 116 Spanish-speaking school children took part in the study, from schools located in an average socio-cultural setting, without special educational needs. The reading ability of these pupils was evaluated at the age of seven, and cognitive variables were assessed at 6 and 7 years of age. Descriptive-exploratory analyses, bivariate analyses, and multivariate regressions were performed. The results show that cognitive variables measured at these ages contribute differently to the ability to read words at 7 years of age. Rapid naming does not seem to influence word reading; knowledge of letters no longer influences word reading as children grow older; and phonological awareness and phonological memory maintain their contribution to the explanation of word reading. These results indicate that reading in Spanish depends on different cognitive variables and that this relationship varies according to age. The findings have key educational implications in terms of teaching reading skills and the prevention of specific learning difficulties in Spanish Primary Education.
... Nevertheless, other studies have shown that phonological awareness predicts both reading fluency and accuracy, and that it continues to be a good predictor in consistent languages and at older ages, due to the importance of the grapheme-phoneme correspondence in reading processes (Casillas and Goikoetxea, 2007;Furnes and Samuelsson, 2010;González-Trujillo et al., 2014;González-Valenzuela et al., 2016;Bar-Kochva and Nevo, 2019). On the other hand, some studies indicate that phonological awareness might be important only during the first years of schooling in consistent languages (Leppänen et al., 2006;Pittas, 2018) and during subsequent years in inconsistent languages (Nielsen and Juul, 2016;Vibulpatanavong and Evans, 2019). That is, the role of phonological awareness in reading depends on the orthographic consistency, the reading variable considered and the age of the students (González-Valenzuela et al., 2016). ...
Article
Full-text available
The objective of this study is to determine the contribution made by knowledge of letters, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric rapid automatized naming at the ages of six and seven to the ability of Spanish children to read words at 7 years of age. A total of 116 Spanish-speaking school children took part in the study, from schools located in an average socio-cultural setting, without special educational needs. The reading ability of these pupils was evaluated at the age of seven, and cognitive variables were assessed at 6 and 7 years of age. Descriptive-exploratory analyses, bivariate analyses, and multivariate regressions were performed. The results show that cognitive variables measured at these ages contribute differently to the ability to read words at 7 years of age. Rapid naming does not seem to influence word reading; knowledge of letters no longer influences word reading as children grow older; and phonological awareness and phonological memory maintain their contribution to the explanation of word reading. These results indicate that reading in Spanish depends on different cognitive variables and that this relationship varies according to age. The findings have key educational implications in terms of teaching reading skills and the prevention of specific learning difficulties in Spanish Primary Education.
... The importance of morphological awareness to spelling has been documented in a number of single language studies (e.g., Bryant, Nunes, & Bindman, 2000;Casalis, Deacon, Pacton, 2011;Deacon et al., 2009;Grigorakis & Manolitsis, 2016;Nunes et al., 1997;Pittas, 2017;Wolter, Wood, & D'zatko, 2009). Also, the reverse link between spelling and morphological awareness found in our English-speaking sample confirms findings of previous studies in English . ...
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We examined the direction of the relation between morphological awareness and reading/spelling skills in two languages varying in orthographic consistency (English and Greek) and whether word reading fluency and vocabulary mediate the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. One hundred fifty-nine English-speaking Canadian and 224 Greek children were assessed four times between Grades 1 and 3 on measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, word reading fluency, and spelling to dictation. Vocabulary was assessed at the end of Grade 2 and reading comprehension at the end of Grade 2 and at the beginning of Grade 3. Cross-lagged analyses showed that earlier morphological awareness predicted later reading comprehension and spelling in both languages and reading fluency in English. The effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension was not mediated by word reading fluency in either language, but an indirect effect through vocabulary emerged in English. Earlier reading fluency and spelling predicted later morphological awareness before Grade 3 only in English, but morphological awareness began to predict spelling as early as Grade 1 in Greek. Multigroup analyses further showed that the effects of morphological awareness on reading fluency and the effects of spelling on morphological awareness were stronger in English than in Greek. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
Article
Background Phonological awareness has been recognized as a significant predictor of word-decoding skills in alphabetical languages. These languages differ in phonology, orthography, and how they are mapped for word decoding. However, the literature has debated its role in orthographically consistent languages. The present research aims to explore phonological awareness and its contribution to word decoding for early readers of Kannada. Methods The study included 50 typically developing Grade I children learning to read Kannada from schools with Kannada as a medium of instruction. Phonological awareness skills were assessed using developmentally appropriate tasks at different linguistic grain sizes and varied linguistic operations. Word-level reading abilities were evaluated using a pseudoword decoding task. Results The results indicated that the children were sensitive to syllables but not to rhymes and phonemes. A one-way repeated measure of analysis of variance demonstrated a significant main effect of task complexity on the performance across phonological awareness tasks. Pearson’s correlation coefficient revealed a significant positive correlation between the performance on phonological awareness and pseudoword reading. The regression analysis indicated that phonological awareness tasks contributed significantly to word decoding. However, initial and medial syllable stripping evolved as independent and significant contributors to pseudoword decoding in Kannada. Conclusion The present study concludes that phonological awareness at the syllable level emerges early and significantly contributes to word decoding in early readers of Kannada.
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The purpose of the current study was to examine whether morphological awareness measured before children are taught to read (Kindergarten in Israel) predicts reading accuracy and fluency in the middle of first grade, at the very beginning of the process of learning to read pointed Hebrew – a highly transparent orthography, and whether this contribution remains after controlling for phonemic awareness. In a longitudinal design, 680 Hebrew-speaking children were administered morphological and phonemic awareness measures at the end of the preschool year (before they were taught to read) then followed up into first grade when reading was tested in mid-year. The results indicated that even at this early point in learning to read a transparent orthography, preschool morphological awareness contributes significantly to both reading accuracy and reading fluency, even after partialling out age, non-verbal general ability, and phonemic awareness. The current results extend the Functional Opacity argument (Share, 2008) which proposes that at the initial stages of reading acquisition, when children still have incomplete mastery of some aspects of the spelling-sound system, non-phonological sources of information about word identity such as morphology can assist in the decoding process. The practical implications of these results with regard to early reading instruction are discussed.
Chapter
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected teachers’ practices at all education levels worldwide. Alternative educational practices are, in a smaller or larger extent, implemented online in response to the global pandemic, including early childhood and primary education. Access to recent research outcomes on effective approaches to quality online teaching is fundamental in preschool and in the first critical years of primary school. In this chapter, we provide a review of the key challenges that online classes pose for young children and teachers. In parallel we discuss, based on professional and research-informed insights, best practice principles for online teaching to support preschool and primary school teachers to transform online approaches into effective teaching practices for meeting children’s needs. Both the challenges and the effective online approaches are grouped under two main headings with each heading being related to several outcomes. A major challenge occurring during online classes, falling under the first heading, is the limited face-to-face interaction between learners and teachers. The second challenge is concerned with difficulties in oral and written language. This chapter concludes with a reflection on the implications for the use of best practice principles for online teaching in the early childhood and primary school setting.
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The goal of the study reported on in this article was to determine whether the current biliteracy programme in Ghana (National Literacy Acceleration Program or NALAP) and the medium of instruction are considered as factors contributing to language and literacy learning of public school students according to teachers and parents. The target group (n = 126) consisted of 63 teachers and 63 parents in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The results drawn from self-administered questionnaires indicated that most of the respondents were positive that the biliteracy programme enhances students’ literacy skills. Most teachers reported that they prefer the use of both the Ghanaian L1 and English as media of classroom interaction and instruction, whereas most parents preferred English to be used as the medium of interaction. The study contributes to understanding the factors which support biliteracy learning based on teachers’ and parents’ views. The study made a methodological contribution in the development of a set of questionnaires.
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Around the world, children embark on learning to read in their home language or writing system. But does their specific language, and how it is written, make a difference to how they learn? How is learning to read English similar to or different from learning in other languages? Is reading alphabetic writing a different challenge from reading syllabic or logographic writing? Learning to Read across Languages and Writing Systems examines these questions across seventeen languages representing the world's different major writing systems. Each chapter highlights the key features of a specific language, exploring research on learning to read, spell, and comprehend it, and on implications for education. The editors' introduction describes the global spread of reading and provides a theoretical framework, including operating principles for learning to read. The editors' final chapter draws conclusions about cross-linguistic universal trends, and the challenges posed by specific languages and writing systems.
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The aim of this longitudinal study is to examine the contribution of morphological awareness to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The target group (N = 404) consisted of children, aged 6-9 years at the start of the project, who learn literacy in Cyprus. Because there are no standardized measures of morphological awareness for Greek Cypriot children, morphological awareness measures were developed and validated. A concurrent analysis of the first wave of data collection showed that morphological awareness made a unique contribution to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The longitudinal analyses showed that morphological awareness predicted performance in reading eight months later, even after partialling out grade level, verbal intelligence, phonological awareness and initial scores in reading and spelling. This study makes theoretical, empirical and practical educational contributions. It shows the long term and specific relation of morphological awareness with reading in Greek and establishes the plausibility of a causal link between morphological awareness and reading, which must be tested in further research using intervention methods. In practice, this study contributes valid measures for assessing morphological awareness in Greek as well as a new measure of spelling skill.
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The study explored the contribution of two aspects of inflectional morphological awareness, verb inflection and noun–adjective inflection, to word reading and reading comprehension in the Greek language, which is an orthographically transparent language. Participants (120 first graders, 123 second graders, 126 third graders) were given two oral language experimental tasks of inflectional morphological awareness. Furthermore, phonological awareness, receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, decoding, and reading comprehension were evaluated. It was revealed that noun–adjective inflectional morphology contributed significantly to decoding only in first grade, while verb inflectional morphology had a significant contribution to reading comprehension in third grade. It is interesting that inflectional morphological awareness did not predict reading skills for second graders. Phonological awareness was a firm predictor of word reading in all grades and made a unique contribution in Grades 2 and 3. Finally, in all grades, receptive vocabulary was a steady predictor of reading comprehension, whereas expressive vocabulary predicted only first-grade reading comprehension. It is suggested that inflectional morphological awareness may be an important predictor of early reading in a language with a shallow orthography and a rich morphology.
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We examined the longitudinal predictors of nonword decoding, reading fluency, and spelling in three languages that vary in orthographic depth: Finnish, Greek, and English. Eighty-two English-speaking, 70 Greek, and 88 Finnish children were followed from the age of 5.5 years old until Grade 2. Prior to any reading instruction, they were administered measures of phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming speed. In Grade 2, they were administered measures of nonword decoding, text-reading fluency, and spelling. The results showed that the model for nonword decoding in Greek was similar to that of Finnish (both have consistent grapheme-to-phoneme mappings) while the model for spelling in Greek was similar to that of English (both have some inconsistent phoneme-to-grapheme mappings). In addition, the models for nonword decoding and spelling in Finnish were similar, because Finnish is consistent in both directions. Letter knowledge dominated the prediction in each language. The predictable role of orthographic consistency on literacy acquisition is discussed.
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ABSTRACTS The methodological rigor of 39 studies of phonological awareness intervention was evaluated based on internal and external validity criteria. The internal validity criteria encompassed general design characteristics, measurement, and statistical treatment, while the external validity criteria included research hypotheses, participant selection and description, and generalization and maintenance measures. The most serious methodological flaws observed in many of the studies were (a) nonrandom assignment of participants to conditions; (b) failure to control for Hawthorne effects by providing alternate interventions to control groups; (c) insufficient or nonexistent assurance of fidelity of treatment; (d) poor measurement sensitivity; and (e) inadequately described samples. Only seven studies met two thirds or more of all the evaluative criteria, although all of these investigations demonstrated at least one fatal flaw. The reported findings are compared with those of two similar methodological reviews. Suggestions for improvement of future intervention research are provided. El rigor metodológico de 39 estudios de intervención en conciencia fonológica fue evaluado sobre la base de criterios de validez interna y externa. Los criterios de validez interna comprendieron características generales de diseño, mediciones y tratamiento estadístico, en tanto que los criterios de validez externa incluyeron las hipótesis de la investigación, la selección y descripción de los participantes y la generalización y mantenimiento del efecto fuera de la situación experimental. Las fallas metodológicas más serias observadas en muchos de los estudios fueron (a) no asignar al azar a los participantes a las distintas condiciones; (b) ausencia de control de los efectos Hawthorne, al proveer intervenciones alternativas a los grupos de control; (c) insuficiencia o ausencia de certeza en la exactitud del tratamiento; (d) escasa sensibilidad de las mediciones y (e) muestras descriptas inadecuadamente. Sólo siete estudios reunieron dos tercios o más de todos los criterios de evaluación, aunque todas estas investigaciones demostraron al menos una falla fatal. Los hallazgos reportados se comparan con los de dos revisiones metodológicas similares. Se hacen sugerencias para mejorar las futuras investigaciones de intervención. Die methodologische Rigorosität von 39 Studien phonologischer Eingriffe zur Bewußheitsförderung wurde aufgrund intern und extern gültiger Kriterien bewertet. Die intern angewandten Bewertungskriterien schließen generelle Auslegungscharakteristiken, Bemessung und statistische Behandlung bzw. Auswertung ein, während die extern gültigen Kriterien Forschungshypothesen, Teilnehmerauswahl und Beschreibung, sowie Allgemein‐ und Aufrechterhaltungsmaßnahmen einschließen. Der schwerwiegendste methodologische Tadel an beobachteten Fehlern bei vielen der Studien lag in (a) nicht‐wahllose Bestimmung der den Bedingungen unterworfenen Teilnehmer; (b) Versäumen von Kontrollen gemäß den Hawthorne Effekten durch Einfügen alternativer Eingriffe zur Kontrolle der Gruppen; (c) unzureichende oder nicht existierende Zusicherung der genauen Gleichbehandlung der Mittel; (d) geringe Beimessung an Einfühlungsvermögen; und (e) mangelhafte Beschreibung der Muster. Lediglich sieben Studien erfüllten zwei Drittel oder mehr aller Bewertungskriterien, obwohl alle diese Untersuchungen mindestens einen entscheidenden Fehler aufwiesen. Die berichteten Ergebnisse wurden mit jenen aus zwei methodologisch ähnlichen Rezensionen verglichen. Es wurden Verbesserungsvorschäge für zukünftige vermittelnde Forschung angemerkt. On a évalué la rigueur méthodologique de 39 études d'interventions relatives à la conscience phonétique en se basant sur des critères de validité interne et externe. Les critères de validité interne comprennent les caractéristiques générales du plan expérimental, la mesure, le traitement statistique, tandis que les critères de validité externe incluent les hypothèses de recherche, la sélection et la description des participants, les mesures concernant la généralisation et le maintien. Les points faibles les plus sérieux observés dans de nombreuses études ont été: a) répartition non aléatoire des partici pants dans les conditions expérimentales; b) manque de contrôle de l'effet Hawthorne en faisant alterner les interventions des groupes contrôle; c) fidélité du traitement insuffisante ou inexistante; d) sensibilité de la mesure faible; e) échantillons décrits de manière inadéquate. Seules sept études satisfont à au moins deux tiers de la totalité des critères d'évaluation, mais toutes présentent néanmoins au moins un défaut fatal. Les résultats obtenus sont comparés avec deux études de méthodologie. Le texte présente des suggestions pour améliorer les futures interventions de recherche.
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We investigated the psychological reality of the concept of orthographical depth and its influence on visual word recognition by examining naming performance in Hebrew, English, and Serbo-Croatian. We ran three sets of experiments in which we used native speakers and identical experimental methods in each language. Experiment 1 revealed that the lexical status of the stimulus (high-frequency words, low-frequency words, and nonwords) significantly affected naming in Hebrew (the deepest of the three orthographies). This effect was only moderate in English and nonsignificant in Serbo-Croatian (the shallowest of the three orthographies). Moreover, only in Hebrew did lexical status have similar effects on naming and lexical decision performance. Experiment 2 revealed that semantic priming effects in naming were larger in Hebrew than in English and completely absent in Serbo-Croatian. Experiment 3 revealed that a large proportion of nonlexical tokens (nonwords) in the stimulus list affects naming words in Hebrew and in English, but not in Serbo-Croatian. These results were interpreted as strong support for the orthographical depth hypothesis and suggest, in general, that in shallow orthographies phonology is generated directly from print, whereas in deep orthographies phonology is derived from the internal lexicon.
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In this article, 3 views of the relation between various forms of phonological awareness (detection of rhyme and alliteration and detection of phonemes) and children's reading were tested. These are (a) that the experience of learning to read leads to phoneme awareness and that neither of these is connected to awareness of rhyme, (b) that sensitivity to rhyme leads to awareness of phonemes, which in turn affects reading, and (c) that rhyme makes a direct contribution to reading that is independent of the connection between reading and phoneme awareness. The results from a longitudinal study that monitored the phonological awareness and progress in reading and spelling of 65 children from the ages of 4 years 7 months to 6 years 7 months produced strong support for a combination of the 2nd and 3rd models and none at all for the 1st model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The authors compared the effects of 3 kindergarten intervention programs on at-risk children's subsequent reading and spelling skills. From a sample of 726 screened kindergarten children, 138 were selected as children potentially at risk for dyslexia and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 training conditions: (a) letter-sound training, (b) phonological awareness training, and (c) combined training in phonological awareness and letter knowledge. A control group of 115 unselected ("normal") kindergarten children was recruited to evaluate the training effects. Results indicated that the combined training yielded the strongest effects on reading and spelling in Grades 1 and 2. Thus, these findings confirm the phonological linkage hypothesis in that combining phonological awareness training with instruction in letter-sound knowledge has more powerful effects on subsequent literacy achievement than phonological awareness training alone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Very few studies have directly compared reading acquisition across different orthographies. The authors examined the concurrent and longitudinal predictors of word decoding and reading fluency in children learning to read in an orthographically inconsistent language (English) and in an orthographically consistent language (Greek). One hundred ten English-speaking children and 70 Greek-speaking children attending Grade 1 were examined in measures of phonological awareness, phonological memory, rapid naming speed, orthographic processing, word decoding, and reading fluency. The same children were reassessed on word decoding and reading fluency measures when they were in Grade 2. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that both phonological and orthographic processing contributed uniquely to reading ability in Grades 1 and 2. However, the importance of these predictors was different in the two languages, particularly with respect to their effect on word decoding. The authors argue that the orthography that children are learning to read is an important factor that needs to be taken into account when models of reading development are being generalized across languages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Structural equation modeling evaluated the contribution of phonological, orthographic, morphological, and oral vocabulary factors to word reading, spelling, and reading comprehension outcomes in 98 2nd graders at risk for passing state standards in reading and to those same outcomes plus composing in 97 4th graders at risk for passing state standards in writing. For 2nd-grade children, morphology contributed uniquely to reading comprehension, and oral vocabulary and orthography contributed uniquely to word reading. For 4th-grade children, morphology and oral vocabulary did not contribute uniquely to any outcomes, but morphology and word reading were correlated, and orthography and phonology contributed uniquely to decoding words with affixes. Fourth graders are still learning to coordinate orthographic, phonological, and morphological cues in written words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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ABSTRACTS A quantitative meta‐analysis evaluating the effects of phonemic awareness (PA) instruction on learning to read and spell was conducted by the National Reading Panel. There were 52 studies published in peer‐reviewed journals, and these contributed 96 cases comparing the outcomes of treatment and control groups. Analysis of effect sizes revealed that the impact of PA instruction on helping children acquire PA was large and statistically significant ( d = 0.86). PA instruction exerted a moderate, statistically significant impact on reading ( d = 0.53) and spelling ( d = 0.59). Not only word reading but also reading comprehension benefited. PA instruction impacted reading under all the conditions examined although effect sizes were larger under some conditions. PA instruction helped various types of children: normally developing readers as well as at‐risk and disabled readers; preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders; low socioeconomic status children as well as mid‐high SES. PA instruction improved reading, but it did not improve spelling in disabled readers. PA instruction was more effective when it was taught with letters than without letters, when one or two PA skills were taught than multiple PA skills, when children were taught in small groups than individually or in classrooms, and when instruction lasted between 5 and 18 hours rather than longer. Classroom teachers were effective in teaching PA to their students. Effect sizes were larger for studies using more rigorous experimental designs, with rigor assessments drawn from Troia (1999). In sum, PA instruction was found to make a statistically significant contribution to reading acquisition. [See also a letter to the editors regarding this article, and the first author's response: http:dx.doi.org10.1598RRQ.37.2.1 ] Un meta‐análisis cuantitativo que evaluó los efectos de la instrucción en conciencia fonémica (CF) sobre el aprendizaje de la lectura y la escritura fue llevado a cabo por el Panel Nacional de Lectura (National Reading Panel). Se tomaron 52 estudios, publicados en revistas con referato, que aportaron 96 casos en los que se comparó el resultado de los grupos de tratamiento y de control. El análisis de las magnitudes del efecto reveló que el impacto de la instrucción en CF sobre el desarrollo de la CF en los niños fue grande y estadísticamente significativo ( d = 0.86). La instrucción en CF ejerció un impacto moderado, estadísticamente significativo en la lectura ( d = 0.53) y escritura ( d = 0.59). No sólo se benefició la lectura de palabras, sino también la comprensión lectora. La instrucción en CF impactó en la lectura, en todas las condiciones examinadas, sin embargo las magnitudes del efecto fueron mayores en algunas condiciones. La instrucción en CF ayudó a distintos tipos de niños: lectores de desarrollo normal, lectores de riesgo y lectores con dificultades; niños de jardín, preescolar y primer grado; niños de NSE bajo y niños de NSE medio‐alto. La instrucción en CF mejoró la lectura pero no la escritura en los lectores con dificultades. La instrucción en CF fue más efectiva cuando se realizó con apoyo de las letras que cuando no se enseñaron las letras, cuando se enseñaron una o dos habilidades de CF que cuando se enseñaron múltiples habilidades, cuando se insruyó a los niños en pequeños grupos que cuando se realizó individualmente o en el aula y cuando la instrucción duró entre 5 y 18 horas que cuando abarcó más tiempo. Los docentes fueron eficaces en la enseñanza de la CF a los estudiantes. Las magnitudes del efecto fueron mayores en los estudios que utilizaron diseños experimentales más rigurosos, con evaluaciones de rigor tomadas de Troia (1999). En suma, se halló que la instrucción en CF constituye una contribución significativa a la adquisición de la lectura. Eine quantitative Meta‐Analyse, welche Auswirkungen phonischen Aufnahmebewußseins (PA) beim Erlernen des Lesens und Buchstabierens bewertet, wurde vom Nationalen Lesegremium durchgeführt. Es wurden 52 Studien in von Lehrern rezensierten Fachzeitschriften publiziert und diese nannten 96 Fälle, bei denen die Ergebnisse von Anwendungs‐ und Kontrollgruppen verglichen wurden. Die Analyse über Wirksamkeitsausmaße ergab, daß der Einfluß von PA‐Anweisungen in der Unterstützung der Kinder beim Erwerb von PA groß und statistisch bedeutend ( d = 0.86) war. PA‐Anweisungen übten einen ausgleichenden, statitisch bedeutsamen Einfluß aufs Lesen ( d = 0.53) und Buchstabieren ( d = 0.59) aus. Nicht nur das Lesen von Wörtern, sondern auch das Leseverständnis wurde begünstigt. PA‐Anweisungen beeinflußten das Lesen unter all den untersuchten Bedingungen, obwohl die Ausmaße der Auswirkungen bei einigen Bedingungen größer waren. PA‐Anweisungen halfen unterschiedlich gearteten Kindern: normal sich entwickelnde Leser, sowie auch risikobedingte und behinderte Leser; Vorschüler, Kindergartenteilnehmer und Erstklässler; Kinder der unteren Gundschulstufen (SES) als auch mittlerer und höherer Grundschulstufen (SES). PA‐Anweisungen verbesserten das Lesen, nicht jedoch das Buchstabieren bei behinderten Lesern. PA‐Anweisungen waren wirksamer, wenn sie zusammen mit den Buchstaben statt ohne Buchstaben unterrichtet wurden, wenn jeweils eine oder zwei PA‐Fertigkeiten statt ein Mehrfaches an PA‐Fertigkeiten unterrichtet wurde, wenn Kinder in kleinen Gruppen statt einzeln unterrichtet oder in Klassenräumen, und wenn der Unterricht insgesamt zwischen 5 und 18 Stunden andauerte, statt langfristiger. Klassenlehrer waren beim Unterricht von PA erfolgreich mit ihren Schülern. Das Wirkungsausmaß war unter Nutzung strengerer Experimentierpläne für den Unterricht größer, mit den von Troia (1999) abgeleiteten straffen Bewertungen. Zusammengefaßt fand man, daß die PA‐Anweisung einen statistisch nachweisbar bedeutenden Beitrag zum Erwerb von Lesefertigkeiten leisten. Une méta‐analyse quantitative pour évaluer les effets de l'enseignement de la conscience phonémique (CP) sur l'apprentissage de la lecture et de l'écriture a été conduite par la Commission Nationale de Lecture. Elle a porté sur 52 études publiées dans des journaux à comité de rédaction ayant conduit à 96 études comparant les résultats de groupes expérimentaux et contrôles. L'analyse de l'importance des effets révèle que l'enseignement de la CP sur le développement de la CP a un impact large et statistiquement significatif ( d = 0.86). L'enseignement de la CP a un effet modéré, statistiquement significatif ( d = 0.53) sur l'écriture ( d = 0.59). Non seulement la lecture de mots en bénéficie mais également la compréhension. L'enseignement de la CP a un impact sur la lecture dans toutes les conditions examinées, bien que la taille de l'effet soit plus large dans certaines conditions. L'enseignement de la CP est une aide pour différents types d'enfants: aussi bien pour ceux qui apprennent à lire normalement que pour les enfants à risque et pour ceux qui ont des difficultés; pour les enfants d'école maternelle ou de première année de primaire: pour les enfants de milieu social défavorisé aussi bien que pour ceux de classe moyenne. L'enseignement de la CP facilite le développement de la lecture mais pas celui de l'écriture chez les enfants en difficulté. L'enseignement de la CP a plus d'effet quand il a lieu avec des lettres que sans lettres, quand on enseigne une ou deux compétences de CP que de multiples compétences de CP, quand il a lieu en petit groupe que individuellement ou en salle de classe, et quand l'enseignement dureentre 5 et 18 heures plutôt que plus longtemps. L'enseignement de la CP en classe par des enseignants est efficace. La taille des effets est plus grande quand les études utilisent des plans expérimentaux plus rigoureux, et des évaluations rigoureuses provenant de Troia (1999). En bref, il apparaît que l'enseignement de la CP apporte une contribution statistiquement significative à l'acquisition de la lecture.
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The study aimed to investigate the spelling performance and the semantic understanding of compound words by 103 Greek primary school children (first through sixth grade). The experimental group comprised of 25 children with spelling difficulties and compared with a control group of 78 children of typical development. Children were asked to spell and define 20 concrete and abstract compounds. They were also asked to spell 20 different compounds after providing their definitions in terms of their morphological constituents. Main results indicated that concrete compounds were spelled and defined better than abstract ones, but the experimental group performed significantly lower than the control group on both word types. Children with spelling disabilities were able to use less etymological information in defining compound words than their typical classmates, suggesting that they understand less the internal structure of morphologically complex words. These results are compatible with the experimental literature and are discussed in terms of the morphophonemic nature of Greek language as a transparent orthography with a rich morphology.
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This article is a report of recent evidence on methods for teaching young and struggling readers to read words. Specifically, evidence comparing synthetic and analytic phonics instruction was reviewed as well as the benefit of instruction in encoding and morphological awareness. The evidence reviewed suggests that instruction in synthetic and analytic phonics are both effective methods for teaching word reading to young and struggling readers and the inclusion of encoding in early reading instruction may provide added benefit. Furthermore, several investigations have found instruction in morphological awareness to be beneficial for improving young students’ word reading. More research is needed to investigate the effectiveness of incorporating encoding and morphological awareness instruction into early reading programs.
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This study explores the predictivity of an emergent literacy model on the acquisition of reading in primary school in a language with a transparent writing system. As writing systems have different levels of transparency, results cannot be easily transferred between languages. In this study, we explored the predictivity of phonological awareness, conceptual knowledge of the writing system, and textual competence in kindergarten on reading acquisition in first grade. We followed 170 Italian children longitudinally from the last year of kindergarten to the first year of primary school. The only significant predictor of reading was conceptual knowledge of the writing system, confirming that in a transparent writing system phonological awareness exerts its effect on reading as it is integrated with knowledge of the characteristics of the writing system.
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Given the morphophonemic nature of the English orthography, surprisingly few studies have examined the roles of morphological and phonological awareness in reading. This 4-year longitudinal study (Grades 2-5) compared these two factors in three aspects of reading development: pseudoword reading, reading comprehension. and single word reading. Morphological awareness contributed significantly to pseudoword reading and reading comprehension, after controlling prior measures of reading ability. verbal and nonverbal intelligence, and phonological awareness. This contribution was comparable to that of phonological awareness and remained 3 years after morphological awareness was assessed. In contrast, morphological awareness rarely contributed significantly to single word reading. We argue that these results provide evidence that morphological awareness hits a wide-ranging role in reading development, one that extends beyond phonological awareness.
Article
The effects of a kindergarten training program in phonological awareness with 209 Swedish-speaking children were followed up until the end of Grade 9. Initial levels of letter knowledge and phonological awareness were positively associated with the level of decoding skill in Grade 3 but not with its growth afterward. The intervention group performed significantly better in decoding in Grade 3, and the difference was maintained until Grade 6. The trained children also scored higher in Grade 9 reading comprehension. Although the results give empirical support for a connection between early phonological awareness training, later word decoding development, and still later reading comprehension, the theoretical explanation for the link between especially word decoding and reading comprehension is far from clear.
Chapter
The way Greek children are taught to read and spell in primary schools is based on the teachers’ initiative and inventive attitude, as well as on the application of methodologies that had been borrowed from other alphabetic orthographies such as English, French, and German. These teaching methods are usually applied to the teaching of reading and spelling of Greek with or without slight modification. The dependence on nonindigenous methods is thought to be due to the shortage of Greek studies of cognitive aspects of reading and spelling, as well as due to a paucity of studies on the methodolgical approaches on teaching reading and spelling of Greek (Porpodas, 1986; Porpodas, 1987; Megalokonomos, 1987; Zakestidou & Maniou-Vakali, 1987). As a consequence, the controversies about the efficiency of the different methods of teaching reading and spelling of Greek have remained as a theoretical issue without being tested by experimental studies (Viggopouls, 1969).
Book
This book sets out to integrate recent exciting research on the precursors of reading and early reading strategies adopted by children in the classroom. It aims to develop a theory about why early phonological skills are crucial in learning to read, and shows how phonological knowledge about rhymes and other units of sound helps children learn about letter sequences when beginning to be taught to read. The authors begin by contrasting theories which suggest that children's phonological awareness is a result of the experience of learning to read and those that suggest that phonological awareness precedes, and is a causal determinant of, reading. The authors argue for a version of the second kind of theory and show that children are aware of speech units, called onset and rime, before they learn to read and spell. An important part of the argument is that children make analogies and inferences about these letter sequences in order to read and write new words.
Article
The aim of this five‐year longitudinal study was to examine whether 13 Greek precocious readers' performance on a variety of reading, spelling, and phonological‐awareness tasks from kindergarten through the fourth grade was different from that of 12 Greek nonprecocious readers and, if there were differences between the two groups' performances, whether these differences remained stable over the students' five years of primary school education. In addition, this study investigated whether precocious readers' literacy development followed the same path as that of the majority of children. It was hypothesized that because of the shallowness of Greek orthography, precocious readers would have an advantage in reading, spelling, and phonological‐awareness tasks in the initial grades but that this advantage would diminish by the fourth grade. The data analyses showed that precocious readers' advantage in reading comprehension and spelling remained stable until second grade, although their advantage in reading fluency was maintained up to the fourth grade. The precocious readers' performance on phonological‐awareness tasks was superior to that of the comparison group in kindergarten; however, by the end of first grade, both groups of children achieved similar scores on almost all phonological tasks. It would seem that due to the nature of the Greek language, these Greek‐speaking children acquired an explicit awareness of the language's phonological structure early in their school careers. The results also showed that the literacy development of both groups of children followed the same path; however, the precocious readers moved along this path more rapidly than their nonprecocious counterparts. 这为期五年的纵向追踪研究的目的是追踪考查13名希腊早熟读者,从幼儿园到小学四年级这五年内,他们在各种不同阅读课业的成绩表现。考查方法采用了各种不同类型的阅读、拼字及语音意识的课业。这研究把这13名早熟读者的成绩表现与另外12名非早熟读者的成绩表现相互比较而观其差别,若发现其中有差别,则再考查该差别是否在这五年期间内一直保持稳定。此外,这研究也调查早熟读者读写能力的发展过程,是否也依循大部分儿童在这方面发展所经过的途径。研究假设认为,因为希腊文字表音法显浅,就读低年级的早熟读者在阅读、拼字及语音意识课业中可占优势,但到小学四年级后,此优势便会消失。数据分析显示,早熟读者在阅读理解及拼字的优势保持稳定至小学二年级;而在阅读流畅性方面的优势则保持稳定至小学四年级。幼儿园的早熟读者在语音意识课业中的表现成绩比非早熟读者的较为优越;但到了小一学期末,两组儿童几乎在所有语音意识课业中取得相同分数。这好像说明,由于希腊语言本质的关系,希腊语儿童早已在他们的学校经历初期习得了对这语言的语音结构的明显意识。研究结果亦显示,两组儿童读写能力的发展过程是依循同一途径;但在该途径上,早熟读者进步非常迅速,而非早熟读者则落于其后。 Cette étude longitudinale d'une durée de cinq ans ‐ du jardin d'enfants à la 4ème année ‐ avait pour but de voir si les performances de 13 lecteurs grecs précoces dans diverses tâches de lecture, écriture et conscience phonologique sont différentes de celles de 12 lecteurs grecs non précoces, s'il y a des différences entre les performances des deux groupes, et si ces différences demeurent stables au long des cinq premières années d'école primaire. Cette étude, en outre, a examiné si le développement du lettrisme chez les lecteurs précoces suit le même chemin que celui de la majorité des enfants. On a fait l'hypothèse que, du fait du peu de profondeur de l'écriture grecque, les lecteurs précoces seraient avantagés en lecture, écriture et conscience phonologique au cours des premières années, mais que cet avantage disparaîtrait la 4ème année. L'analyse des données a montré que l'avantage des lecteurs précoces en compréhension de lecture et en écriture demeure acquis jusqu'à la 2ème année, tandis que l'avantage en lecture courante se maintient jusqu'à la 4ème année. Les performances des lecteurs précoces dans les tâches de conscience phonologique sont supérieures à celle du groupe de comparaison au jardin d'enfants; cependant, à la fin de la 1ère année, les deux groupes ont obtenu des résultats similaires à presque toutes les tâches de conscience phonologique. Il semblerait que, du fait de la nature de la langue grecque, les enfants qui parlent grec acquièrent tôt dans leur carrière scolaire une conscience explicite de la structure phonologique de la langue. Les résultats ont montré également que le développement du lettrisme des deux groupes d'enfants suit le même chemin; cependant, les lecteurs précoces parcourent ce chemin plus rapidement que leurs contreparties non précoces. تهدف هذه الدراسة التتبعية التي تبلغ مدتها خمس سنوات إلى استقصاء إذا كان أداء ثلاثة عشر من القراء المبتسرين الإغريقيين مختلفاً عن اثني عشر من القراء غير المبتسرين الإغريقيين بشأن واجبات متنوعة بما فيها القراءة والهجاء ووعي الصوتيات وتتراوح أعمار المشاركين من سن الروضة حتى الصف الرابع الابتدائي. في حالة يوجد هنالك اختلافات بين أداء المجموعتين، من المراد معرفة إذا بقيت هذه الاختلافات مستقرة خلال السنوات الخمس من التعليم الأولي. علاوة على ذلك، تتقصى هذه الدراسة الاحتمال أن ينهج تطور عملية تعلم القراءة والكتابة للقراء المبتسرين منهاج معظم الأطفال. كان من المفترض وبحكمة سطحية الخط الإغريقي أن يتمتع القراء المبتسرون بفائدة من حيث واجبات القراءة والهجاء ووعي الصوتيات في الصفوف الأولى إلا أن هذه الفائدة ستتضاءل في الصف الرابع. يبين تحليل البيانات أن فائدة القراء المبتسرين في استيعاب القراءة والهجاء بقيت مستقرة حتى الصف الثاني بينما فائدتهم في سرعة القراءة بقيت حتى الصف الرابع. ولقد تفوق أداء القراء المبتسرين في واجبات وعي الصوتيات على ذلك من المجموعة المقارنة في سن الروضة ولكن كلتي مجموعتي الأطفال حصلتا على علامات متشابهة في معظم الواجبات الصوتية عند نهاية الصف الأول. وعلى ما يبدو أن طبيعة اللغة الإغريقية جعلت هؤلاء المتحدثين الإغريقيين أن يكتسبوا وعياً جلياً لنظام الصوتي للغة مبكراً في مشوارهم التعليمي. وقد بينت النتائج أن التطور العلمي في مجموعتي الأطفال نهج نفس المنهاج إلا أن القراء المبتسرين قد تقدموا على هذا المنهاج بطريقة أسرع من نظائرهم القراء غير المبتسرين. В течение пяти лет исследовалось, как происходит становление читательской грамотности у детей‐греков с детского сада до четвертого класса включительно, причем 13 детей начали читать рано, а 12 – поздно. Проверялось разнообразие их читательских интересов, навыки орфографии, умение соотнести звучание и написание слов. Если отмечались различия между двумя группами, исследователи отслеживали, насколько устойчивыми останутся эти различия в ходе обучения в начальной школе. Кроме того, они проверяли, идет ли становление грамотности у рано развившихся читателей тем же путем, что и большинства детей. Изначально предполагалось, что благодаря особенностям греческой орфографии у рано сформировавшихся читателей будет преимущество в чтении, правописании и фонологических упражнениях, а с возрастом это преимущество будет сходить на нет. Анализ полученных данных показал, что рано начавшие читать дети сохраняют устойчивый отрыв от сверстников в понимании прочитанного и правописании до второго класса и в беглости чтения до четвертого класса. Задачи на фонологическое восприятие легче давались умеющим читать дошкольникам, но уже к концу первого класса обе группы детей справлялись с подобными задачами с равным успехом. Видимо, это связано с природой греческого языка – дети достаточно рано учатся воспринимать его фонологическую структуру. Результаты также свидетельствуют о том, что развитие грамотности обеих групп детей происходит по сходному алгоритму; однако, дети, научившиеся читать рано, одолевают этот путь быстрее, чем их сверстники. El fin de este estudio longitudinal de cinco años fue examinar si lo bien que 13 lectores precoces griegos cumplían varias tareas de lectura, ortografía y conciencia de fonología desde kindergarten (jardín de la infancia) hasta cuarto grado difiere de lo bien que los cumplen doce lectores griegos no precoces. También examina, dado el caso de encontrar diferencias en el desempeño de ambos grupos, si estas diferencias seguían estables durante los cinco años de escuela primaria. Además, este estudio investigó si el desarrollo de alfabetización de los lectores precoces siguió el mismo curso que el de la mayoría de los niños. Se había hecho la hipótesis que, debido a la poca profundidad de la ortografía griega, los lectores precoces tendrían una ventaja al cumplir tareas de lectura, ortografía y conciencia fonológica en los primeros grados pero que esta ventaja disminuiría para el cuarto grado. El análisis de los datos mostró que la ventaja que los lectores precoces tenían en comprensión y ortografía siguió estable hasta el segundo grado, mientras que su ventaja en el campo de lectura fue mantenida hasta el cuarto grado. El desempeño de las tareas de conciencia fonológica de los lectores precoces fue superior a la del grupo de comparación en el kindergarten; sin embargo, para finales del primer grado, ambos grupos lograron calificaciones similares en casi todas las tareas fonológicas. Por lo visto, debido a la naturaleza del griego, estos niños de habla griega, adquirieron un a conciencia explícita de la estructura fonológica de la lengua temprano en su carrera escolar. Los resultados también mostraron que el desarrollo de la alfabetización de ambos grupos de niños el siguieron el mismo curso; sin embargo, los lectores precoces progresaron con más rapidez que sus compañeros no precoces.
Article
Tested the hypothesis that the experiences that a child has with rhyme before he/she goes to school might have an effect on later success in learning to read and write. Two experimental situations were used: a longitudinal study and an intensive training program in sound categorization or other forms of categorization. 368 children's skills at sound categorization were measured before they started to read and then related to their progress in reading, spelling, and mathematics over 4 yrs. At the end of initial testing and during the 4 yrs Ss' IQ, reading, spelling, and mathematical abilities were tested. There were high correlations between initial sound categorization scores and Ss' reading and spelling over 3 yrs. At the onset of study, 65 Ss who could not read and had low sound-categorization skills were divided into 4 groups. Two received 2 yrs of training in categorizing sounds. Group 1 was taught that the same word shared common beginning, middle, and end sounds with other words and could be categorized in different ways. Group 2 was also taught how each common sound was represented by a letter of the alphabet. The other groups served as controls. Group 3 was taught only that the same word could be classified in several ways. At the end of training, Group 1 was ahead of Group 3 and Group 2 was ahead of Group 1 in reading and spelling. This suggests that training in sound categorization is more effective when it also involves an explicit connection with the alphabet. Results support the hypothesis. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
This study investigated the link between phoneme and onset-rime awareness and reading outcomes in children learning to read in a second language (L2). Closely matched phoneme and onset-rime awareness tasks were administered in English and French in the spring of kindergarten to English-dominant children in French immersion programmes (n=98). Regression analyses indicated that English phoneme manipulation was a significant predictor of both English and French reading outcomes after controlling for kindergarten knowledge of letter names and word identification. French onset-rime knowledge measured in kindergarten accounted for significant variance for French reading outcome measures. Results support the existence of a link between English phoneme manipulation in kindergarten and both English and French reading outcomes in Grade 2. Practically, these results provide information about what phonological awareness measures can be used in kindergarten to predict later reading outcomes for children learning to read in an L2.
Article
Phonological awareness is a strong predictor of children's progress in literacy acquisition. There are different ways of segmenting words into sound sequences – syllables, phonemes, onset-rime – and little is known about whether these different levels of segmentation vary in their contribution to reading and writing. Does one of them – for example, phoneme awareness – play the major role in learning to read and spell making the other phonological units irrelevant to the prediction of reading? Or do different levels of analysis make independent contributions to reading and spelling? Our study investigated whether syllable and phoneme awareness make independent contributions to reading and spelling in Greek. Four measures were used: syllable awareness, phoneme awareness, reading and spelling. Analyses of variance showed that Greek speaking children found it easier to analyse words into syllables than phonemes, irrespective of the influence of task variables such as position of the phonological element, word length, and placement of stress in the word. Regression analyses showed that syllable and phoneme awareness make significant and independent contributions to learning written Greek. We conclude that phonological awareness is a multidimensional phenomenon and that the different dimensions contribute to reading and writing in Greek.
Article
In a longitudinal study, we looked at the link between children'sunderstanding of a morphemically-based orthographic rule and theirawareness of morphemic distinctions. The orthographic rule in question wasthe use of the apostrophe to denote possession in English. Early on in thestudy, we gave the children phonological, semantic/syntactic and morpho-syntactic awareness tasks, and later we gave them a spelling task in whichthey had to write words which were either genitives (e.g., `boy's') ornominative or accusative plurals (e.g., `boys'). Eight- to 10-year-oldchildren found this task difficult, but their performance improved to someextent with age. The morpho-syntactic, but not the phonological orsemantic/syntactic, awareness tasks predicted how well the children placedapostrophes in genitive words and omitted them from plural words. Weconclude that different forms of linguistic awareness affect differentaspects of reading and spelling. Learning about spelling patterns based onmorphemes is heavily influenced by children's morpho-syntactic awarenessbut not, apparently, by other forms of linguistic awareness.
Article
The morpho-phonological nature of English orthography is examined in this study of the relation between morphological sensitivity and decoding ability in the latter elementary grades. Children in grades three to six were required to distinguish derivationally-related word pairs (e.g., nature-natural) from foil pairs that are related in spelling but not in morphology (e.g., ear-earth). The materials included both transparently-related (i.e., the second word incorporated the pronunciation of the first, as in person-personal) and complexly-related word pairs (i.e., the second word involved some change in pronunciation, as in atom-atomic). Across two experiments, these items were presented in either oral or written form along with various tests of reading ability, intelligence and phonological awareness. The results indicate that children's recognition of derivational relationships improved with grade-level. As anticipated, there was also a significant association between sensitivity to derivational relatedness and decoding ability which remains significant even when the word pairs were orally presented and even when phonological awareness in taken into account. Both phonological awareness and sensitivity to morphological structure emerge as important factors in decoding skill in the later elementary grades.
Article
Two experiments were conducted to compare the development of orthographic representations in children learning to read English and Greek. Nonsense words that either shared both orthography and phonology at the level of the rhyme with real words (comic-bomic), phonology only (comic-bommick), or neither (dilotaff) were created for each orthography. Experiment 1 compared children's reading of bisyllabic and trisyllabic nonsense words like bomic vs. bommick, taffodil vs. tafoddyl, and found a significant facilitatory effect of orthographic rhyme familiarity for English only. Experiment 2 compared children's reading of trisyllabic nonsense words that either shared rhyme phonology with real words (tafoddyl) or did not (dilotaff). Significant facilitation in reading accuracy was found for shared rhyme phonology in English, with a significant speed advantage in Greek. These results are interpreted in terms of the level of phonology that is represented in the orthographic recognition units being developed by children who are learning to read more and less transparent orthographies.
Article
Several conventional spelling sequences for morphemes do not conform to letter-sound correspondence rules. One example is the -ed spelling for the inflectional morpheme at the end of English past verbs. Previous work has shown a close relationship between children''s awareness of grammatical distinctions and their success in learning about this spelling sequence. However, this research was with real verbs and the children''s spelling might have been influenced by familiarity with the words. To check this, we devised a task with pseudo-verbs. This is a novel use of pseudo-words, which hitherto have been a tool for testing letter-sound knowledge; here the spellings violated letter-sound relationships and followed a morphological pattern. The children heard passages with a pseudo-verb in the past tense and in other tenses and had to write the pseudo-verb in the past tense. The task contained both regular pseudo-verbs, whose stem was the same in the present and past tense, and irregular pseudo-verbs, which had different stems in the present and the past tense. The children''s scores in a grammatical awareness task predicted their use of the -ed spelling sequence over a 21 month period. The children also used -ed endings significantly more often in regular than irregular pseudo-verbs. We conclude that the use of -ed endings for regular verbs reflects a morphological spelling strategy based on children''s grammatical awareness.
Article
In this study, the relationship between latent constructs of phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) were investigated and related to later measures of reading and spelling in children learning to read in different alphabetic writing systems (i.e., Norwegian/Swedish vs. English). 750 U.S./Australian children and 230 Scandinavian children were followed longitudinally between kindergarten and 2nd grade. PA and RAN were measured in kindergarten and Grade 1, while word recognition, phonological decoding, and spelling were measured in kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. In general, high stability was observed for the various reading and spelling measures, such that little additional variance was left open for PA and RAN. However, results demonstrated that RAN was more related to reading than spelling across orthographies, with the opposite pattern shown for PA. In addition, tests of measurement invariance show that the factor loadings of each observed indicator on the latent PA factor was the same across U.S./Australia and Scandinavia. Similar findings were obtained for RAN. In general, tests of structural invariance show that models of early literacy development are highly transferable across languages.
Article
Word recognition processes of monolingual readers of English and of Greek were examined with respect to the orthographic and syntactic characteristics of each language. Because of Greek's direct letter-to-sound correspondence, which is unlike the indirect representation of English, the possibility was raised of a greater influence of the phonological code in Greek word recognition. Because Greek is an inflected language, whereas English is a word order language, it was also possible that syntax might influence word recognition patterns in the two languages differentially. These cross-linguistic research questions were investigated within the context of a letter cancellation paradigm. The results provide evidence that readers are sensitive to both the orthographic and the linguistic idiosyncracies of their language. The results are discussed in terms of the orthographic depth hypothesis and the competition model.
Article
A prerequisite step for studying the magnitude and meaning of IQ change is to distinguish between true IQ change that is a researchable phenomenon and IQ "change" that can be accounted for by measurement error. We studied the reliability, magnitude and meaning of IQ change using scores on the WISC--R obtained from a representative sample of 794 children at ages 7, 9, 11 and 13. The findings suggest that, in the majority of children, IQ change is either negligible in amount, unreliably measured or both. In a nontrivial minority of children, naturalistic IQ change is marked and real, but this change is variable in its timing, idiosyncratic in its source and transient in its course. We discuss the implications of these findings for interventions that aspire to improve IQ scores.
Article
The stability of IQ from childhood to adulthood in low-birthweight subjects was measured in two independent samples with follow-up intervals of approximately 14 and 9.5 years. In both samples, intelligence was assessed with the WISC at a mean age of 9.5. Twenty-six subjects were retested with the WAIS at a mean age of 23.5, and 78 subjects with the BPP (the Danish Military Draft Board Intelligence Test) at the age of 19.1. Both samples obtained childhood and adult test scores below the expected means. For the Wechsler Verbal, Performance and Full-Scale IQs, the stability quotients were 0.86, 0.86, and 0.89 in the WAIS sample, and the retest correlations for the three IQs with the BPP score were 0.66, 0.65, and 0.74. Thus, the majority of children showed stable patterns of intellectual development from middle childhood to young adulthood.
Article
In this review, we re-assess the evidence that phonological awareness represents a skill specific to spoken language that precedes and directly influences the process of reading acquisition. Longitudinal and experimental training studies are examined in detail, as these are considered most appropriate for exploring a causal hypothesis of this nature. A particular focus of our analysis is the degree to which studies to date have controlled for existing literacy skills in their participants and the influence that these skills might have on performance on phonological awareness tasks. We conclude that no study has provided unequivocal evidence that there is a causal link from competence in phonological awareness to success in reading and spelling acquisition. However, we believe that such a study is possible and outline some ideas for its design and implementation.