Carol A. Rashotte

Development of Reading-Related Phonological Processing Abilities: New Evidence of Bidirectional Causality from a Latent Variable Longitudinal Study.

Results from a longitudinal correlational study of 244 children from kindergarten through 2nd grade indicate that young childrens phonological processing abilities are well-described by 5 correlated latent abilities: phonological analysis, phonological synthesis, phonological coding in working memory, isolated naming, and serial naming. These abilities are characterized by different developmental rates and remarkably stable individual differences. Decoding did not exert a causal influence on subsequent phonological processing abilities, but letter-name knowledge did. Causal relations between phonological processing abilities and reading-related knowledge are bidirectional: Phonological processing abilities exert strong causal influences on word decoding; letter-name knowledge exerts a more modest causal influence on subsequent phonological processing abilities. In the context of beginning reading, phonological processing refers to making use of the phonological or sound structure of oral language when learning how to decode written language (see Adams, 1990; Brady & Shankweiler, 1991; Crowder &

Changing Relations Between Phonological Processing Abilities and Word-Level Reading as Children Develop From Beginning to Skilled Readers: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study

Relations between phonological processing abilities and word-level reading skills were examined in a longitudinal correlational study of 216 children. Phonological processing abilities, word-level reading skills, and vocabulary were assessed annually from kindergarten through 4th grade, as the children developed from beginning to skilled readers. Individual differences in phonological awareness were related to subsequent individual differences in word-level reading for every time period examined. Individual differences in serial naming and vocabulary were related to subsequent individual differences in word-level reading initially, but these relations faded with development. Individual differences in letter-name knowledge were related to subsequent individual differences in phonological awareness and serial naming, but there were no relations between individual differences in word-level reading and any subsequent phonological processing ability.

Intensive Remedial Instruction for Children with Severe Reading Disabilities: Immediate and Long-term Outcomes From Two Instructional Approaches

Sixty children with severe reading disabilities were randomly assigned to two instructional programs that incorporated principles of effective instruction but differed in depth and extent of instruction in phonemic awareness and phonemic decoding skills. All children received 67.5 hours of one-to-one instruction in two 50-minute sessions per day for 8 weeks. Both instructional programs produced very large improvements in generalized reading skills that were stable over a 2-year follow-up period. When compared to the growth in broad reading ability that the participants made during their previous 16 months in learning disabilities resource rooms, their growth during the intervention produced effect sizes of 4.4 for one of the interventions and 3.9 for the other. Although the childrens average scores on reading accuracy and comprehension were in the average range at the end of the follow-up period, measures of reading rate showed continued severe impairment for most of the children. Within 1 year following the intervention, 40% of the children were found to be no longer in need of special education services. The two methods of instruction were not differentially effective for children who entered the study with different levels of phonological ability, and the best overall predictors of long-term growth were resource room teacher ratings of attention/behavior, general verbal ability, and prior levels of component reading skills.

Longitudinal Studies of Phonological Processing and Reading

O ne of the most exciting developments in research on reading over the last two decades is the emerging consensus about the importance of phonological processing abilities in the acquisition of early reading skills (Shankweiler & Liberman, 1989; Stanovich, 1988; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987). As the term is used by those who study early reading development, phonological processing refers to an individuals mental operations that make use of the phonological or sound structure of oral language when he or she is learning how to decode written language. The last 20 years of research have produced a broad variety of converging evidence that at least three kinds of phonological processing skills are positively related to individual differences in the rate at which beginning reading skills are acquired (see Adams, 1990; Brady & Shankweiler, 1991; Crowder & Wagner, 1991; and Torgesen, 1993, for recent reviews of this work). The kinds of phonological processing skills and knowledge that have been most frequently studied include phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rate of access for phonological information. Types of Reading-Related Phonological Skill

Preventing reading failure in young children with phonological processing disabilities : Group and individual responses to instruction

The relative effectiveness of 3 instructional approaches for the prevention of reading disabilities in young children with weak phonological skills was examined. Two programs varying in the intensity of instruction in phonemic decoding were contrasted with each other and with a 3rd approach that supported the childrens regular classroom reading program. The children were provided with 88 hr of one-to-one instruction beginning the second semester of kindergarten and extending through 2nd grade. The most phonemically explicit condition produced the strongest growth in word level reading skills, but there were no differences between groups in reading comprehension. Word level skills of children in the strongest group were in the middle of the average range. Growth curve analyses showed that beginning phonological skills, home background, and ratings of classroom behavior all predicted unique variance in growth of word level skills.

Explaining social class differences in growth of reading skills from beginning kindergarten through fourth-grade: The role of phonological awareness, rate of access, and print knowledge

The aim of this longitudinal study was to further ourunderstanding of the reasons for social classdifferences in growth of decoding and readingcomprehension skills from beginning kindergarten throughchildrens fourth grade year. Participants wereenrolled in five public schools in a moderately sizedsouthern American city (n = 197). We examined ifbeginning kindergarten levels of three kinds ofreading related abilities explained social classdifferences in growth of reading skills during thetime periods of beginning kindergarten to childrensfirst-, second-, third-, and fourth-grade years. Thereading related abilities were phonological awareness,rate of access to phonological information inlong-term memory, and print knowledge. We found thatthe reasons for social class differences in growth ofreading skills depended on the time interval that wasconsidered. During the earliest time interval, socialclass differences in growth of decoding skills werecompletely accounted for by performance on the controlmeasures of general verbal intelligence and prior wordreading skills. During the remaining time periods,social class differences in growth of decoding andreading comprehension skills persisted whenperformance on the three kinds of reading relatedabilities and the control measures were accounted for. The greatest attenuation of SES differences in growthof reading skills occurred when beginning kindergartenlevels of print knowledge were taken into account.

The Effectiveness of a Group Reading Instruction Program with Poor Readers in Multiple Grades

The effectiveness of a phonologically based reading program delivered to first- through sixth-grade impaired readers in small groups (3–5) was examined. The 115 students from a predominantly low socioeconomic school were selected based on poor phonetic decoding and word-level reading skills, then matched and randomly assigned to one of two groups. The treatment group received the Spell Read program for eight weeks while the no-treatment control received only regular classroom reading instruction. At posttest-1 the treatment group performed significantly better than the controls on phonological awareness and decoding, reading accuracy, comprehension and spelling. Except for fluency, effect sizes were strong for most measures across all grades. Improved reading skills as a result of the phonological program were evident regardless of level of deficiency prior to instruction, and were not limited to specific grades. Outcome scores at posttest-2 after the control group was also given the Spell Read program indicated similar growth in reading. Results provide supportive evidence for small-group instruction as an effective remedial alternative for deficient readers.

Computer-Assisted Instruction to Prevent Early Reading Difficulties in Students at Risk for Dyslexia: Outcomes from Two Instructional Approaches

The relative effectiveness of two computer-assisted instructional programs designed to provide instruction and practice in foundational reading skills was examined. First-grade students at risk for reading disabilities received approximately 80xa0h of small-group instruction in four 50-min sessions per week from October through May. Approximately half of the instruction was delivered by specially trained teachers to prepare students for their work on the computer, and half was delivered by the computer programs. At the end of first grade, there were no differences in student reading performance between students assigned to the different intervention conditions, but the combined-intervention students performed significantly better than control students who had been exposed to their school’s normal reading program. Significant differences were obtained for phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, reading accuracy, rapid automatic naming, and reading comprehension. A follow-up test at the end of second grade showed a similar pattern of differences, although only differences in phonemic awareness, phonemic decoding, and rapid naming remained statistically reliable.

The nature of prereaders' phonological processing abilities

We investigated the nature of prereaders phonological processing abilities by giving 111 preschool nonreaders a battery of 12 phonological processing tasks. Each task represented one of three kinds of phonological processing: phonological awareness, phonological coding in lexical access, and phonological coding in working memory. Five alternative models of the nature of prereaders phonological processing abilities were tested by their fit to the covariances among phonological processing tasks after IQ had been partialled out. Our results provide evidence for two coherent phonological processing abilities in prereaders that are independent of IQ: phonological coding in working memory and phonological coding in lexical access . Performance on common measures of phonological awareness appears to be a function of efficiency of phonological coding in working memory. Our results call into question the view that phonological awareness, narrowly defined, is what is being measured by common-awareness measures and, by implication, that phonological awareness in and of itself is consequential to successful acquisition of beginning reading skills. Rather, the ability to make productive use of phonological information in coding information may be what really matters, and whether or not awareness enables use is an important unresolved issue. We conclude by considering the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Comparing Two Forms of Dynamic Assessment and Traditional Assessment of Preschool Phonological Awareness

The goal of the current study was to compare two forms of dynamic assessment and standard assessment of preschool children’s phonological awareness. The first form of dynamic assessment was a form of scaffolding in which item formats were modified in response to an error so as to make the task easier or more explicit. The second form of dynamic assessment was direct instruction of the phonological awareness tasks. The results indicate that preschool children’s phonological awareness can be assessed using standard assessment procedures, provided the items require processing units larger than the individual phoneme. No advantage was found in reliability or validity for either dynamic assessment condition relative to the standard assessment condition. Dynamic assessment does not appear to improve reliability or validity of phonological awareness assessments when preschool children are given tasks that they can perform using standard administration procedures.