Bullying experiences and literacy achievement amongst primary school children

This study investigated the association between school bullying and literacy achievements in a sample of primary school children from Johannesburg, South Africa. The children (n?=?443; females?=?56%, males?=?44%) attending six primary schools in the Soweto area suburbs, self-reported their experience of bullying by peers. In addition, they completed tests of literacy. The results indicate that learners who self-reported being bullied performed poorly in literacy tests when compared to their peers, who were not subjected to bullying. In particular, those who experienced bullying scored lower on tasks that required literacy skills in phonics, spelling, and word choice. The findings indicate that learner support for school bullying survivors should aim to address the deleterious effects of bullying on literacy development.     

Nature and Prevalence of Childhood Sexual Abuse Among High School Girls and College Students in Zimbabwe

The study investigated the nature and prevalence of self-reported childhood sexual abuse (CSA) among a sample of Zimbabwean girls and college students. A total of 1059 high school girls and college students with a mean age (M = 18.31, SD = 3.66) participated in study. Overall, a CSA prevalence rate of 41.26% was found. The highest CSA prevalence rate was found among respondents who resided on commercial farms and mines (53%). Respondents who lived with their biological parents during childhood were significantly less likely to be sexually abused than were respondents who lived with non-parents such as uncles and brothers-in-law. Only 7.22% of the perpetrators were strangers. This study shows that sexual abuse of children in Zimbabwe is rampant, multifaceted, and linked to cultural factors that must be addressed as part of efforts to confront this scourge.     

Contextual analysis of home environment factors influencing the acquisition of early reading skills in Zambian families

This study examined the effect of home environment factors in the acquisition of early reading skills (orthographic awareness and decoding competence). To assess these factors, a sample of seventy-two (72) first grade learners (females?=?55%; age range?=?7–8 years) and their maternal parents (age range 26–61 years old) from low SES in Zambia's capital city, Lusaka were recruited. Parents, in response to a home literacy questionnaire, reported on their attitudes towards reading, literacy teaching in the home, the home literacy environment, presence of reading materials for adults and children, parental education, occupation, family size and family possessions. Two measures of reading skill were administered at school. Correlations revealed that parental education, occupation and the size of the family were not significantly associated with the reading measures. Family possessions, parental reading attitudes, literacy activities, and reading materials significantly predicted orthographic awareness. In predicting decoding competence, only family possessions, parental reading attitudes and literacy activities were predictive. Regardless of the context, children experience literacy in varied forms and quantities.     

The comprehension skills of children learning English as an additional language

Background Data from national test results suggests that children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) experience relatively lower levels of educational attainment in comparison to their monolingual, English‐speaking peers. Aims The relative underachievement of children who are learning EAL demands that the literacy needs of this group are identified. To this end, this study aimed to explore the reading‐ and comprehension‐related skills of a group of EAL learners. Sample Data are reported from 92 Year 3 pupils, of whom 46 children are learning EAL. Method Children completed standardized measures of reading accuracy and comprehension, listening comprehension, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Results Results indicate that many EAL learners experience difficulties in understanding written and spoken text. These comprehension difficulties are not related to decoding problems but are related to significantly lower levels of vocabulary knowledge experienced by this group. Conclusions Many EAL learners experience significantly lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge which has a significant impact on their ability to understand written and spoken text. Greater emphasis on language development is therefore needed in the school curriculum to attempt to address the limited language skills of children learning EAL.     

Influence of dialect use on early reading and spelling acquisition in German-speaking children in Grade 1

During literacy acquisition, children learn to match written and spoken language. Little is known about how this is achieved by children who grow up speaking a dialect. The present study examined literacy-related skills before school in 71 children (mean_age: 7.61y) with a differing degree of exposure to Swiss-German (SwissG) dialect and tested their reading and spelling skills at the end of Grade 1. No differences in Grade 1 reading and spelling were found between groups of children with different SwissG exposure. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) revealed that SwissG exposure was negatively associated with Grade 1 spelling and reading, when statistically controlling for early literacy-related-skills. At the same time, SwissG exposure was positively associated with early literacy-related skills that drive reading and spelling development. Thus, literacy acquisition in children speaking a dialect is characterised by disadvantages due to a linguistic mismatch, but also by compensatory advantages of higher metalinguistic skills.     

Expectancies for Sexually Abused Children: Evidence of Perceiver Bias

We investigated perceiver bias in relation to children labeled as sexually abused. Building on recent research indicating that adults perceive children with such a label as having more behavioral problems and lower achievement, we replicated and expanded upon an earlier study. We tested undergraduate students (N = 699), who judged a six-year old child's aggressive behavior in vignettes that varied on severity of the aggressive behavior, child gender, and family history (sexually abused, mother dying of cancer, normal). Perceiver bias was related to family history label for internalizing behavior problems and competence issues and child gender for internalizing behavior problems and externalizing behavior problems. Implications for educators and practitioners are discussed as well as routes for future research.     

Reading and spelling skills in the first school years predicted from phonemic awareness skills in kindergarten

A series of metalinguistic tasks, including segmentation and synthesis of words, were given to 143 children in kindergarten. The children were followed up in school where reading and writing achievement was assessed with several tests and ratings. A causal model was postulated concering the relationships between general abilities, metalinguistic competence, and reading and spelling skills. The quantitative implications of the model were worked out by path analysis, which revealed an orderly and interpretable picture. The most invariant and important determinant of basic reading and spelling skills was the analysis of simple words. Failure and success in school could be predicted with high accuracy on the basis of preschool data. Over 70% of the children were classified correctly in the extreme quartiles as to their future school achievement. The methodological advantage of applying path analysis instead of conventional multiple regression analysis on the present problem was discussed.     

Reception class predictors of literacy skills

Background. In the last decade, there has been a growing interest, both in the UK and abroad, in developing early screening tests for dyslexia that can be used with very young children. In addition to measures of literacy achievement, such screening tests typically aim to identify underlying difficulties, such as phonological deficits, that might hinder a child's educational progress. The Dyslexia Early Screening Test (DEST; Nicolson & Fawcett, 1996 ) is an example of such a test that combines attainment and diagnostic indicators. Aim. The study reported assessed the ability of the DEST to predict future literacy skills in contrast with the prediction afforded by school‐based measures, such as letter knowledge. Sample. Participants were 45 boys attending a reception class, with a mean age of 4.87 years at the start of the study and 6.63 years at the end. Methods. Measures of literacy skills, phonological awareness, verbal memory, motor skill, and auditory processing were assessed using the DEST as the initial screening tool at Phase 1. Measures of letter knowledge, non‐word reading, and rhyme judgment were taken at Phase 2. Phase 3 measures, 14 months after the start of the study, comprised single‐word reading and spelling. At Phase 4, some 22 months after the beginning of the study, measures of reading and spelling ability were assessed again. Results. Individual subtests of the DEST were more predictive of later literacy skills than the global screening test's score (the ‘at risk quotient’). Better predictors were the DEST subtest of sound order and rapid automatized naming, together with the school attainment measure of letter knowledge. Conclusions. Although some DEST subtests did offer predictors of future literacy skills, school‐based measures of letter knowledge may be equally valid as assessment measures. Additionally, the results question the usefulness of combining measures to form an ‘at risk’ index of future literacy difficulties, particularly in the age range assessed.     

The improvement of reading skills of L1 and ESL children using a Response to Intervention (RtI) Model

This study examined the development of literacy skills in children in a district that used a Response to Intervention (RTI) model. The district included children whose first language was English and children who were learning English as a second language (ESL). Tasks measuring phonological awareness, lexical access, and syntactic awareness were administered when the children entered school in kindergarten at age 5. Reading, phonological processing, syntactic awareness, memory, and spelling were administered in grade 7. When the children entered school, significant numbers of them were at risk for literacy difficulties. After systematic instruction and annual monitoring of skills, their reading abilities improved to the extent that only a very small percentage had reading difficulties. The results demonstrated that early identification and intervention and frequent monitoring of basic skills can significantly reduce the incidence of reading problems in both the ESL and language majority children.     

To read or not to read: a meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood

This research synthesis examines whether the association between print exposure and components of reading grows stronger across development. We meta-analyzed 99 studies (N = 7,669) that focused on leisure time reading of (a) preschoolers and kindergartners, (b) children attending Grades 1-12, and (c) college and university students. For all measures in the outcome domains of reading comprehension and technical reading and spelling, moderate to strong correlations with print exposure were found. The outcomes support an upward spiral of causality: Children who are more proficient in comprehension and technical reading and spelling skills read more; because of more print exposure, their comprehension and technical reading and spelling skills improved more with each year of education. For example, in preschool and kindergarten print exposure explained 12% of the variance in oral language skills, in primary school 13%, in middle school 19%, in high school 30%, and in college and university 34%. Moderate associations of print exposure with academic achievement indicate that frequent readers are more successful students. Interestingly, poor readers also appear to benefit from independent leisure time reading. We conclude that shared book reading to preconventional readers may be part of a continuum of out-of-school reading experiences that facilitate children's language, reading, and spelling achievement throughout their development.     

Literacy programs efficacy for developing children’s early reading skills in familiar language in Zambia

This study investigated the comparative efficacy of a phonics-based reading program and a language experience approach based literacy program to develop reading skills among Zambian early childhood school learners. The learners (n = 1 986; Grade 2 level; females = 50.1%) took either the phonics-based reading program (n = 1 593) or the alternative language experience approach based program (n = 393). They were all assessed for reading skills utilising the Early Grade Reading Assessment test (EGRA) in four languages (Cinyanja, Icibemba, Kiikaonde, and Silozi). Results suggest that learners in phonics-based literacy program were significantly better in letter-sound knowledge in all the four languages. Additionally, they were significantly better in reading skills (non-word reading, oral passage reading, and reading comprehension), yet only in Icibemba and Silozi, as compared to those who took the alternative program. Results reveal that children in the Primary Literacy Program (PLP) had significantly better performance in most reading skills than in the Primary Reading Program (PRP). However, the effect sizes were small or medium. The high floor effect in all reading-related measures is an indication that by following either PRP or the recently implemented PLP, most children do not acquire basic reading skill of the transparently written language they are familiar with. Instruction of the sounds of letters requires special attention where digital training tools (such as GraphoGame) may provide the most effective help to both teachers and children.     

Factors Involved in Learning Problems and Educational Delay in Children with Epilepsy

Educational delay was assessed in a group of children with epilepsy and co-morbid learning problems, and compared with a matched group of children with learning problems, but without epilepsy. In addition, delay in the academic skills reading/spelling and arithmetic was compared for the two groups. Moreover, the differential contribution for the development of learning problems of each of the following epileptic factors was inspected: type of epilepsy, seizure type, seizure frequency and type of AED-treatment. The ‘Groninger School Onderzoek’ (G.S.O.) was used to yield an objective measurement of school achievement. The first 24 children with a reconfirmed diagnosis of epilepsy and with co-morbid learning problems who were referred to our outpatient department for ‘epilepsy and learning disabilities’ were included in the study. Each child was matched to a control subject (children with learning problems, but without epilepsy). Matching was carried out for the potential confounding factors age, school-type, school-grade and intelligence. The measure for school achievement showed no significant differences between the two groups with a delay in both groups of approximately a half year. Also, no statistically significant difference was found with respect to achievement on the academic skills reading/spelling and arithmetic. The impact of several epileptic factors on the measurement of school achievement were analyzed. The analysis of type of epilepsy showed significant lower school achievement scores for the patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy compared to the patients with localisation-related epilepsy. Further evaluation of this result shows that most of the patients, classified as idiopathic generalized epilepsy have a recent onset epilepsy, a high seizure frequency and are not yet satisfactorily controlled with antiepileptic therapy. The key factor contributing to learning problems in children with epilepsy is an ‘uncontrolled’ epilepsy, i.e., an epilepsy with high seizure frequency.     

Educational consequences of developmental speech disorder: Key Stage 1 National Curriculum assessment results in English and mathematics

Background: Children with speech difficulties may have associated educational problems. This paper reports a study examining the educational attainment of children at Key Stage 1 of the National Curriculum who had previously been identified with a speech difficulty. Aims: (1) To examine the educational attainment at Key Stage 1 of children diagnosed with speech difficulties two/three years prior to the present study. (2) To compare the Key Stage 1 assessment results of children whose speech problems had resolved at the time of assessment with those whose problems persisted. Sample(s): Data were available from 39 children who had an earlier diagnosis of speech difficulties at age 4/5 (from an original cohort of 47) at the age of 7. A control group of 35 children identified and matched at preschool on age, nonverbal ability and gender provided comparative data. Methods: Results of Statutory Assessment Tests (SATs) in reading, reading comprehension, spelling, writing and maths, administered to children at the end of Year 2 of school were analysed. Performance across the two groups was compared. Performance was also compared to published statistics on national levels of attainment. Results: Children with a history of speech difficulties performed less well than controls on reading, spelling and maths. However, children whose speech problems had resolved by the time of assessment performed no differently to controls. Children with persisting speech problems performed less well than controls on tests of literacy and maths. Spelling performance was a particular area of difficulty for children with persisting speech problems.     

HISTORICAL TITLES IN READING RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION

This paper describes an informal spelling assessment that teachers can use to understand students' level of orthographic knowledge at the beginning of the school year. The results of this informal testing allow primary grade teachers to group students in September for word study and directed literacy instruction. The results of a year-long study in a lst-3rd grade classroom demonstrate that the initial placements of students were appropriate for instruction throughout the year. The initial spelling measures predicted reading achievement at various levels.     

The development of comprehension and reading‐related skills in children learning English as an additional language and their monolingual,English‐speaking peers

Background. A significant number of pupils in UK schools learn English as an additional language (EAL). Relative differences between the educational attainment of this group and monolingual, English‐speaking pupils call for an exploration of the literacy needs of EAL learners. Aims. This study explores the developmental progression of reading and listening comprehension skills and a range of reading‐related skills in EAL learners, whose first language is of South Asian origin, and their monolingual peers. Sample. Participants were 39 children learning EAL and 39 monolingual, English‐speaking children who were all in school Year 3 at the start of the study. Method. Children completed standardized measures of comprehension, vocabulary, reading accuracy, and reading fluency in school Year 3 and again in Year 4. Results. The results suggest that, although children learning EAL often demonstrate fast and accurate reading accuracy skills, lower levels of vocabulary knowledge place significant constraints on EAL learners' comprehension of spoken and written texts. Conclusions. Reciprocal relationships between vocabulary and comprehension may lead to increasing gaps in reading comprehension between monolingual and EAL pupils over time. It is proposed that support for the development of vocabulary skills in children learning EAL is needed in early years' classrooms.     

Language Enrichment Teacher Preparation and Practice Predicts Third Grade Reading Comprehension

First and second grade public school teachers were trained through interactive video-conferencing to implement Language Enrichment, an Orton-Gillingham-based literacy instruction. The effectiveness of the linguistically informed training was demonstrated by documenting the longitudinal third grade reading comprehension achievement of their students. Student achievement was measured on the state-mandated achievement test, Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) showed that students whose teachers were trained in Language Enrichment instruction had higher third grade reading comprehension achievement than students whose teachers were not trained. Additionally, a significant effect of the length of Language Enrichment teaching experience of the second grade teacher on third grade reading comprehension was found. Earlier occurring second grade teacher training was associated with higher reading scores than later training. Based on these findings it is suggested that teachers who have content-rich knowledge known to support literacy acquisition can provide reading instruction that results in a level of reading comprehension that is significantly higher than that resulting from teachers who do not have a well-developed domain of knowledge concerning the reading process. This study also indicates that teacher competence was enhanced through practice because student reading achievement of the more-experienced Language Enrichment teachers was higher than that of the less-experienced Language Enrichment teachers.     

Family Functioning Moderating the Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Memory Specificity

The main goal of this study was to investigate if adults sexually abused as children who were raised in a functional family are more able to generate specific autobiographical memories and suffer fewer depressive symptoms than sexually abused adults who were raised in a dysfunctional family. We found that abused males retrieved fewer specific memories than nonabused males, abused females, and nonabused females. The three latter groups did not differ from each other. Further, childhood sexual abuse did not predict depression among males and females. After accounting for family functioning, there were no group differences regarding memory specificity. Functional families appear to have beneficial effects on the adjustment of male victims of childhood sexual abuse.     

Getting ready for reading: A follow‐up study of inner city second language learners at the end of Key Stage 1

Background: A previous study (Stuart, 1999) showed that early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching improved reading and spelling ability in inner‐city schoolchildren in Key Stage 1, most of whom were learning English as a second language. Aims: The present study, a follow‐up of these children at the end of Key Stage 1, addresses four main questions: (1) Are these improvements maintained to the end of Key Stage 1? (2) Are different patterns of cognitive process evident in the word recognition skills of phonics trained versus untrained children? (3) Do the phonics trained children now also show a significant advantage in reading comprehension? (4) Are there differences in amount of reading, in self‐concept as readers and in oral vocabulary development between phonics trained and untrained children? Relationships between reading and spelling ages and Key Stage 1 SATs levels are also explored. Sample: Data are reported from 101 seven‐year‐olds (85 of whom were second language learners) remaining from the original 112 children reported on previously. Method: Children were tested on four standardized tests of reading, spelling and vocabulary, and on a further six experimental tests of phoneme segmentation, grapheme‐phoneme correspondence knowledge, regular, exception and nonword reading, author recognition and reading self‐concept. Results: Lasting influences of early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching on phoneme awareness, grapheme‐phoneme correspondence knowledge, word reading and spelling were found. Part of the previously untrained group had now received structured phonics teaching, and were therefore treated as a third (late trained) group. Early and late‐trained groups showed similar levels of attainment and similar cognitive processing patterns, which were different from the untrained group. However, there were no influences of training on reading comprehension, self‐concept or oral vocabulary. Conclusions: Early phoneme awareness and phonics training efficiently accelerates the word recognition and spelling skills of first and second language learners alike. However, this is not sufficient to bootstrap the development of language comprehension in the second language learners. Further research is needed into the kinds of language teaching that will best develop their oral and written language comprehension.     

Phonological awareness and language intervention in preschoolers from low socio‐economic backgrounds: A longitudinal investigation

This study examines the literacy outcomes for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds who had received specific whole‐class phonological awareness (PA) and language intervention in preschool. The participants were 57 children who had been involved in the original intervention study. Their PA skills, letter‐sound knowledge, real word and non‐word spelling and reading comprehension were assessed in Grade 2. The results indicated that children who had received intervention in preschool performed similarly to the children who had not received intervention. The gains made in PA and language skills post intervention had failed to augment further literacy development. A post hoc examination of individual student profiles, however, revealed that a subgroup of children who had received intervention had maintained their enhanced performance and that the intervention cohort had similar scores on tests of PA ability to their age‐matched peers in the population. It was concluded that whole‐class, teacher‐delivered, PA and language intervention, while effective in the short term, does not lead to a generalized improvement in literacy skills in Grade 2. Possible reasons for the failure of the program to produce medium term gains are discussed.     

THE EFFECT OF NOTE TAKING ON NINTH GRADE STUDENTS' COMPREHENSION

This study examined factors affecting motivation for reading, writing, and spelling in primary grade students using a new measure, the Early Literacy Motivation Survey (ELMS). First-graders (198) responded to questions measuring attributions, self-efficacy, and perceived competence. The ELMS uses scenarios and short tasks to contextualize the questions for young children. A confirmatory factor analysis validated the motivation constructs investigated. A structural equation model produced a good fit for the data and indicated that literacy attributions in young children mediated between achievement and self-efficacy and perceived competence. Findings showed that first-grade students differentiate among their self-efficacy for reading, writing, and spelling.