Development of phonological awareness during the preschool year: the influence of gender and socio-economic status

Abstract

Phonological awareness is a critical enabling skill in learning to read, often developed outside the context of formal reading instruction. More than 2,000 6-year-old children were tested on phonological awareness at two occasions during the preschool year in two cohorts. Between the assessments, a training program was implemented. A two-level path model was applied. More frequent training sessions were connected to higher gains of test scores especially for children with low initial scores in the first cohort. A clear gender effect was also observed. There were more boys with very low initial scores and more girls among the top scorers. A clear SESeffect indicated the influence of early language stimulation. Children who already at the beginning of the preschool year had grasped the alphabetic code had the highest initial scores on the test.Keywords Phonological awareness Á Gender difference Á Socio-economic status Á Two-level modelling Á PreschoolOne important concern in current reading research is to understand the very nature of reading acquisition, its cognitive and linguistic demands, and its early precursors in the developing a child. The enabling skills for success in learning to read are carefully analyzed with the aim of providing the critical basis for successful preventive actions as well as for effective interventions. Poor development of reading skills is one of the most serious issues in current education. It is by now

Evidence-based intervention for preschool children with primary speech and language impairments: Child Talk – an exploratory mixed-methods study

“…Evidence from the literature search Urban, suburban, rural Urban areas are more likely to have higher ethnic minority populations [70][71][72] Rural areas are more likely to have reduced availability, frequency and choice of services; SLTs in rural areas are more likely to have a consultative role 73 In rural areas SLTs are more likely to have diverse roles; there are fewer specialist therapists 74 In rural areas there is a greater distance between the homes of clients and services; lower availability of public transport has been found to result in lower levels of access 73 Socioeconomic status Lower SES is associated with a greater need for SLT input, a greater likelihood of speech and language delays 75,76 and poor scores on SLT assessments…”

Samtals- och skriftspråksorienterade lärarledda aktiviteter i förskoleklass

“…Språklig medvetenhet innefattar olika slags medvetenheter; fonologisk, morfologisk, syntaktisk, semantisk och pragmatisk. Av dessa medvetenheter är det främst det starka samband som föreligger mellan fonologisk, särskilt fonemisk medvetenhet, och barns läs-och skrivutveckling som lyfts fram i forskning (Adams, 1990;Bus & van Ijzendoorn, 1999;Ehri, Nunes, Willows, Schuster, & Yaghoub-Zadeh, 2001;Gillon, 2004;Liberg, 2003;Lundberg, Larsman, & Strid, 2012).…”

“…Vikten av fonologisk medvetenhet, särskilt fonemisk medvetenhet, lyfts i forskning fram som en betydelsefull faktor för barns skriftspråkstillägnande (Adams, 1990;Bus & van Ijzendoorn, 1999;Ehri et al, 2001;Gillon, 2004;Liberg, 2003;Lundberg et al, 2012). Föreliggande studie visar att literacyhändelser där läraren och barnen gör olika rimövningar eller på olika sätt arbetar med fonemen i vårt talade språk utgör centrala inslag i förskoleklassens verksamhet.…”

Could an Interactive-Balanced Environment for Reading Acquisition Overcome the Triad Risk Factors: Low Socioeconomic Status, Low Literacy Skills and Language Properties?

“…Many studies have pointed out the relationship between early literacy skills and academic success, indicating a significantly lower academic performance when comparing groups from low SES to their counterparts from more advantageous socio-economic backgrounds (e.g. Aikens & Barbarin, 2008;Lundberg, Larsman, & Strid, 2012;Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2009. Such a discrepancy is already apparent in early stages; children from low SES begin formal schooling with lower meta-linguistic skills and limited exposure to literacy fostering environments and thus considered to be at-risk for reading difficulties (Lundberg, Larsman, & Strid, 2012).…”

“…However, when socio-economic factors adjoin Arabic Diglossic circumstances and its orthographic complexity, the development of emergent literacy skills is obstructed, affecting later reading and writing acquisition and academic success (e.g. Abu-Rabia, 2000;Hussien, 2014aHussien, , 2014bLundberg, Larsman, & Strid, 2012;Makoul, 2006;Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2009;Saiegh-Haddad, 2003, 2004. Cunningham & Stanovich (1997) have documented the long-term implications of reading acquisition difficulties where reading performance in first grade correlated with reading comprehension, vocabulary and general knowledge in 10th grade.…”