An experimental comparison of additional training in phoneme awareness, letter‐sound knowledge and decoding for struggling beginner readers

Author:

Webber Charlotte12,Patel Hetal1,Cunningham Anna3,Fox Amy14,Vousden Janet3,Castles Anne5,Shapiro Laura1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment, School of Psychology Aston University Birmingham UK

2. Moray House School of Eucation and Sport University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK

3. Department of Psychology Nottingham Trent University Nottingham UK

4. Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, Faculty of Education and Society University College London London UK

5. Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy Australian Catholic University Sydney New South Wales Australia

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundDespite evidence that synthetic phonics teaching has increased reading attainments, a sizable minority of children struggle to acquire phonics skills and teachers lack clear principles for deciding what types of additional support are most beneficial. Synthetic phonics teaches children to read using a decoding strategy to translate letters into sounds and blend them (e.g., c‐a‐t = “k ‐ æ – t” = “cat”). To use a decoding strategy, children require letter‐sound knowledge (LSK) and the ability to blend sound units (phonological awareness; PA). Training on PA has been shown to benefit struggling beginning readers. However, teachers in English primary schools do not routinely check PA. Instead, struggling beginner readers usually receive additional LSK support.AimsUntil now, there has been no systematic comparison of the effectiveness of training on each component of the decoding process. Should additional support for struggling readers focus on improving PA, or on supplementary LSK and/or decoding instruction? We aim to increase understanding of the roles of LSK and PA in children's acquisition of phonics skills and uncover which types of additional training are most likely to be effective for struggling beginner readers.Sample and MethodWe will compare training on each of these components, using a carefully controlled experimental design. We will identify reception‐age children at risk of reading difficulties (target n = 225) and randomly allocate them to either PA, LSK or decoding (DEC) training. We will test whether training type influences post‐test performance on word reading and whether any effects depend on participants' pre‐test PA and/or LSK.Results and ConclusionsTwo hundred and twenty‐two participants completed the training. Planned analyses showed no effects of condition on word reading. However, exploratory analyses indicated that the advantage of trained over untrained words was significantly greater for the PA and DEC conditions. There was also a significantly greater improvement in PA for the DEC condition. Overall, our findings suggest a potential advantage of training that includes blending skills, particularly when decoding words that had been included in training. Future research is needed to develop a programme of training on blending skills combined with direct vocabulary instruction for struggling beginner readers.

Funder

British Academy

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Developmental and Educational Psychology,Education

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