A Longitudinal Study of Early Reading Development: Letter-Sound Knowledge, Phoneme Awareness and RAN, but Not Letter-Sound Integration, Predict Variations in Reading Development

• Published in: Scientific studies of reading Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 91 - 107
• Main Authors: Clayton, Francina J., West, Gillian, Sears, Claire, Hulme, Charles, Lervåg, Arne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Routledge 03.03.2020; Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Alphabets; Beginning Reading; Children; Decoding (Reading); Early literacy; Early Reading; Elementary School Students; Foreign Countries; Grade 1; Language Skills; Longitudinal studies; Naming; Phoneme Grapheme Correspondence; Phonemes; Phonemic Awareness; Phonemics; Phonology; Predictor Variables; Reading; Reading acquisition; Reading Instruction; Reading Skills; Reading Tests; Sound; Speech sounds; Word Recognition; United Kingdom (London)
• ISSN: 1088-8438; 1532-799X
• DOI: 10.1080/10888438.2019.1622546

It is now widely accepted that phonological language skills are a critical foundation for learning to read (decode). This longitudinal study investigated the predictive relationship between a range of key phonological language skills and early reading development in a sample of 191 children in their first year at school. The study also explored the theory that a failure to establish automatic associations between letters and speech sounds is a proximal causal risk factor for difficulties in learning to read. Our findings show that automatic letter-sound associations are established early, but do not predict variations in reading development. In contrast, phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge and alphanumeric RAN were all strong independent predictors of reading development. In addition, both phoneme awareness and RAN displayed a reciprocal relationship with reading, such that the growth of reading predicted improvements in these skills.