For students to be able to read and comprehend, they must first develop phonological awareness, the ability to recognize and manipulate the segments of sound in words. To develop this ability, students must be able to identify the following: individual sounds (phonemes) in words; print letters of the alphabet; and corresponding sounds for each…

Background: Despite evidence that synthetic phonics teaching has increased reading attainments, a sizable minority of children struggle to acquire phonics skills and teachers lack clear principles for deciding what types of "additional" support are most beneficial. Synthetic phonics teaches children to read using a decoding strategy to…

Background: Research acknowledges the importance of phonological processing and orthographic processing for reading and spelling in both consistently and inconsistently written languages. While the focus has tended to be on the role of phonological processing in languages with consistent orthographies, the role of orthographic processing,…

Family engagement and family literacy are two of the most important or components for building a strong foundation for children's academic success. Family engagement is about spending quality time with children every day by talking, playing, and asking questions, which builds bonds and promotes language development. Family literacy supports…

This study examined the impact of two different interventions: Phonological Awareness PA-only versus PA, vocabulary, and Morphological Awareness (MA) on Spanish-speaking kindergarteners' language and literacy skills. We took measures on PA, vocabulary, letter-name and sound knowledge, and MA. Children in the comprehensive intervention condition…

An insufficient number of studies investigated the criteria for Arabic letter teaching in schools. Teachers play an integral role in understanding Arabic letters among young children, as it is essential for acquiring reading in the Arabic language early in life. The criteria for teaching letters in a current study include ease of pronunciation,…

One avenue for improving reading outcomes is to ensure children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) enter school with the foundational skills needed to learn to read. Our research team developed an early literacy curriculum specifically for DHH children. Teachers use Foundations for Literacy (FFL) in a one-hour literacy block for the school…

An early skill in learning to read has as much to do with hearing how words sound as it does with seeing how words are written. Phonological awareness involves being able to recognize and manipulate the sounds within words. Learning to identify the sounds in words through instruction happens best when the sounds are explicitly connected to the…

We examined the progress made by 132 six-year-old French-speaking children in their preliteracy skills during four kinds of interventions. Three of these interventions concerned invented spelling, where the children tried to spell words. In the first condition, they were encouraged to reflect on conventional spellings. In the second condition,…

Initial instruction emphasizing large grain units (i.e., words) showed distinct advantages over small grain instruction for English-speaking adults learning to read an artificial orthography (Brennan and Booth in Read Writ 28(7):917-938, 2015. 10.1007/s11145-015-9555-2). The current study extends this research by training 34 English-speaking…

Songs and chants in EFL education are both artistic and pedagogical acts belonging to the same family of musical expressions, whose practical use in the classroom is not unfamiliar among teachers. Nevertheless, little effort has been made to distinguish between each other. In this sense, the popularity of songs in the context of EFL/ESL education…

Recent efforts to motivate parents' involvement in their child's literacy development involve informing parents about how to incorporate literacy development into daily routines. Teacher leadership and communication are critical--the more teachers encourage and assist parents and caregivers in supporting their child's literacy development, the…

Educators' content knowledge is considered a key determinant of classroom practices and thus children's learning. In this study, we examine the nature of associations between early childhood educators' literacy content knowledge and their classroom emergent literacy practices. Specifically, we apply generalized additive modeling to consider three…

Educators' content knowledge is considered a key determinant of classroom practices and thus children's learning. In this study, we examine the nature of associations between early childhood educators' literacy content knowledge and their classroom emergent literacy practices. Specifically, we apply generalized additive modeling to consider three…

Learning to read begins at home through everyday parent-child interactions, long before children attend school. Parents' continuing support of literacy development throughout elementary school positively affects their children's reading ability. Many recent efforts to motivate parents to be involved in their child's literacy development involve…