Fostering Early Literacy Skills in Spanish Beginner Readers Growing up in At-Risk Environments. Effectiveness of a Phonological Awareness-Training Program for Reading Achievement [ponencia enviada]

PORTA, MARÍA ELSA

Auckland, New Zeland

Congreso; International Reading Association 23 World Congress on Reading; 2010

International Reading Association

Abstract ID 737.OBJECTIVES: Using a pre-test, post-test comparison-group design, this 20-week study assessed the effects of a Training Program (TP) to foster literacy skills on reading achievement in 130 Argentinean children growing up in at-risk conditions of social vulnerability and exposed to low levels of home literacy: 62 kindergarteners (M=5.2 years) and 68 first graders (M=6.4 years).  CONTENT: The TP was administered to the experimental group (EG; n=65) and focused on the development of each of the following abilities: segmentation; phonological awareness (PA) (rhyme categorization, initial sound categorization, and sound blending); and letter-name knowledge. The program included a total of 36 lessons of 30 min. each and every lesson was administered by the teacher to the class as a group. To control treatment fidelity (Troia, 1999), every lesson was supervised and video-recorded. The control group (CG; n=65) received a shorter alternative program focused on grammar development. One pre-test and two post-test measures of PA and basic reading skills were obtained as well as a measure of reading comprehension. The family academic and literary levels were evaluated together with its socio-economic background, the teacher beliefs and the classroom literary environment. The ANOVA showed that in kindergarteners, the levels of PA, reading, reading comprehension and writing for the EG were greater than those of the CG. Although significant differences were not observed between the first graders’ groups, the pair-wise comparison analysis supports the effects of the TP: Pre-test measures showed that the reading and writing score average for the EG were lower than that of the CG. After administering the TP in this age group, the post-test data showed no between-group differences in reading and writing, indicating that the EG had matched the CG in both literacy variables. According to the results observed in first graders, we wanted to know whether the reading and writing levels gained were significantly greater for the EG as compared to the CG: The desired confidence interval for the estimated contrast revealed that the gain in reading and writing skills was greater for the EG than for the CG. Regression analysis showed that: for the two age groups, letter-sound knowledge and PA were predictive of reading level; for kindergarteners, home literacy environment was predictive of PA and reading level; and for first graders, although the overall IQ was predictive of PA, did not predict reading performance. In this age group, the rapid automatic naming was predictive of reading. The variables, socio-economic status and family academic level did not predict reading achievement. METHODS OF PRESENTATION: The proposal will be posted as a power-point presentation including information about objectives, method, results and conclusion as well as six short clips to illustrate the training program core activities.