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Purpose: The present meta-analysis sought to investigate the effects of phonemic awareness instruction provided to children suspected of having a reading disability. Method: Seven databases were systematically searched, and 1,643 unique manuscripts were reviewed for inclusion. Data were extracted from 138 included manuscripts to evaluate the use of phonemic awareness instruction with children suspected of having a reading disability. A random effects model was then used to conduct a meta-analysis of these data with regard to child outcomes. Results: Gains in this population associated with phonemic awareness instruction can vary as a function of the outcome being used. On average, phonemic awareness instruction had a medium effect on composite (g = 0.511) and segmentation (g = 0.571) outcomes and a small effect on outcomes measuring blending (g = 0.341), first sound identification (g = 0.428), and deletion (g = 0.248). Instruction effects were strongest in kindergarten and first grade, but positive outcomes were also found for older children. There was not a significant relationship between cumulative intervention intensity and child performance. Conclusions: The present meta-analysis confirms that phonemic awareness instruction can be effective with children of varying ages and that significant gains can be observed on the key outcome measures of segmentation and blending. Graphemes should be incorporated into phonemic awareness instruction, and future studies need to provide information on dosage beyond just the length and frequency of sessions to clarify which aspects of these interventions are most efficient.

Set for variability (SfV) is an oral language task that requires an individual to disambiguate the mismatch between the decoded form of an irregular word and its actual lexical pronunciation. For example, in the task, the word wasp is pronounced to rhyme with clasp (i.e. /waesp/), and the individual must recognize the actual pronunciation of the word to be /w[alpha]sp/. SfV has been shown to be a significant predictor of both item-specific and general word reading variance above and beyond that associated with phonemic awareness skill, letter-sound knowledge, and vocabulary skill. However, very little is known about the child characteristics and word features that affect SfV item performance. In this study, we explored whether word features and child characteristics that involve phonology only are adequate to explain item-level variance in SfV performance or whether including predictors that involve the connection between phonology and orthography explains additional variance. To accomplish this, we administered the SfV task (N = 75 items) to a sample of grade 2-5 children (N = 489), along with a battery of reading, reading related, and language measures. Results suggest that variance in SfV performance is uniquely accounted for by measures tapping phonological skill along with those capturing knowledge of phonology to orthography associations, but more so in children with better decoding skill. Additionally, word reading skill was found to moderate the influence of other predictors suggesting that how the task is approached may be impacted by word reading and decoding ability.

Purpose: This was an investigation of the dimensionality of oral and written language to test the hypothesis that a two-factor model with sound/word and sentence/discourse language levels would best fit language and literacy data for a population-based sample in the school-age years. Method: A stratified secondary data set of 1,500 participants was drawn randomly from a larger nationally representative U.S. data set (N = 1,853) gathered during standardization of the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills. A sample of 254 students with prior diagnoses of language and literacy disorders (LLD) was drawn from the full data set. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare the hypothesized two-factor model with other theoretically possible models. Results: The hypothesized two-factor language-levels model had an acceptable-to-good fit to the full data set, as did the three-factor model, with verbal memory added. High interfactor correlation between verbal memory and sentence/ discourse constructs, as well as a preference for parsimony, led to the acceptance of the two-factor model as best. This language-levels model had a good fit to the data at ages 8-11 years, and an excellent fit at ages 12-18 years, but only a poor fit for ages 6-7 years (yet still better than other two-factor or unitary models). It had a reasonable fit for students with LLD, although the three-factor model fit their data slightly better. Conclusions: Oral and written language abilities during the school-age years are best explained by a two-factor model with sound/word and sentence/ discourse language levels and memory as a contributing factor. Implications for identifying and treating language and literacy disorders as multidimensional rather than categorical are discussed.

Purpose: The primary aim was to assess whether children have difficulty distinguishing similar-sounding novel words. The secondary aim was to assess what task characteristics might hinder or facilitate perceptual discrimination. Method: Three within-subjects experiments tested ninety-nine 3- to 5-year-old children total. Experiment 1 presented two cartoon characters each saying a novel word. Children were asked to report whether they said the same word or different words. Words were identical (e.g., deev/deev), were dissimilar (deev/ vush), differed in onset consonant voicing (deev/teev), or differed in vowel tenseness (deev/div). Experiment 2 added accuracy feedback after each trial to remind children of task instructions. Experiment 3 interspersed many "same" trials containing a repeating standard word to assess the role of bottom-up stimulus support on difference detection. Results: The d' scores were highest for dissimilar words, next highest on different-vowel pairs, and lowest on different-consonant pairs. Performance was better with repeated standard stimuli (Experiment 3) than without (Experiment 1). Benefits for repeated task instructions (Experiment 2) were marginal. Exploratory analyses comparing these results to findings in a word-learning study using the same stimuli suggest an imperfect match to how easily children can learn similar-sounding words. Conclusions: Overall, similar-sounding novel words are challenging for children to discriminate perceptually, although discrimination scores exceeded chance for all levels of similarity. Clinically speaking, same/different tests may be less sensitive to sound discrimination than change/no-change tests.

In this study, it is aimed to compare the early literacy skills of children with cochlear implants with 60-72 months of preschool and/or special education to the results of children with normal hearing. For this purpose, the following questions were sought. In this study, "Demographic Form" containing the general information of volunteer families and children was included in the study and Early Literacy Test-EROT was applied to evaluate the early literacy skills of children. As a result, word knowledge between two groups, receptive and expressive language, general naming, knowledge of function scores were statistically different; in the phonological awareness sub-tests, the difference between separating the word into syllable, combining syllables, eliminating the first sound of words results with cochlear implants were statistically significant between two groups. However, there was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of rhyme awareness, matching the first sound of words, matching the last sound of words, separating the sentence into words, eliminating the last voice of words and total phonological awareness scores; moreover, it was found that CI users had lower scores in the knowledge of letter, listening comprehension subtests and EROT total scores, and the difference between the groups was significant.

The study presents research results in the level of phonemic awareness, particularly phonemic analysis and synthesis at children of preschool age in connection with the level of chosen cognitive functions. The study focuses more on the cognitive function of speech, namely active vocabulary and we identify whether the active vocabulary of a preschooler in Slovakia influences the level of phonemic awareness in the field of phonemic analysis and synthesis. From the results it is clear that there is a statistically significant relation between the level of phonemic awareness in the field of phonemic analysis (r = 0,510; p= [less than]0,001) and also with the phonemic synthesis (r = 0,482; p= [less than]0,001) and active vocabulary of children. The results show that the children, who achieved a higher level of active vocabulary, achieved also the higher level of perceptual analysis and synthesis. Thus, the findings showed that the children who achieved a higher level of active vocabulary, they also achieved a higher level of perceptual analysis and synthesis. Perceptual analysis and synthesis are the key factors of phonemic awareness that are according in a close relation with acquisition of reading and writing skills. That children entering schools with strong linguistic knowledge learn to read and write with an ease and less difficult than their peers who have lower level of vocabulary and language structures. Spoken expression is an important factor in development of a child not only in relation with actual developmental level but as a factor that can predict success of the child in school. The didactic level benefits from the research with the findings that systematic development of vocabulary of preschool children can play a significant role in development of phonemic skills of the children and furthermore, by phonemic awareness development it is possible to contribute towards developing reading and writing skills. Thus, the reading literacy can be supported.

Background: In investigating the early reading literacy of a group of Setswana-speaking children who learnt to read in Afrikaans, cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) was chosen as a conceptual framework because of its proven utility value in helping researchers make sense of complex social systems. Aim: The application of this heuristic not only proved valuable as organising principle but also unexpectedly revealed the situation with a clarity that brought about a richer understanding of the intricate dynamics underlying reading literacy in a second language. Setting: The study was conducted at a small-town Afrikaans medium school. Methods: In this mixed method inquiry, qualitative data was collected through interviews with parents and educators, classroom observations and document analysis. The quantitative data was obtained through the administering of an early reading literacy assessment. Results: The overarching finding of this study was that the Setswana-speaking children developed early reading literacy skills at a rate and level commensurate with that of their Afrikaans-speaking peers. Where the application of CHAT as heuristic proved invaluable was in bringing to light a pattern revealing the agency which was exercised by parents and educators to support the children's reading literacy learning. Conclusion: Despite various obstacles and tensions, parents and teachers exercise considerable agency in supporting the children's early reading literacy. Although the empirical aspects of the study are described, it is a conceptual gaze of the situation, employing CHAT as a lens, which is the focus of this article.

Over the years, persistently low achievement levels have led scholars to question whether reading skill development is different for deaf readers. Research findings suggest that in order for deaf students to become proficient readers, they must master the same fundamental abilities that are well established for hearing learners, regardless of the degree of hearing loss or communication modality used (e.g., spoken or signed). The simple view of reading (SVR), which hypothesizes the critical role both language abilities and phonological skills play in development of reading comprehension, provides a model for understanding the reading process for a wide range of students and has the potential to shed light on the challenges deaf students have historically experienced in achieving age-appropriate outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to review the components of the SVR and use this conceptual model as the basis for exploring and discussing both historical and current research evidence in reading and deafness, with a particular focus on phonological skills. Recommendations for future research and practice based on the existing body of literature will also be provided.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effect of interactive book reading activities on children's print and phonemic awareness skills. In the current study, the semi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used. The sampling of the study consists of 34 children attending independent kindergartens in the city of Kars. Of these 34 children, 17 were assigned to the experimental group and 17 were assigned to the control group. To the experimental group students, children's books were read three times a week for eight weeks in total through the interactive books reading method. The control group students; on the other hand, were read books through the traditional book reading method. In the analysis of the collected data, Mann Whitney U Test and for relational measurements, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used. At the end of the study, it was found that the interactive books reading activities had significant effects of the development of the children's phonemic and print awareness skills.

Phonemic Awareness is the understanding that words are made up of individual sounds. These individual sounds are referred to as phonemes. Within the English language, there are about 44 sounds, and several of these are rather difficult for children to grasp. Mastery of phonemic awareness is a foundational skill for reading, yet is often skimmed over or not reinforced within today's classrooms. Perhaps this lies in a misunderstanding of the importance of phonemic awareness. This paper highlights several phonemic awareness activities that are immensely useful in building and reinforcing phonemic awareness -- activities that not only focus on phonemic awareness, but incorporate music and movement which enhance student engagement and retention. Such activities provide concrete language support for ELLs.

Although publicly-funded prekindergarten (pre-k) programs have been designed to promote children's school readiness, programs have tended to support early literacy skills to a greater degree than early language skills. Given the importance of both language and literacy skills for children's reading acquisition and academic achievement, the present study sought to understand whether different pre-k classroom instructional practices were related to gains in language and/or literacy skills. Teacher-child language exchanges, children's engagement in domain-specific learning activities, and the use of different types of activity settings were examined in 63 pre-k classrooms for 455 children living in six rural counties in the Southeastern United States. Hierarchical linear models showed that gains in expressive language were positively associated with teacher-child language exchanges and negatively associated with large- group activities. Gains in phonemic awareness and initial-sound knowledge were positively related to sound-focused activities and small-group settings. Gains in reading decoding skills were also positively associated with small-group settings. Implications for research, teacher practice, and professional development are discussed.

Purpose: This study evaluated the equivalence of the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS) when administrated via telepractice (Tele-TILLS) and face-to-face methods. Method: Participants were 51 children and adolescents in three age bands, ages 6-7 years (n = 9), 8-11 years (n = 21), and 12-18 years (n = 21). Data were gathered by 25 volunteer examiners who assessed the same participants twice within a 2- to 4-week period, using Tele-TILLS and traditional methods in randomly selected, counterbalanced order. Results: Evaluation of identification equivalence showed 96% agreement between methods (49 of 51 decisions), with 39 agreements of "no" disorder, 10 agreements of "yes" disorder, and two disagreements ("yes" disorder for Tele-TILLS and "no" disorder for traditional). Partial correlations, controlled for test order, showed moderate to high agreement between all composite and subtest scores, except Nonword Repetition. Scoring by examiners and the first author showed high interrater agreement. No differences between Nonword Repetition scores were found for students who wore headsets (n = 12), whereas differences were found for those who did not (n = 34). Conclusions: This study provided preliminary evidence that Tele-TILLS results can be equivalent to traditional TILLS, supporting its validity for identifying language/literacy disorder and interpreting profiles. The small, highly homogeneous sample with well-educated parents limits generalizability to the broader population. Caution is warranted when testing 6- to 7-year-old students for whom Nonword Repetition is part of the Identification Core score. Suggestions are provided for optimizing technological setup, preparing facilitators, and making minor modifications in subtest administration.

Translating the research base on effective reading instruction to the classroom has been a challenge. The delivery of these instructional methods requires practical skills coupled with an understanding of the aspects of language being taught. The purpose of this study was to explore the level of literacy knowledge of the English language held by educators who provide instruction to students in the primary grades. Data from 1369 classroom teachers, 74 reading interventionists, and 131 special educators comprising the analytic sample were collected as part of a training initiative in a US state. Participating educators completed a 50-item test of phonological sensitivity, phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding, and morphology. Multiple regression analyses confirmed differences in the levels of knowledge observed between the groups of educators. Reading interventionists demonstrated greater knowledge than classroom teachers and special educators in the total proportion of correct responses and across each domain. Classroom teachers demonstrated greater knowledge than special educators in phonological sensitivity and decoding but did not differ from each other in phonemic awareness, encoding, or morphology knowledge. Special educators provide intervention to students with the most severe forms of reading disabilities, yet they had the lowest level of knowledge. In contrast, reading interventionists, who provide intervention within general education, had the highest levels of knowledge. These findings suggest a need to elevate the knowledge of special educators and consider reading interventionists' role in supporting students identified with a specific learning disability in reading.

Over half of US children are enrolled in preschools, where the quantity and quality of language input from teachers are likely to affect children's language development. Leveraging repeated objective measurements, we examined the rate per minute and phonemic diversity of child and teacher speech-related vocalizations in preschool classrooms and their association with children's end-of-year receptive and expressive language abilities measured with the Preschool Language Scales (PLS-5). Phonemic diversity was computed as the number of unique consonants and vowels in a speech-related vocalization. We observed three successive cohorts of 2.5-3.5-year-old children enrolled in an oral language classroom that included children with and without hearing loss (N = 29, 16 girls, 14 Hispanic). Vocalization data were collected using child-worn audio recorders over 34 observations spanning three successive school years, yielding 21.53 mean hours of audio recording per child. The rate of teacher vocalizations positively predicted the rate of children's speech-related vocalizations while the phonemic diversity of teacher vocalizations positively predicted the phonemic diversity of children's speech-related vocalizations. The phonemic diversity of children's speech-related vocalizations was a stronger predictor of end-of-year language abilities than the rate of children's speech-related vocalizations. Mediation analyses indicated that the phonemic diversity of teacher vocalizations was associated with children's receptive and expressive language abilities to the extent that it influenced the phonemic diversity of children's own speech-related vocalizations. The results suggest that qualitatively richer language input expands the phonemic diversity of children's speech, which in turn is associated with language abilities.

Auditory brainstem implantation (ABI) is a recent innovation in pediatric hearing restoration in children with a sensorineural hearing impairment. Only limited information is available on the spontaneous speech development of severe-to-profound congenitally hearing-impaired children who received an ABI. The purpose of this study was to investigate longitudinally the accuracy of ABI children's word productions in spontaneous speech in comparison to the accuracy of children who received a cochlear implant and children with normal hearing. The data of this study consist of recordings of the spontaneous speech of the first three Dutch-speaking children living in Belgium who received an ABI. The children's utterances were phonemically transcribed and for each word, the distance between the child's production and the standard adult phonemic transcription was computed using the Levenshtein Distance as a metric. The same procedure was applied to the longitudinal data of the children with CI and the normally hearing children. The main result was that the Levenshtein Distance decreased in the three children with ABI but it remained significantly higher than that of children with typical hearing and cochlear implants matched on chronological age, hearing age, and lexicon size. In other words, the phonemic accuracy increased in the children with ABI but stayed well below that of children without hearing loss and children with cochlear implants. Moreover, the analyses revealed considerable individual variation between the children with ABI.

This paper reports on a four-year study where campus leaders used collaborative inquiry twinned with generative dialogue to facilitate teacher growth in order to improve the teaching and learning of reading in a school where reading results were already strong. The paper contributes to the school improvement literature by capturing the two main cycles-of-inquiry that emerged during the study. It also found that teachers improved their teaching and assessment of reading through: their intentional teaching of phonemic awareness, fluency and comprehension; offering students choice in their reading materials; and ensuring their assessment practices were based on standard criteria applied across all classrooms. This study concluded that when visionary leaders facilitate collaborative-inquiry twinned with generative dialogue, school improvement can occur.

Improving reading skills is considered one of education's highest priorities. The present study investigated teachers' knowledge of reading skills instruction in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A mixed-methods design was used to obtain data that would improve understanding of teachers' knowledge about teaching reading skills to d/Deaf and hard of hearing (d/Dhh) students. Fifty-five teachers of d/Dhh students completed a questionnaire; 26 of the teachers were interviewed in the qualitative portion of the study. Correlation analysis of the model strategies showed significant positive correlations within and among four reading strategies for KSA d/Dhh students: teaching phonemic awareness, teaching to associate letter shapes with their sounds, teaching vocabulary, and teaching reading comprehension The study also found that a significant number of the teachers had sufficient knowledge about teaching reading skills; therefore, no statistically significant differences were attributable to the variables in the study.

Evidence suggests that educators are not sufficiently prepared to teach foundational literacy concepts. With early childhood educators (ECEs) on the front lines of children's early literacy development, the present study assessed both pre-service and in-service ECEs' early literacy knowledge and self-efficacy for early literacy instruction. The present study revealed significant gaps in ECEs' early literacy knowledge and identified differences between pre-service and in-service ECEs' early literacy knowledge and experiences. The lack of adequate knowledge and self-efficacy in phonemic awareness and oral language instruction among participants highlights a need for improved training and professional development for ECEs with respect to foundational literacy concepts including phonemic awareness and oral language.

The National Reading Panel identified phonemic awareness (PA) as one of the five components of reading and found explicit instruction effective in developing PA skills in students. In the current meta-analysis, we explored the extent to which PA instruction was effective for developing PA skills in preschool through first-grade students and examined moderators related to malleable instructional characteristics relevant to the effective implementation of PA instruction in schools (e.g., type of instructor, specifically including computer programs and parents aside from teachers as instructors) and their possible interactions. We collected data from 46 experimental and quasi-experimental primary studies, with 59 independent samples providing 119 effect sizes (treatment groups, N = 1892; control groups, N = 1747). Using robust variance estimation, PA instruction was moderately effective (g = 0.63, p < 0.001) at improving PA outcomes. No statistically significant difference was found for type of instructor. Other moderator analyses revealed no significant differences for group size, duration, PA skills taught, use of letters, grade level, at-risk for reading difficulties status, or English language learner status. Finally, examination of the interaction between type of instructor and at-risk status suggested teachers, computer programs, and parents are effective instructors for both at-risk and low-risk students. As schools plan for effective PA instruction, results indicate computer programs and parents can be useful resources to build PA skills for students to supplement teacher instruction.

Purpose: This study was designed to assess the efficiency of a French version of "GraphoGame" (GG) against an equally engaging math intervention ("Fiete Math," FM) in a large school sample of children from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods in grade 1 (N = 921). Method: The intervention was implemented in two different cohorts who used GG or FM for about four months four times a week for 30 minutes. Gains in reading and mathematics were assessed before and after intervention. Given the nested nature of the data, results were analyzed using hierarchical linear mixed effect models with intervention and initial pretest level as fixed effects and individuals and classes as random effects. Results: We found positive intervention effects of GG on phoneme awareness (effect size, ES = 0.23), orthographic choice (ES = 0.27) and word reading fluency (ES = 0.18). FM had a significant effect on math achievement (ES = 0.28) but not number comparison. Correlations between intervention gains and game variables (overall accuracy, number of levels played) suggest that the effects of GG were specific. Conclusions: Positive effects for focused digital reading and math interventions were found in a large school sample of children from socially disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Reporting on a qualitative study, informed by Australian Government Indigenous education and literacy policies, this article unveils early career teacher reflections about infusing Aboriginal perspectives in the English curriculum using multimodal texts. Forging a praxis between the Aboriginal practice of yarning (Bessarab & Ng'andu, 2010) and Freire's (1974, 1996) frameworks for conscientisation and teachers as facilitators, the project overlays the work of Ladson-Billings (1995) and Foster, Halliday, Baize &Chisholm (2020), to unravel how culturally responsive pedagogy manifests in early career primary school teaching. We discuss teacher starting points and challenges to be culturally responsive educators, who use appropriate Aboriginal texts in classrooms. Results suggest that yarning is useful for meeting English curriculum outcomes and for collaboratively developing decolonising knowledge, which can impact multiple stakeholders. Recommendations for future research include co-designed projects to support teacher education through multimodal texts and yarning practices with Aboriginal Elders.

This study examined whether different cognitive correlates are associated with spelling of different target types, such as phonologically consistent and inconsistent syllables, of Korean Hangul among 94 five-year-old first language (L1) Korean children and 41 foreign language (FL) learners who are Hong Kong Chinese college students. Korean children performed tasks of spelling, along with measures of syllable and phoneme coda awareness, phonological and orthographic working memory, morphological awareness, vocabulary, and orthographic knowledge. Among Korean 5-year-old children, coda awareness and orthographic working memory explained unique variance in spelling of phonologically consistent syllables, whereas syllable and coda awareness, orthographic working memory, orthographic knowledge, and vocabulary all explained unique variance in spelling of inconsistent syllables. When Chinese college students were tested on spelling of Korean Hangul as a foreign language, along with a battery of tasks in Korean similar to those administered to the L1 children, only orthographic working memory significantly explained spelling of consistent syllables, whereas only vocabulary knowledge explained spelling of inconsistent syllables. In both groups, spelling accuracy was lower in phonologically inconsistent than in consistent Hangul syllables. These findings suggest that different cognitive demands are involved in early spelling of phonologically consistent and inconsistent syllables in Korean Hangul among L1 and FL learners.

This study examines the impact of a systematic teaching programme of phonological awareness (PA) skills on children's pre-reading skills where English is taught as Second Language in a school in Beirut, Lebanon. Four Kindergarten classes (two experimental and two control) participated in the study. Instruments included intervention programme, observations, evaluation checklists, interviews, and PA skills tests. Pre-tests were administered to both groups. The former received a 12-week intervention. Post-tests revealed that children in the experimental group exhibited significant improvement in PA skills and substantial improvement compared to their initial baseline performance results. Findings provide educators with an understanding of PA skills and ways to promote their development at the preschool level.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a brief experimental intervention that integrated spelling practice into a systematic phonics approach to initial reading instruction for at-risk children. The effects of this intervention were studied by means of a randomized controlled trial design that compared the experimental condition to two trained control conditions and a further business-as-usual condition. The two trained control conditions were phonics-based interventions without spelling but with additional time spent on letter-sound practice. One emphasized letter-sound production, the other letter-sound recognition. Participants were 65 kindergartners with limited letter knowledge and no reading skills. Each participant was randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. Children were taught individually in four 20-min sessions in all three trained conditions. Analyses of the gains in abilities from pre- to posttest revealed that the integrated spelling condition was associated with significantly larger gains in phoneme awareness, spelling, and reading than were either the trained letter-sound recognition condition (d = 0.38-0.86) or the business-as-usual condition (d = 0.54-1.21). The results also favored the integrated spelling condition over the trained letter-sound production condition. Regarding the two trained control conditions, the letter-sound production condition was associated with slightly better reading and spelling outcomes than the letter-sound recognition condition. These findings indicate that integrated spelling may improve systematic phonics for children at risk of early reading difficulties, and that activities that encourage letter-sound production may be more beneficial than those which only require letter-sound recognition.

Although there is a growing research base on Arabic literacy development to inform our understanding of the factors that account for variability in word reading skill, the current body of research is limited by two major constraints. First, although several studies examine one or more early literacy constructs, we were able to locate only two studies that included phonological, orthographic and morphological factors together. Second, all of the studies conducted to date rely on the use of researcher-developed measures that include tasks associated with the construct(s) of interest, but that are not based on a comprehensive conceptual framework of these constructs. In this study, 188 students in grades 1-2 completed measures of phonological processing, orthographic knowledge, morphological awareness, and word reading. Results of multiple regression analyses indicate that phonological awareness, and, in particular, elision, accounted for significant variance in word reading, regardless of how word reading was measured. Morphological awareness and orthographic knowledge measures also accounted for significant variance in some word reading measures. RAN and Phonological Memory measures only contributed to some measures of word reading ability. Results are discussed in the context of the existing literature on Arabic. Implications and next steps for research are discussed.

Difficulties with reading development have been well documented in samples of children with autism spectrum disorders. This study utilized a state-level early literacy dataset of kindergarten students educationally diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (N = 616) to investigate the development of critical early reading skills across the kindergarten year. The study employed latent profile analysis and latent transition analysis to empirically derive profiles of early readers at kindergarten entry and the end of kindergarten. Results demonstrate the heterogenous nature of early reading skills for young school-aged students with autism spectrum disorder. Results have important implications for the early instruction and intervention of early reading for young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Literacy topics fluctuate each year in how much attention they receive in research and practice. The "What's Hot in Literacy" annual survey asks twenty-five leading experts what literacy topics are currently receiving attention, or are hot, as well as which topics should be hot in the field. The results of these interviews are tallied to identify consensus among the participants. The following three levels are used to report the findings: (a) "extremely hot" or "extremely cold" (100% consensus), (b) "very hot" or "very cold" (75% consensus), and (c) "hot" or "cold" (50% consensus). Items are identified as "should be hot" or "should not be hot" if at least 50% of the respondents agree. The four "very hot" topics for 2021 are digital literacy, dyslexia, phonics/phonemic awareness, and social justice/equity/anti-racism in literacy. Discussion of these topics (and others that were deemed should be hot) and why they may be currently receiving more attention than others in the field is included. Findings can be utilized by both K-12 and higher education professionals alike.

This study investigated the impact of Chinese dyslexia subtypes on English literacy skills (i.e., reading fluency and dictation) in Hong Kong children. Eighty-four Cantonese-speaking children officially diagnosed with dyslexia (M[subscript age] = 103 months) and 48 age-matched typically developing (TD) children were tested. Cluster analysis with performances on Chinese syllable awareness (CSA), Chinese phonemic awareness (CPA), Chinese phonological memory (CPM), Chinese orthographic awareness (COA), and matrix reasoning (MR) yielded three cognitive subtypes: the phonological deficit (PD) subtype, the orthographic deficit (OD) subtype, and the global deficit (GD) subtype. After controlling for English language experience, age, and gender, all three dyslexia subtype groups performed significantly worse in English word reading fluency and dictation than the TD children. In addition, the PD group performed worse in English PA; the OD group performed worse in English OA; and the GD group performed worse in all English skills except English PM. We compared the level of impairment in literacy between languages and dyslexia subtypes. In word reading fluency, all subtype groups experienced less impairment in English than Chinese, while the OD group showed the largest English advantage. In dictation, only the OD group showed a significant language effect favoring English. The findings suggest that different subtypes of Chinese dyslexia bear different risks for difficulties in English literacy.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) states that building bridges between home and school benefits students' development. With online teaching, this translates into informal conversations before class starts or at the end of class as a teacher waits for a virtual classroom to fill up or empty out. Much of teaching language learners relies on fostering relationships with students. The ability to build those relationships can be compromised by the challenges of remote learning. When schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many teachers were struggling with questions about how to deliver lessons and engage second language learners online. This article highlights one teacher's experiences and offers some advice based on those experiences and the literature.

Teachers are asked to use reading science to inform how they teach phonics and phonological awareness. As teachers look to the research base to guide their practice, some questions and concerns regarding what best practice looks like have come up. This article starts with a brief description of phonics and phonemic awareness and then discusses topics of issue in a developmental order, addressing phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphology. Current research is used to discuss 10 questions teachers are asking as they navigate applying reading research in the classroom.

A hallmark of skilled reading is recognizing written words automatically from memory by sight. How beginning readers attain this skill is explained. They must acquire foundational knowledge, including phonemic segmentation, grapheme-phoneme knowledge, decoding, and spelling skills. When these skills are applied, spellings of words become bonded to pronunciations and meanings and stored in memory. Suggestions for teaching these skills are offered. These include picture mnemonics to teach letters, articulation to teach phonemic segmentation, and sound streaming to teach decoding. It is important to teach decoding with grapheme-phoneme subunits rather than syllabic units. It is important to read words in text to bond meanings to spellings in memory. It is important for beginners to read words in text aloud rather than silently. Showing students spellings of new vocabulary words when they are taught improves their memory for the words. Students progress through four alphabetic phases in acquiring these skills. Systematic phonics instruction facilitates movement through the phases.

This study shows that home literacy activities contribute to kindergarten children's higher-level comprehension processes, namely knowledge integration and knowledge access. Kindergarten children completed measures assessing literacy and language skills and then their performances on these measures were correlated with home literacy activities, which were assessed via a parental questionnaire. Consistent with previous research, the results revealed that informal home literacy activities were positively related to language comprehension and vocabulary but not to letter-word decoding and phonemic decoding skills. The results also revealed that home literacy activities were positively related to knowledge integration and knowledge access, two strong predictors of language and reading comprehension. Finally, the present results suggest that the contributions that home literacy activities make to language comprehension are the same contributions that home literacy activities make to higher-level comprehension processes. In other words, the contributions that home literacy activities make to language comprehension are not independent of the contributions that home literacy activities make to higher-level comprehension processes.

The purpose of this study is to examine the language acquisition approaches whose conceptions of language acquisitions are transferred to learning environments through adjustments made on the basis of application methods. The paper also discussed their similarities and differences. Different approaches to language acquisition in various disciplines, different views, and perceptions of it have been developed. There are some approaches completely distinct from others, while there are some others affected by different perspectives. In addition to the language acquisition approaches mentioned above, the paper delineated what literacy skills are and what kind of hierarchical order is followed by the development of these skills. The study, on one hand, deliberated children's innate abilities and their acquired skills. by examining the reading and writing methods and from which approach they have been affected. The study, on the other hand, summarized the views of Vygotsky, whose contributions to learning in general and language acquisition in particular are better understood today. In brief, this paper discusses and explains the language acquisition approaches and the development process of children's literacy skills.

Purpose: The purpose of this narrative review of the literature is to provide a description of intensive interventions for elementary grade students with dyslexia, students with learning disabilities, and students with intensive reading and writing needs. Method: First, we provide a brief overview of response to intervention. Second, we explain our theoretical framework for the review. Third, we describe evidence-based interventions, which are divided into predominantly reading or writing interventions. Fourth, we explain data-based individualization for these programs based on a taxonomy of intensity, and we provide an illustrative case study. Conclusion: We conclude by describing a set of links to websites and technical assistance resources that may be helpful for speech-language pathologists, teachers, and other interventionists to stay current with this research base and to lead professional learning communities.

The purpose of this study was to examine LINUS teachers' knowledge of basic language constructs and the relationships between LINUS teachers' knowledge of basic language constructs, teaching experience and their perceived abilities to teach reading to LINUS students. 121 LINUS teachers teaching English literacy from 31 Johor Bahru national primary schools participated in this survey research study. Findings indicated that LINUS teachers scored a mean percentage of 61% on the total knowledge of basic language constructs. Teachers were strongest at phonological awareness items (82%), followed by phonemic awareness items (63%), morphology items (51%) and phonics items (46%). Results showed that LINUS teachers with 1-5 years of experience teaching English significantly predicted whether they gave higher ratings of perceived abilities to teach reading to LINUS students as compared to LINUS teachers with less than 1 year of experience teaching English (p = 0.04). However, as scores of total knowledge increase, LINUS teachers with less than 1 year of experience teaching English are more likely to give higher ratings of perceived abilities to teach reading to LINUS students than LINUS teachers with 1-5 years of experience teaching English (p = 0.03). The findings highlighted the importance of teacher content knowledge in increasing perceived teaching abilities as opposed to teaching experience per se. Future research should be done on more samples of LINUS teachers for more generalizable results.

The growing diversity in schools in the United States resulting from the rising number of English learners (ELs) has put more pressure on both children and teachers. Teachers are faced with the challenge of meeting the educational needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners, including the unique needs of CLD children with academic delays or disabilities. As early as preschool, many ELs are performing academically lower than their monolingual peers in literacy, and the gap can be even greater for ELs identified as having a delay or disability. However, providing explicit phonological awareness interventions in the child's native language may help improve English reading outcomes and mediate the negative effects on reading achievement attributed to limited English proficiency. This intervention study looked at how a phonologically based emergent literacy intervention provided in Spanish to four EL preschoolers affected their emergent literacy and phonological awareness outcomes in English and Spanish. All of the children increased their overall emergent literacy and phonological awareness skills in both English and Spanish. The findings indicated that all four children showed some increase in English phonological awareness skills in both syllable segmentation and letter sound knowledge, while sound isolation and sound segmentation demonstrated mixed results across participants.