The Effects of Kindergarten Instruction in Alphabet and Numbers on First Grade Reading
TL;DR: The ability to recognize letters and numbers in kindergarten has been demonstrated to be a better predictor of end-of-first-grade reading skills than other accepted readiness skills or IQ as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The ability to recognize letters and numbers in kindergarten has been demonstrated to be a better predictor of end-of-first-grade reading skills than other accepted“readiness skills” or IQ. It would thus seem logical to hypothesize that instruction in recognizing letters and numbers in kindergarten should produce an increment to reading level attained at the end of first grade. To test this possibility, four classes of kindergarten children were given the Letters and Numbers Subtest of the Gates Reading Readiness Tests in the spring of their kindergarten year. Two classes were then given eight weeks of training in alphabet and numbers names, while the other two classes participated in the regular informal kindergarten program. Retesting at the end of this period showed that the experimental group did respond to training, achieving a level of recognition of numbers and letters higher than that of the control group. Follow-up testing at the beginning of first grade showed that the effects of training persis...
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: This paper elaborates the self-teaching hypothesis, reviews relevant evidence, and notes that current models of word recognition fail to address the quintessential problem of reading acquisition-independent generation of target pronunciations for novel orthographic strings.
2,139 citations
01 Jan 1964
TL;DR: In this paper, children's drawings as measures of Intellectual Maturity were used as indicators of maturity in art education, and children's drawings as a measure of artistic maturity was discussed.
Abstract: (1964). Children's Drawings as Measures of Intellectual Maturity. Studies in Art Education: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 49-51.
458 citations
129 citations
Cites background from "The Effects of Kindergarten Instruc..."
...(1969) and Silberberg, Silberberg, and Iversen (1972) , U.S....
[...]
...In studies by Johnson (1969) and Silberberg, Silberberg, and Iversen (1972), U.S. children who received extra instruction about letter names before formal reading instruction began did not learn to read more easily than control children....
[...]
TL;DR: Evidence is reviewed for two opposing developmental hypotheses based on the dual-route model: fluent readers use both direct and indirect access to lexical meaning, while beginning readers use only indirect access, and it was concluded that neither mode of access predominates in early reading.
127 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the influence of letter-name instruction on beginning phonetic word recognition and found that children who received letter name instruction learned words phonetically spelled with letters included in instruction significantly better than other words.
Abstract: This study examined the influence of letter-name instruction on beginning word recognition. Thirty-three preschool children from low-socioeconomic-status families participated in 16 weeks of letter-name or comprehension-focused instruction. After instruction, children's ability to learn 3 types of word spellings was examined: words phonetically spelled with letters children had been taught (e.g., BL for ball), words phonetically spelled with letters children had not been taught, and words with visually distinct letter spellings that were nonphonetic. Children who received letter-name instruction learned words phonetically spelled with letters included in instruction significantly better than other words. Children receiving comprehension instruction performed significantly better on visually distinct word spellings. Results demonstrate the beneficial effects of alphabet-letter instruction on beginning phonetic word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
75 citations
References
More filters
551 citations
01 Jan 1964
TL;DR: In this paper, children's drawings as measures of Intellectual Maturity were used as indicators of maturity in art education, and children's drawings as a measure of artistic maturity was discussed.
Abstract: (1964). Children's Drawings as Measures of Intellectual Maturity. Studies in Art Education: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 49-51.
458 citations
"The Effects of Kindergarten Instruc..." refers methods in this paper
...In addi- t ion, each child was administered a Draw-A- Man Test (Harris, 1963)....
[...]
TL;DR: In more than 20 cases examined by the authors, the children ranged in intellectual functioning from mentally defective to bright normal, and in each case the child's ability to recognize words was significantly higher than either his ability to comprehend the material "read" or his evaluated verbal functioning level.
Abstract: For children who are successful in reading, it is usually assumed that school will not be a stressful or anxiety-provoking experience. It has been the authors' experience, however, that this may not necessarily be so. A number of school children have been encountered who are subjected to certain stresses in school because they can read-or rather, because their ability to recognize words is on a higher level than their ability to comprehend and integrate them. Because elementary teachers probably equate word recognition skills with intellectual functioning, the demands put on these children may be greater than they can handle. Expectations, both by teachers and parents, are unrealistically high, and the child's inability to meet these expectations could create environmental stress and an accompanying high level of anxiety. For this phenomenon of specific word recognition skill we have coined the term hyperlexia. The concept of hyperlexia suggests a continuum of word recognition skills which may exist separate and apart from general verbal functioning. A concept describing dyslexia in a similar manner was proposed by Meyer and Larsen in Scandinavia (Hallgren, 1950), but has not been generally accepted in this country. In more than 20 cases examined by the authors, the children ranged in intellectual functioning from mentally defective to bright normal. In each case, the child's ability to recognize words was significantly higher than either his ability to comprehend the material \"read\" or his evaluated verbal functioning level. More than half of these children had
149 citations
"The Effects of Kindergarten Instruc..." refers background in this paper
...However, Silberberg and Silberberg (1967, 1968) described children who had learned to read in a seemingly incidental or spontaneous way, and suggested that, in some children at least, ability to begin word recognition was a normal "physiological variant" or, in other words, a developmental talent…...
[...]
TL;DR: For instance, children whose word recognition skills are developed to a point significantly higher than expected (expectation being estimated from their general level of intellectual functioning) are called hyperlexic as mentioned in this paper.
45 citations
"The Effects of Kindergarten Instruc..." refers background in this paper
...However, Silberberg and Silberberg (1967, 1968) described children who had learned to read in a seemingly incidental or spontaneous way, and suggested that, in some children at least, ability to begin word recognition was a normal "physiological variant" or, in other words, a developmental talent…...
[...]
TL;DR: The first longitudinal study of children who learned to read at home before entering first grade as mentioned in this paper was designed to consider two basic questions: What accounts for preschool ability in reading? What is the value of learning to read early?
Abstract: it causes embarrassment, too, when the child is also completing the sixth week of a reading readiness program. For us the discovery of a six-yearold who was reading at an advanced level provoked curiosity because so little is known about precocious readers. The desire to know more led to the research study reported here, a longitudinal study of children who learned to read at home before entering first grade (1). The study was designed to consider two basic questions: What accounts for preschool ability in reading? What is the value of learning to read early? The ability to identify at least eighteen words from a list of thirtyseven was used as the criterion for selecting children for the study. In the fall of 1958 this list of words was used with 5,103 beginning first-graders in a California community (2). The children were asked to read, individually and orally, as many of the words as possible. In this way, twenty-nine girls and twenty boys became the subjects for the study. Once identified, these forty-nine children were/given the Gates Primary Word Recognition Test and the Gates
34 citations