Development of reading skills was examined in 4-year-old children from low-income homes attending a prekindergarten program. Fall to spring gains in letter identification were examined and compared with skills in phonological processing, rhyme detection, and environmental print, and with performance on a screening tool (Get Ready to Read). It was anticipated that participants might show slow skill development. However, the identification of a large group of children ( n = 30) who made little or no gains in letter identification compared to their classmates (n = 27), whose gains averaged 7 letters, was not anticipated. Fall to spring gains in letter identification correlated with phonological processing, rhyme detection, environmental print, and Get Ready to Read! scores. Age and general cognitive skills influenced performance on some tasks. More knowledge of the characteristics of children who show the most variations in skill development may lead to insights on using classroom curriculum to focus on skill development.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adams, M. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print: A summary. Champaign-Urbana, IL: Center for the Study of Reading.
2.
Badian, N. (1995). Predicting reading ability over the long term: The changing roles of letter naming, phonological awareness, and orthographic processing. Annals of Dyslexia, 45, 29—96.
3.
Ball, E., & Blachman, B. (1991). Does phoneme awareness training in kindergarten make a difference in early word recognition and developmental spelling?Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 49—66.
4.
Bowey, J. (1994). Phonological sensitivity in novice readers and non-readers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 58, 134— 159.
5.
Bowey, J. (1995). Socioeconomic status differences in preschool phonological sensitivity and first-grade reading achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 476—487.
6.
Bradley, R., & Corwyn, R. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review ofPsychology, 53, 371—399.
7.
Brady, S., Fowler, A., Stone, B., & Winbury, N. (1994). Training phonological awareness: A study with inner-city kindergarten children. Annals of Dyslexia, 44, 26— 58.
8.
Burgess, S., & Lonigan, C. (1998). Bidirectional relations of phonological sensitivity and prereading abilities: Evidence from a preschool sample. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 70, 117—141.
9.
Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2003 Trial Urban District Assessments of Reading and Mathematics. Retrieved January 4, 2004, from http://nces.ed.gov/commissioner/remarks2003/12_17_2003.asp
10.
Cronin, V., Farrell, D., & Delaney, M. (1999). Environmental print and word reading. Journal of Research in Reading, 22, 271—282.
Denton, K., & West, J. (2002). Children's reading and mathematics achievement in kindergarten and first grade. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.
13.
Dunn, L., & Dunn, L. (1997). Peabody picture vocabulary test (3rd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
14.
Ehri, L. (1983). A critique of five studies related to letter-name knowledge and learning to read. In L. Gentile , M. Kamil, & J. Blanchard (Eds), Reading research revisited (pp. 143—153). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
15.
Elliott, C. (1990). Differential Ability Scales: Introductory and technical handbook. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
16.
Elliott, C., Smith, P., & McCulloch, K. (1996). British ability scales (2nd ed.). Windsor, UK : NFER-Nelson.
17.
Gibson, E., & Levin, H. (1975). The psychology of reading. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
18.
Johnston, R., Anderson, M., & Holligan, C. (1996). Knowledge of the alphabet and explicit awareness of phonemes in pre-readers: The nature of the relationship. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 8, 217—234.
19.
Korkman, M., Kirk, U., & Kemp, S. (1998). NEPSY: A developmental neuropsychological assessment—Manual . New York: Psychological Corp.
20.
Lee, V., & Croninger, R. (1994). The relative importance of home and school in the development of literacy skills for middle-grade students. American Journal of Education, 102, 286—329.
21.
Lundberg, I., Frost, J., & Petersen, O. (1988). Effects of an extensive program for stimulating phonological awareness skills in kindergarten. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 263—284.
22.
McLoyd, V. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development . The American Psychologist, 53, 185—204.
23.
Molfese, V., Molfese, D., Modglin, A., Walker, J., & Neamon, J. (2004). Screening early reading skills in preschool children: Get Ready To Read. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment , 22, 136—150.
24.
Muter, V. (1994). Influence of phonological awareness and letter knowledge on beginning reading and spelling development. In C. Hulme & M. Snowling (Eds.), Reading development and dyslexia (pp. 45— 52). San Diego: Singular.
25.
Muter, V., & Diethelm, K. (2001). The contribution of phonological skills and letter knowledge to early reading development in a multilingual population. Language Learning, 51, 187—219.
26.
Muter, V., Hulme, C., & Snowling, M. (1997). The phonological abilities test. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp.
27.
Naslund, J., & Schneider, W. (1996). Kindergarten letter knowledge, phonological skills, and memory processes: Relative effects on early literacy. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 62, 30—59.
28.
Peisner-Feinberg, E., Burchinal, M., Clifford, R., Culkin, M., Howes, C., Kagan, S., et al. (2001). The relation of preschool child care quality to children's cognitive and social developmental trajectories through second grade. Child Development, 72, 1534—1553.
29.
Riley, J. (1996). The ability to label the letters of the alphabet at school entry: A discussion on its value. Journal of Research in Reading, 19, 87—101.
30.
Senechal, M., & LeFevre, J. (2002). Parental involvement in the development of children's reading skill: A five-year longitudinal study. Child Development , 73, 445— 460.
31.
Share, D., & Gur, T. (1999). How reading begins: A study of preschoolers' print identification strategies. Cognition and Instruction, 17, 177—213.
32.
Snowling, M., Chiat, S., & Hulme, C. (1991). Words, nonwords, and phonological processes: Some comments on Gather-cole, Willis, Emslie, and Baddeley. Applied Psycholinguistics, 12, 369—373.
33.
Stahl, S., & Murray, B. (1994). Defining phonological awareness and its relationship to early reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, 221—234.
34.
Thorndike, R., Hagen, E., & Sattler, J. (1986). Guide for administering and scoring the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition. Chicago, IL: Riverside.
35.
Tunmer, W. (1991). Phonological awareness and literacy acquisition . In L. Rieben & C. Perfetti (Eds.), Learning to read: Basic research and its implications (pp. 105—119). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
36.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ( 2001). Head Start FACES: Longitudinal findings on program performance: Third progress report. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
37.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ( 2003). Performance standards for Head Start education and early childhood development. Retrieved March 15, 2006, from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/performance/1304b2.htm
38.
Wagner, R. (1996, April). Does phonological awareness training enhance children's acquisition of written language? A meta-analysis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, New York.
39.
Wagner, R., Torgesen, J., & Rashotte, C. (1994). Development of reading-related phonological processing abilities: New evidence of bidirectional causality from a latent variable longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 30, 73—87.
40.
Walsh, D., Price, G., & Gillingham, M. (1988). The critical but transitory importance of letter naming. Reading Research Quarterly, 23, 108—122.
41.
Wechsler, D. (1989). Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence—Revised . San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corp.
42.
West, J., Denton, K., & Germino-Hausken, E. (2000). America's kindergarteners (NCES 2000-070). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 8, 2004, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000070
43.
Whitehurst, G. (2001). Do preschoolers need academic content? Retrieved March 5, 2004 , from http://www.educationnext.org/unabridged/20012/whitehurst.html
44.
Whitehurst, G., & Lonigan, C. (2001). Get ready to read!Columbus, OH: Pearson Early Learning. Retrieved 3-15-06 from http://www.teachervision.com/lessonplans/lesson-7836.html
45.
Wilkinson, G. (1993). The wide range achievement test (3rd ed.). Wilmington, DE: Jastak.
46.
Wood, C., & Terrell, C. (1998). Preschool phonological awareness and subsequent literacy development. Educational Psychology, 18, 253—274.
47.
Woodcock, R. (1987). Woodcock reading mastery tests—Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
