The Role of Early Literacy Skills in Beginning to Read in Turkish: Longitudinal Findings from First Graders

Abstract

The aim of this longitudinal study is to investigate the effects of early literacy skills on beginning to read in a transparent orthography, viz. Turkish. In line with this aim, a total of eighty-four participants were followed from preschool to the end of the first grade and the extent to which participants' early literacy skills in the preschool period predict their future reading performances was examined. All the data gathered in the study were collected individually at one-year intervals. The participants’ early literacy skills were tested by the "Test of Early Literacy (TEL)", reading comprehension skills was obtained with a text containing 162 words and 10 multiple choice questions, reading fluency performances were calculated with the formula of correct number of words per minute. Data were computed through correlation analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results suggest that regarding phonological awareness, early literacy sub-skills, especially those contributing to or serving oral comprehension had positive effects on reading fluency and reading comprehension at the end of the first grade. Valuable conclusions have been drawn from this finding about the role of phonological awareness, and its contribution to reading in an agglutinative orthography such as Turkish. Obtained results are discussed in relation to the literature.