Studies have shown that dialogic instruction can promote reading comprehension, but its contribution to lower-level skills like reading fluency is not as well understood. The paper reports on a dialogically oriented small group intervention for struggling second-grade Hebrew readers, targeting both comprehension and fluency. Rather than top-down…

Picture books are a common staple of children's reading diet. The role of pictures in reading acquisition, however, remains a topic of considerable controversy. To examine the effect of pictures on second graders' (N=40) oral reading behavior and comprehension, this study used a 2 (picture condition) x 2 (genre) x 3 (reading ability) mixed ANOVA…

Purpose: We examine the content, context, and management of literacy learning opportunities in a large, diverse sample in the US and whether these opportunities were differentiated by children's oral language and decoding skill levels. Method: A total of 1,404 children in 153 preschool-through-third-grade classrooms were observed for several…

Little is known about what contributes to individual differences in reading fluency after accounting for accuracy. Previous research has shown individual differences in the relative growth in word and nonword reading, specifically a pattern in which students who start lower on reading grow more in word than nonword reading ability. The purpose of…

Teachers must devote significant time to making the instructional decisions necessary to effectively plan and prepare small group lessons. Although small group instruction has attracted the attention of researchers, there is a lack of understanding in the effective implementation of reading interventions to support struggling readers. The purpose…

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the overall effects of automaticity training of fundamental literacy component skills (i.e., letter names/sounds, individual words) on reading fluency and comprehension. Another purpose was to assess if the effects of automaticity training varied for reading fluency and comprehension. We identified…

The purpose of this study is to explore the statistical nature of the linguistic interdependence hypothesis (Cummins, 1976, 2017) in the spring of 2nd grade of students in foreign language immersion programs. Specifically, the interdependent relationship between L2 language proficiency levels and L1 reading academic performance in an environment…

Purpose: In this study, we examine how well kindergarten letter identification and phonological awareness predict 2nd grade word reading and dyslexia in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and their age- and grade-matched peers with typical language (TL). Method: We employ (a) logistic regression to determine how letter…

Recent data have shown that up to 65% of students in Grades 4 and 8 are reading below grade level. The problem addressed in this study was that students with a high dialect density have a more difficult time with mastery of foundational skills in reading, leading to unfortunate reading mastery outcomes as they progress through school. The purpose…

Like many states, Massachusetts has intensified efforts in recent years to improve literacy outcomes, particularly in the early grades. Initiatives have focused on providing guidance and resources for implementing changes in curriculum, instruction, and additional screening and support for struggling students. In September 2022, the Board of…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parent concerns about children's oral language, reading, and related skills and their children's performance on standardized assessments of language and reading, with a particular focus on whether those relationships differed between children recruited for in-school versus…

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest, control group design study was to investigate the effects of Response to Intervention (RtI) and computer-based programs on addressing literacy acquisition skills. This study is important because there is an inordinate number of students who are designated as requiring special…

The developmental course of neural tuning to visual letter strings is unclear. Here we tested 39 children longitudinally, at the beginning of grade 1 (6.45 ± 0.33 years old) and 1 year after, with fast periodic visual stimulation in electroencephalography to assess the evolution of selective neural responses to letter strings and their…

Household composition has diversified and encompasses the number of parents and the types of extended relatives in homes with implications for a child's development. Yet, few studies have included Latinx children of immigrant parents. To fill this gap, I draw upon the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, 2011-cohort to analyze the household…

This paper provides results from the randomized control trial project, Promoting Development and Home Reading of Supplementary Texts for Young Readers in Cambodia. One control and three treatment groups were assessed on how literacy and reading habits changed when households were provided a variety of high-quality and low-cost early reading…