The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of early childhood preservice teachers in a southeastern university as they worked for mastery of phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphemic awareness. Mastery was set at 90% accuracy in a series of tests, which required them to perform different tasks related to the said concepts. One aim of the study was to investigate the preservice teachers’ description of their experiences as they worked for mastery of phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphemic awareness. Another aim was to examine how working for mastery of said concepts influenced their perceptions of preparedness to carry out literacy instruction. This research used a multiple case study method involving 8 preservice teachers who were taking their first literacy methods course. Data were gathered through an online survey, analysis of answered test papers, written responses, individual interviews, and a focus group interview. Qualitative analysis of data revealed the experience brought about awareness of insufficient knowledge, apprehension to teach, and perplexities related to phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphemic awareness among the participants. The most salient perplexities were found to be related to phonemic awareness tasks, application of phonics key terms to real words, and splitting words into morphemes. Findings also revealed that improved understanding of phonemic awareness, phonics, and morphemic awareness enhanced the participants’ perception of preparedness to teach these concepts. Engaging in reflective thinking while working for mastery of these concepts deepened their awareness of unpreparedness, reconnected them to their goal to be effective teachers, and caused them to deliberately act on their challenges in obtaining content knowledge required for quality literacy instruction. The results of this study will have relevance for teacher educators, policy makers, school administrators, and researchers as they address issues related to literacy instruction during teacher preparation, especially in terms of acquisition of strong content knowledge.

The aim of this study was to investigate reading difficulties as barriers to learning experienced by learners entering the intermediate phase. The researcher conducted an in-depth literature study and by means of a qualitative research approach, empirical data were collected through individual interviews, observations and document studies. The findings revealed a number of common themes on the impact of reading difficulties and the factors that may cause these difficulties. The research findings revealed that in order to prevent reading difficulties as barriers to learning, the essential components for reading development must be acquired effectively, the role of the teacher and the parent are crucial and the early identification and remediation of reading difficulties is paramount. Resulting from the findings in the empirical investigation and in correlation with the findings from literature, the researcher made recommendations regarding strategies to reduce reading difficulties. / Education / M.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

Esta dissertação é composta por dois estudos conduzidos a fim de compreender de maneira integrada os fatores cognitivos/neuropsicológicos e ambientais relacionados ao desempenho em leitura (precisão e fluência) de crianças. A amostra foi composta por 185 alunos, 78 (42,2%) meninos e 107 (57,8%) meninas, do 4º ano do Ensino Fundamental de escolas públicas de Porto Alegre e Belo Horizonte. No primeiro estudo, foram investigadas as variáveis cognitivas/neuropsicológicas e ambientais que melhor explicam o desempenho de leitura (precisão e fluência). Nas análises de regressão linear observou-se a consciência fonológica e a nomeação seriada rápida (NSR) como melhores preditores na precisão de leitura, apoiando a hipótese de que o processamento fonológico é um contribuinte fundamental para a leitura no nível lexical. As variáveis ambientais importantes para leitura de palavras irregulares e fluência em leitura foram o nível socioeconômico (NSE) e o índice de desempenho (IDEB) da escola de origem. No segundo estudo, comparou-se o desempenho neuropsicológico, características comportamentais e ambientais de 3 grupos de crianças provenientes do estudo 1: com dificuldades de leitura/escrita (DLE); com dificuldade combinada de leitura/escrita e aritmética (DC) e sem dificuldades de aprendizagem (SD). Os grupos DLE e DC apresentaram desempenho estatisticamente inferior ao das crianças sem dificuldades de aprendizagem em consciência fonológica, NSR e memória de trabalho fonológica. O grupo DC apresentou desempenho inferior ao do grupo com DLE apenas em fluência verbal ortográfica. As crianças com dificuldades acadêmicas (DLE e DC) apresentaram maior escore no questionário de características de desatenção e hiperatividade e menor NSE. Os resultados contribuem para a compreensão de modelos multifatoriais (cognitivo/neuropsicológico, comportamental e ambiental) no desempenho da leitura e nas dificuldades de aprendizagem. Ambos os estudos mostram que a leitura no nível da palavra está mais relacionada às habilidades de processamento fonológico do que as habilidades visuoespaciais ou funções executivas, nas crianças avaliadas no quarto ano. É importante considerar a inserção de atividades para promover estas habilidades no currículo no Ensino Infantil e Ensino Fundamental como medida preventiva (primária e secundária) de dificuldades de leitura. / This dissertation consists of two studies conducted to understand cognitive, neuropsychological and environmental factors related to children’s reading performance (accuracy and fluency) in an integrated way. The sample consisted of 185 4th grade students, 78 (42.2%) boys and 107 (57.8%) girls, from public elementary schools from Porto Alegre city and Belo Horizonte city. In the first study, we investigated the cognitive and environmental variables that best explain the reading performance (accuracy and fluency). In linear regression analyzes observed phonological awareness and rapid serial nomination as best predictors of the accuracy, supporting the hypothesis that phonological processing is a key contributor to the reading on the lexical level. Important environmental variables for reading irregular words and fluency in reading were the socioeconomic status (SES) and the index of Brazilian education. In the second study, we compared the neuropsychological performance, behavioral and environmental characteristics of 3 groups of children from the study 1: difficulties with reading / writing (DLE); combined with reading / writing and arithmetic (DC) and without difficulty (SD). DLE and DC groups had statistically lower performance than children without learning difficulties in phonological awareness, NSR and phonological working memory. The DC group had underperformed the group with DLE only orthographic verbal fluency. Children with academic difficulties (DLE and DC) had higher scores on the questionnaire of inattention and hyperactivity characteristics and were from lower SES families. The results contribute to the understanding of multifactorial models for reading performance and learning difficulties, given the performance results from the interaction among different factors (cognitive/neuropsychological, behavioral and environmental). Both studies showed that the word reading level is more consistent related to phonological processing skills than visuospatial abilities and executive functions in this 4th grade sample. It is important to consider the inclusion of these skills in the curriculum in Infant and Primary Education as a preventive measure (primary and secondary) of reading difficulties.

Language development is a part of what pre-school teachers are supposed to teach children in pre-school and reading books, singing songs and rhyming is something that goes on although it isn’t always thought of how or why it is done. Phonological awareness, as just mentioned, is something that pre-school teachers work with on an everyday basis. The purpose of this study is to see how pre-school teachers work with the part of the phonological awareness that is called phonemic awareness. This study aims to see how pre-school teachers teach how the letters of the alphabet sounds and what words sounds like in the beginning, in the middle and at the end of words and how the children in pre-school get to learn how to use these sounds in their language development. The methodology used in this study is semistructured interviews with pre-school teachers. The results of the interviews conducted in this study show that pre-school teachers have several different ways to teach young children in the preschool about phonemic awareness. / Språkutveckling är en del av vad förskollärare ska undervisa barn i förskolan och att läsa böcker, sjunga sånger och rimma är något som hela tiden pågår, men det är inte alltid att det tänks till på hur eller varför det görs. Fonologisk medvetenhet, som just nämnts, är något som förskollärare arbetar med på vardaglig basis. Syftet med denna studie är att se hur förskollärare arbetar med den del av den fonologiska medvetenheten som kallas fonemisk medvetenhet. Denna studie syftar till att se hur förskollärare lär ut hur bokstäverna i alfabetet låter och hur ord låter i början, i mitten och i slutet av orden och hur barnen i förskolan lär sig att använda dessa ljud i sin språkutveckling. Den metod som använts i studien är semistrukturerade intervjuer med förskollärare. Resultaten av de intervjuer som genomfördes i denna studie visar att förskollärare har flera olika sätt att lära unga barn i förskolan om fonemisk medvetenhet.

Esta dissertação é composta por dois estudos conduzidos a fim de compreender de maneira integrada os fatores cognitivos/neuropsicológicos e ambientais relacionados ao desempenho em leitura (precisão e fluência) de crianças. A amostra foi composta por 185 alunos, 78 (42,2%) meninos e 107 (57,8%) meninas, do 4º ano do Ensino Fundamental de escolas públicas de Porto Alegre e Belo Horizonte. No primeiro estudo, foram investigadas as variáveis cognitivas/neuropsicológicas e ambientais que melhor explicam o desempenho de leitura (precisão e fluência). Nas análises de regressão linear observou-se a consciência fonológica e a nomeação seriada rápida (NSR) como melhores preditores na precisão de leitura, apoiando a hipótese de que o processamento fonológico é um contribuinte fundamental para a leitura no nível lexical. As variáveis ambientais importantes para leitura de palavras irregulares e fluência em leitura foram o nível socioeconômico (NSE) e o índice de desempenho (IDEB) da escola de origem. No segundo estudo, comparou-se o desempenho neuropsicológico, características comportamentais e ambientais de 3 grupos de crianças provenientes do estudo 1: com dificuldades de leitura/escrita (DLE); com dificuldade combinada de leitura/escrita e aritmética (DC) e sem dificuldades de aprendizagem (SD). Os grupos DLE e DC apresentaram desempenho estatisticamente inferior ao das crianças sem dificuldades de aprendizagem em consciência fonológica, NSR e memória de trabalho fonológica. O grupo DC apresentou desempenho inferior ao do grupo com DLE apenas em fluência verbal ortográfica. As crianças com dificuldades acadêmicas (DLE e DC) apresentaram maior escore no questionário de características de desatenção e hiperatividade e menor NSE. Os resultados contribuem para a compreensão de modelos multifatoriais (cognitivo/neuropsicológico, comportamental e ambiental) no desempenho da leitura e nas dificuldades de aprendizagem. Ambos os estudos mostram que a leitura no nível da palavra está mais relacionada às habilidades de processamento fonológico do que as habilidades visuoespaciais ou funções executivas, nas crianças avaliadas no quarto ano. É importante considerar a inserção de atividades para promover estas habilidades no currículo no Ensino Infantil e Ensino Fundamental como medida preventiva (primária e secundária) de dificuldades de leitura. / This dissertation consists of two studies conducted to understand cognitive, neuropsychological and environmental factors related to children’s reading performance (accuracy and fluency) in an integrated way. The sample consisted of 185 4th grade students, 78 (42.2%) boys and 107 (57.8%) girls, from public elementary schools from Porto Alegre city and Belo Horizonte city. In the first study, we investigated the cognitive and environmental variables that best explain the reading performance (accuracy and fluency). In linear regression analyzes observed phonological awareness and rapid serial nomination as best predictors of the accuracy, supporting the hypothesis that phonological processing is a key contributor to the reading on the lexical level. Important environmental variables for reading irregular words and fluency in reading were the socioeconomic status (SES) and the index of Brazilian education. In the second study, we compared the neuropsychological performance, behavioral and environmental characteristics of 3 groups of children from the study 1: difficulties with reading / writing (DLE); combined with reading / writing and arithmetic (DC) and without difficulty (SD). DLE and DC groups had statistically lower performance than children without learning difficulties in phonological awareness, NSR and phonological working memory. The DC group had underperformed the group with DLE only orthographic verbal fluency. Children with academic difficulties (DLE and DC) had higher scores on the questionnaire of inattention and hyperactivity characteristics and were from lower SES families. The results contribute to the understanding of multifactorial models for reading performance and learning difficulties, given the performance results from the interaction among different factors (cognitive/neuropsychological, behavioral and environmental). Both studies showed that the word reading level is more consistent related to phonological processing skills than visuospatial abilities and executive functions in this 4th grade sample. It is important to consider the inclusion of these skills in the curriculum in Infant and Primary Education as a preventive measure (primary and secondary) of reading difficulties.

This study investigated the effects of an explicit individualized phonemic awareness intervention administered by a speech-language pathologist to 4 prekindergarten children with phonological speech sound disorders. Research has demonstrated that children with moderate-severe expressive phonological disorders are at-risk for poor literacy development because they often concurrently exhibit weaknesses in the development of phonological awareness skills (Rvachew, Ohberg, Grawburg, & Heyding, 2003). The research design chosen for this study was a single subject multiple probe design across subjects. After stable baseline measures, the participants received explicit instruction in each of the three phases separately and sequentially. Dependent measures included same-day tests for Phase I (Phoneme Identity), Phase II (Phoneme Blending), and Phase III (Phoneme Segmentation), and generalization and maintenance tests for all three phases. All 4 participants made substantial progress in all three phases. These skills were maintained during weekly and biweekly maintenance measures. Generalization measures indicated that the participants demonstrated some increases in their mean total number of correct responses in Phase II and Phase III baseline while the participants were in Phase I intervention, and more substantial increases in Phase III baseline while the participants were in Phase II intervention. Increased generalization from Phases II to III could likely be explained due to the response similarities in those two skills (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007). Based upon the findings of this study, speech-language pathologists should evaluate phonological awareness in the children in their caseloads prior to kindergarten entry, and should allocate time during speech therapy to enhance phonological awareness and letter knowledge to support the development of both skills concurrently. Also, classroom teachers should collaborate with speech-language pathologists to identify at-risk students in their classrooms and successfully implement evidence-based phonemic awareness instruction. Future research should repeat this study including larger groups of children, children with combined speech and language delays, children of different ages, and ESOL students

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers initiate their reading instruction for students in the early years and what method(s) they use and why. This has been investigated through a qualitative interview study in which five teachers participated. The result showed that all five participating teachers mix methods in their teaching to adapt the teaching and bring in as many students as possible. In addition, they all agreed that high-frequency letters, some vowels and some consonants, had to be initiated in order for students to start building small short words early. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur lärare inleder sin läsundervisning för elever i de tidiga åren och vilken/vilka metod(er) de då använder sig av och varför. Detta har undersökts genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie där fem lärare har deltagit. Resultatet visade att samtliga fem deltagande lärare blandar metoder i sin läsundervisning för att anpassa undervisningen och få med så många elever som möjligt. De var alla dessutom överens om att man måste inleda med högfrekventa bokstäver, några vokaler och några konsonanter, för att eleverna tidigt ska kunna börja bygga små korta ord.

In South Africa, the topic of reading has been of great interest on the development of language since it has been estimated that 12 million learners will go through the education system per year. A key concern for all these learners is language. The majority of South African learners do not speak English as their home language, yet the dominant language of learning and teaching (LoLT) is English. It is important for these learners to become fluent in the LoLT as the future of education is dependent upon it. South Africa has been struggling since 2001 to implement a programme in schools that will improve the Literacy abilities of learners. An in-depth study was undertaken to determine whether the THRASS methodology would possibly improve the reading and spelling abilities of Grade 2 English second learners at an inner city school in Pretoria. The research explored the reading and spelling difficulties encountered by these learners. A profile of the Grade 2 English second language learner was compiled. An understanding of how the THRASS programme works has been included. The results from the research indicated that the reading abilities of the Grade 2 learners had improved, however, there was not a significant difference in their spelling abilities. / Inclusive Education / M. Ed. (Inclusive Education)

No description available.