Self‐reported knowledge on literacy of Israeli speech‐language pathologists and special education teachers

Abstract

The promotion of literacy skills is considered a cornerstone in the work of special education teachers (SETs) and speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The present study examined the selfreported literacy knowledge of Israeli 67 SETs and 72 SLPs along three dimensions: development, assessment and intervention, and emergent literacy. Participants in both groups completed an individually delivered Likert-based survey. The main findings indicated positive correlations between development, assessment, and emergent literacy in both groups and no differences in their knowledge about emergent literacy. In contrast, SLPs reported lack of knowledge in literacy development, assessment and intervention, compared to SETs. The relationship between language modalities -reading, writing, oral languageseems to determine the role of each profession in literacy. Furthermore, the perception of written language as a modality or as a style of discourse was not conclusive in both groups. Therefore, policy makers and training programs should continue to deepen the training of professional staffs, especially by encouraging and training SLPs to address written language. Furthermore, the demarcation of the field of linguistic literacy of each profession is not evident in practice and needs to be discussed and coordinated to achieve true and optimal interprofessional cooperation.

Fluency in Language Assessment Literacy: A Literature Review

“…Additionally, professionals working to support children's language development, such as educators and speech-language pathologists, need to assess and monitor children's language learning progress to lay the foundation for later developing literacy skills (McIntyre et al, 2017). Furthermore, selfreported knowledge on literacy among speech-language pathologists and special education teachers underscores the need for deepening the training of professional staff, especially in addressing written language (Zadunaisky-Ehrlich & Yifat, 2022).…”