The student-teacher relationship (STR) is an important component of a student's success in school. STRs have the potential to serve as an asset for students' well-being and achievement throughout their school career. Current literature suggests that there are two major components of STRs associated with student's academic and behavioral outcomes: closeness and conflict. Research has indicated that STRs characterized by closeness are linked to positive academic and behavior outcomes for students while STRs characterized by conflict are associated with negative academic and behavior outcomes for students. Although research has demonstrated that closeness and conflict have an impact on student outcomes, research on the impact in kindergarten is limited. This study examined the associations between STRs characterized by closeness and conflict with reading, mathematics, and behavior outcomes in kindergarten students (n = 97), as well as the moderating effects of gender on these relationships. Results of the full hierarchical regression models indicated that prior reading and mathematics achievement were the strongest predictors of reading and mathematics outcomes. Closeness did not account for any of the variance in reading, mathematics, or externalizing behavior outcomes. Conflict on the other hand, was a small significant predictor for reading and mathematics outcomes, and a large significant predictor for externalizing behavior outcomes. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

International studies of reading achievement demonstrate that significant inequalities in reading outcomes continue to exist among some of the world’s wealthiest countries, despite strong investment in initiatives directed towards raising literacy achievement for all children (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation—UNESCO, 2009; United Nations Children’s Fund—UNICEF, 2010). One approach towards the elevation of reading achievement is to investigate how key predictors of reading success are incorporated into everyday classroom literacy practices. Phonological awareness (PA) is widely recognised as a powerful predictor and underlying precursor to early reading success for both typically developing and at-risk readers (Al Otaiba, Kosanovich, & Torgesen, 2012; Blachman, Ball, Black, & Tangel, 2000; Goswami, 2001; Pressley, 2006). A majority of research demonstrating the benefits of PA to literacy growth has been conducted under controlled research settings outside of the classroom environment (Ehri, Nunes, Willows, Schuster, Yaghoub-Zadeh, & Shanahan, 2001; Gillon, 2000a, 2005; Gillon & McNeill, 2009), and thus less is known about whether such benefits hold true when integrated into the heterogeneous classroom setting. For this reason, four experiments reported in this thesis investigated whether PA can be efficiently and effectively integrated into the classroom literacy programme with the overarching aim of raising reading achievement and equalising reading outcomes for the majority of children in the first year of formal education. In the first experiment (reported in Chapter 3), time-efficiency and congruency of scores between a computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool (described in Chapter 2) and a paper-based equivalent were examined. Thirty-three children aged between four years 10 months and five years zero months participated in the study, 12 of whom presented with moderate-severe speech delay (MSD). Participants were randomly allocated to either Group A or Group B experimental assessment conditions. A crossover research design was employed where Group A received the paper-based version of the PA assessment followed two weeks later by the equivalent computer-based assessment (CBA). Group B received the same assessments but in the reverse order of delivery. That is, the computer-based PA assessment first followed two weeks later by the paper-based counterpart. Results demonstrated that: 1) the CBA generated comparable scores to the paper-based equivalent for both children with typical development and children with MSD, and 2) CBA took 31 per cent less time than paper-based administration. These results demonstrate that CBA can provide educators with a time-efficient approach to the screening and monitoring of PA development in the classroom while maintaining equivalency of scores with paper-based testing. Having established the time-efficiency of CBA, the next step was to investigate the use of the computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool as part of the beginning classroom reading programme. In the second experiment (reported in Chapter 4), the influence of a short and intensive period of teacher-implemented classroom PA instruction on reading outcomes in the first year of education was investigated. One-hundred and twenty-nine children aged five-years participated in the study. Using a quasi-experimental design, thirty-four children in two classrooms received 10 weeks of PA instruction from their teachers, as an adjunct to the ‘usual’ reading programme. Ninety-five children from 10 classrooms continued with the ‘usual’ reading programme, which included phonics instruction but did not target PA. Results demonstrated that children exposed to classroom PA instruction performed significantly higher on reading and spelling measures compared to children who received the ‘usual’ reading programme only. Of importance, the number of children experiencing word decoding difficulties after one year of schooling reduced from 26 per cent among children who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme to 6 per cent among children who received classroom PA instruction. These results provide evidence that a short and intensive period of classroom-wide PA instruction in the first year of schooling can have a positive influence on raising reading achievement. In the third experiment (reported in Chapter 5), the effect of classroom PA instruction on raising reading achievement and reducing inequality in literacy outcomes for children with spoken language impairment (SLI) was examined. The data from 129 five-year-old children who participated in the second experiment were extracted and analysed. End-of-year reading outcomes between children with SLI who received classroom PA instruction (n = 7) was compared to: 1) children with typical language development (TD) who received classroom PA instruction (n = 27), 2) children with SLI who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme (n = 21), and 3) children with TD who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme (n = 74). Children with SLI who received classroom PA instruction showed significant improvements in PA, reading and spelling acquisition immediately and up to six months following PA instruction. However, this cohort, in comparison to children with TD, appeared less able to transfer their enhanced PA knowledge to reading and writing tasks. Of importance, children with SLI who received PA instruction performed significantly higher than children with SLI who followed the ‘usual’ reading curriculum; and on par with children with TD who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme. Children with TD who received classroom PA instruction significantly outperformed all other cohorts in this experiment on end-of year reading measures. These results indicate that both children with TD and children with risk for reading difficulties can benefit from classroom-wide teacher-directed PA instruction. These findings have positive implications for elevating reading achievement and reducing inequality between good and poor readers. In the fourth experiment (reported in Chapter 6), the validity and reliability of the computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool was investigated and established. Using a longitudinal research design, the responses of 95 children to test items in the CBA at the start, middle and end of the first year at school were collated and analysed to provide evidence of content, construct and criterion validity, in addition to test-retest and internal consistency reliability. A number of statistical analyses were employed including Rasch Model analysis, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. Results demonstrated that the majority of test items were appropriate for five-year-old children in the first year of school and sampled a spectrum of ability levels that would be present in a typical classroom environment. Rhyme oddity, initial phoneme identity and letter-knowledge tasks were most appropriate at school-entry while tasks of final phoneme identity, phoneme blending and phoneme segmentation became more suitable by the middle and end stages of the first year at school. Importantly, performance on the CBA predicted end-of-year reading status with 94 per cent accuracy, and in conjunction with language abilities accounted for 68.9 per cent of the variance in end-of-year reading performance. These findings indicate that the computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool developed and applied in this thesis has sufficient validity and reliability to be used confidently as a time-efficient assessment tool in the classroom. The results from the experiments reported in this thesis provide evidence that PA can be efficiently and effectively integrated into the beginning classroom reading programme from two complementary perspectives: 1) through use of computer-based screening and monitoring of PA skills, and 2) through implementation of a short and intensive period of teacher-directed classroom-wide PA instruction. The results reported in this thesis demonstrate that the evidenced-based integration of key predictors of literacy success, such as PA, into existing classroom programmes can support national and international initiatives that seek to raise reading achievement and reduce inequalities in literacy outcomes for all children.

Le premier objectif de ce travail a été de décrire les pratiques d’enseignement de la lecture-Écriture au cours préparatoire et de faire une comparaison entre les résultats obtenus au Portugal et ceux obtenus en France par Fijalkow (2003). 883 enseignants ont rempli un questionnaire. Les résultats montrent que les deux pays ont des résultats proches en ce qui concerne les aspects méthodologiques de l’enseignement de la lecture et l’évaluation des compétences de lecture et d’écriture des élèves. Cependant, les enseignants Portugais ont déclaré qu'ils utilisent plus fréquemment des activités développées à partir de livres de jeunesse, d'autres matériaux que les manuels, et différentes activités d’écriture. Une analyse hiérarchique de clusters a fait apparaître trois groupes d’enseignants: un groupe qui considère la maitrise du code comme le moyen privilégié d’accès à la langue écrite (unités courtes); un autre qui considère que la recherche du sens est essentielle pour l’appropriation de la langue écrite (unités longues); et un groupe intermédiaire (toutes unités). L’observation directe de 42 enseignants a montré l’existence d’un accord entre le questionnaire et les pratiques observés dans 55% des cas. Les élèves des enseignants dont l’observation directe a validé les réponses au questionnaire ont été évalués avec trois épreuves: lecture de mots, décision lexicale et compréhension. Une MANCOVA indiquent que les élèves du groupe toutes unités obtiennent de meilleurs résultats dans les trois épreuves que les élèves des autres groupes. En plus, 'il n'y a pas de différences de performances entre les élèves du groupe unités courtes et les élèves du groupe unités longues. / This study aimed to characterize the teaching practices of written language and understand its impact on reading acquisition by the end of 1st grade. The first step of this study was a descriptive and comparative study to the one conducted by Fijalkow (2003). Based on questionnaire answers of 883 teachers, we found that teachers from both countries have similar approaches regarding methodological aspects of teaching of reading and students’ assessment of reading and writing abilities. However, Portuguese teachers stated that they use more frequently activities from children's literature, other materials besides the manual and different writing proposals than French teachers. A hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three groups of teachers: a) a group of teachers who focus its practices in teaching the code of written language (short units), b) a group that emphasizes the construction of meaning based on texts (long units), c) and a group of teachers who gathered in their practices characteristics of both groups mentioned above (diversified units). Classroom observations of 42 teachers allowed to confirm questionnaire answers for 55% of the participants.Teachers whose observations were coincident with the questionnaire answers were selected and their students were evaluated using three reading tests: single words reading, lexical decision task and comprehension task. A MANCOVA revealed that students in the diversified unit group obtain better results in all reading tests than students from the other groups. It was also possible to confirm that there were no differences in performance between students of the short units group and students of the long units group. / O primeiro objetivo deste trabalho foi o de descrever as práticas de ensino da leitura e da escrita no 1º ano de escolaridade e de fazer uma comparação com os resultados obtidos entre Portugal e França (Fijalkow, 2003). 883 professores responderam a um questionário. Os resultados indicam que os dois países apresentam resultados semelhantes relativamente aos aspetos metodológicos do ensino da leitura e dos aspetos de avaliação das competências de leitura e escrita dos alunos. Contudo, os professores portugueses declararam realizar com maior frequência atividades a partir de livros infantis, outros materiais para além do manual e diferentes atividades de escrita. Uma análise hierárquica de clusters revelou três grupos de professores: um grupo que considera o domínio do código como o meio privilegiado de acesso à linguagem escrita (unidades curtas); outro que considera que a procurar de significado é essencial para a apropriação da linguagem escrita (unidades longas); e um grupo intermédio (unidades diversificadas). A observação direta de 42 professores mostrou a existência de acordo entre as práticas relatadas e as práticas observadas em 55% dos casos. Os alunos dos professores cuja observação direta validou a resposta ao questionário foram avaliados com três provas de leitura: leitura de palavras, decisão lexical e compreensão. Uma MANCOVA mostrou que os alunos do grupo unidades diversificadas obtêm melhores resultados em todas as provas do que os alunos dos outros grupos. Mostraram ainda que não existem diferenças de desempenho entre os alunos do grupo unidades curtas e os alunos do grupo unidades longas.

This study examines the effects of the Breakthrough to Literacy (BTL) reading program on first grade African American males in two urban elementary schools in southeastern Virginia. The BTL computer enhanced reading program includes computer assisted instruction as a major component that research from the National Reading Panel (NRP) indicates is beneficial in the education of African American males (NRP, 2000). This is a comparative study utilizing quantitative methodology to report the reading outcomes of African American males in grade one and their teacher's perceptions of the BTL program. The study measures reading outcomes as well as teachers' perceptions of the BTL program. The treatment group consisted of the first grade populations from schools A and B who received the BTL treatment in kindergarten (2006-2007) and first grade (2007-2008). The treatment group was compared to schools C and D, the control group, who received the BTL treatment in kindergarten (2006-2007) only. The data were gathered to determine if there were mean gains from the treatment and control groups through pre and posttests. Frequency, mean, and standard deviation were calculated for each variable. Inferential statistics were used to determine mean differences and comparisons among both groups' reading results. To determine if there was a difference in the reading outcomes of African American males who received the BTL treatment as compared to other racial/ethnic groups and gender, ANOVAs were utilized. Overall results indicated higher level performance by the treatment group. The study also incorporated survey methodology to determine the utility of the BTL program on first grade students in the year 2007-2008 from a teacher's perspective. The teachers in the BTL treatment group were administered the Children's Software Evaluation Instrument Surveys (Children's Software Revue, 2008). Out of a 5-point Likert scale, teachers rated the overall value of the BTL program as good (Overall rating 4.0). The teachers also gave overall ratings of good (4.0) and excellent (5.0) in the following areas: Childproof; Ease of Use; Entertaining; Design Feature; and Educational. / Ph. D.

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