Content area
Full Text
Read Writ (2014) 27:591608
DOI 10.1007/s11145-013-9460-5
Sarah P. McGeown Emma Medford
Published online: 4 July 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract This study examined the skills predicting early reading development when children were taught by a synthetic phonics approach. Eighty ve children taught to read by systematic synthetic phonics were assessed on reading and cognitive assessments prior to reading instruction (average age 4 years, 7 months), 6 months later (5 years, 1 month), and 73 were also tested 1 year later (6 years, 1 month). Consistent with hypotheses, word reading was most strongly and consistently predicted by letter sound knowledge and short term memory. It is proposed that method of instruction may shape the skills children draw upon when learning to read.
Keywords Reading Synthetic phonics Instruction
Introduction
A signicant body of research has been carried out to investigate the cognitive and reading-related skills that underpin childrens early reading acquisition and development. These studies provide convincing evidence of the critical role of letter sound knowledge and phonological awareness (e.g., Bryant, Maclean, Bradley, & Crossland, 1990; Castles & Colheart, 2004; Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000; Muter, Hulme, Snowling, & Stevenson, 2004; Schatschneider, Fletcher, Francis et al., 2004; Wagner & Torgeson, 1987; Wagner, Torgeson, Rashotte et al., 1997). However, the concept of phonological awareness is broad and encompasses a range of abilities. Of these abilities, awareness of phonemes rather
S. P. McGeown (&)
School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK e-mail: [email protected]
E. Medford
Department of Psychology, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
Using method of instruction to predict the skills supporting initial reading development: insight from a synthetic phonics approach
123
592 S. P. McGeown, E. Medford
than rhymes is typically considered more crucial (e.g., Hulme, Hatcher, Nation et al., 2002; Muter, Hulme, Snowling, & Taylor, 1998; Savage & Carless, 2005; although see Bryant et al., 1990). Phoneme awareness can be further divided into two sub processes: phoneme analysis (the ability to segment words into phonemes), and phoneme synthesis (the ability to blend phonemes together). According to Wagner, Torgesen, Laughon et al. (1993) phonological analysis and synthesis show enough unique variance that they can be conceptualised as distinct aspects of phonological awareness. However, analysis and synthesis skills have been found to...