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Alphabet knowledge is a hallmark of early literacy and facilitating its development has become a primary objective of pre-school instruction and intervention. However, little agreement exists about how to promote the development of alphabet knowledge effectively. A meta-analysis of the effects of instruction on alphabet outcomes demonstrated that instructional impacts differed by type of alphabet outcome examined and content of instruction provided. School-based instruction yielded larger effects than home-based instruction; small-group instruction yielded larger effects than individual tutoring programs. We found minimal evidence of transfer of alphabet instruction to early phonological, reading, or spelling skills. Implications for research and practice are discussed.In the field of early literacy, alphabet knowledge refers to children's familiarity with letter forms, names, and corresponding sounds, as measured by recognition, production, and writing tasks. Together, such alphabet knowledge represents an important component of emergent literacy (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). Children's knowledge of letter names and sounds is the best predictor of their later reading and spelling abilities (Hammill, 2004;Scarborough, 1998;Schatschneider, Fletcher, Francis, Carlson, & Foorman, 2004). Letter name and letter sound knowledge predict subsequent literacy skills independently of other important predictors including phonological awareness and oral language (Burgess & Lonigan, 1998;McBride-Chang, 1999;Wagner, Torgesen, & Rashotte, 1994). Preschool and kindergarten students with poor knowledge of letter names and sounds are more likely to struggle with learning to read and be classified as having reading disabilities (Gallagher, Frith, & Snowling, 2000;O'Connor & Jenkins, 1999;Torppa, Poikkeus, Laakso, Eklund, & Lyytinen, 2006). These children tend to fall further behind their peers in reading acquisition, leading to gaps in spelling, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills (Stanovich, 1986;Torgesen, 2002).For these reasons, alphabet knowledge has become an important learning goal for young children. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) recognizes development of the alphabetic principle as a goal for the preschool years and proficiency in letter discrimination, letter naming, and letter-sound correspondences are expected during the kindergarten year (NAEYC, 1998). Standards for Head Start (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services & Administration for Children and Families, 2003) require children to demonstrate awareness of letters as individual symbols and the Correspondence concerning the manuscript ought to be sent to Shayne B. Piasta, The Ohio State University, Preschool Language and Literacy Lab, 535B Arps Hall, 1945 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43210-1172, (piasta.1@osu.edu Despite these initiatives, relatively little is known about the impact of early instruction on the development of alphabet knowledge. This fact is especially troublesome as large numb...

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Longitudinal results for a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) assessing the impact of increasing preschoolers' attention to print during reading are reported. Four-year-old children (N = 550) in 85 classrooms experienced a 30-week shared reading program implemented by their teachers. Children in experimental classrooms experienced shared-book readings 2 or 4 times per week during which their teachers verbally and nonverbally referenced print. Children in comparison classrooms experienced their teachers' typical book reading style. Longitudinal results (n = 356, 366) showed that use of print references had significant impacts on children's early literacy skills (reading, spelling, comprehension) for 2 years following the RCT's conclusion. Results indicate a causal relation between early print knowledge and later literacy skills and have important implications concerning the primary prevention of reading difficulties.

The Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) classroom observation and coding system is designed to provide a detailed picture of the classroom environment at the level of the individual student. Using a multidimensional conceptualization of the classroom environment, foundational elements (teacher warmth and responsiveness to students, classroom management) and instructional elements (teacher-child interactions, context, and content) are described. The authors have used the ISI system to document that children who share the same classroom have very different learning opportunities, that instruction occurs through interactions among teachers and students, and that the effect of this instruction depends on children's language and literacy skills. This means that what is effective for one child may be ineffective for another with different skills. With improving classroom observation systems, the dynamics of the complex classroom environment as it affects student learning can be better understood.

Recent findings demonstrate that the most effective reading instruction may vary with children's language and literacy skills. These child X instruction interactions imply that individualizing instruction would be a potent strategy for improving students' literacy. A cluster-randomized control field trial, conducted in 10 high-moderate poverty schools, examined effects of individualizing literacy instruction. The instruction each first grader received (n=461 in 47 classrooms, mean age = 6.7 years), fall, winter and spring, was recorded. Comparing interventionrecommended amounts of instruction with observed amounts revealed that intervention teachers individualized instruction more precisely than did comparison teachers. Importantly, the more precisely children received recommended amounts of instruction, the stronger was their literacy skill growth. Results provide strong evidence of child X instruction interaction effects on literacy outcomes.Too many children in America fail to achieve proficient reading skills and the rate is particularly troubling, close to 60%, for children living in poverty and who belong to underrepresented minorities (NAEP, 2005). Whereas multiple factors can affect children's literacy development including home, parenting, parent educational levels, preschool, community resources, as well as formal schooling (Connor, Son, Hindman, & Morrison, 2005;NICHD-ECCRN, 2004), classroom instruction is one of the most important sources of influence. Further, one reason children fail to achieve proficient reading skills is because they do not receive appropriate amounts of particular types of literacy instruction during the primary grades. Early literacy instruction that is balanced between phonics and more meaningful reading experiences has been shown to be more effective than instruction that focuses on one to the exclusion of the other (Mathes, Denton, Fletcher, Anthony, Francis, & Schatschneider, 2005;Xue & Meisels, 2004).Moreover, the impact of any particular instructional strategy may depend on the language and literacy skills children bring to the classroom. In other words, there are child characteristic-by-instruction interactions (child X instruction interactions; Connor, Morrison, & Katch, 2004a;Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, Schatschneider, & Mehta, 1998;Juel & Minden-Cupp, 2000). By implication, these findings point to the potential importance of individualizing (or personalizing or differentiating) instruction based on the child's entering skill levels. To date, although child X instruction interactions have emerged across grades and outcomes (Al Otaiba, Connor, Kosanovich, Schatschneider, Dyrlund, & Lane, 2008; Connor, Jakobsons, Crowe, & Meadows, in press;Foorman, Schatschneider, Eakin, Fletcher, Moats, & Francis, 2006), these studies have been predominantly descriptive and correlational.Contact: Carol McDonald Connor, cconnor@fsu.edu. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 January 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscr...