ABSTRACTS
This study investigated the trajectories of preschool and first-grade children's development of reading skills, as well as the cognitive and social antecedents of that development. One-hundred and ninety-six 5- to 6-year-old children were tested in October and April of their preschool year and again in the first grade. Data included measures of reading ability and its cognitive and social antecedents, which were analyzed using Simplex and Piecewise Growth Curve Modeling. The results showed that during the preschool year individual differences in reading grew larger and that this growth was faster among those who entered preschool with well-developed skills. However, during the first grade individual differences in reading diminished. The results suggest that systematic reading instruction in primary school education is more beneficial for children with less developed literacy skills, whereas children with more developed reading skills gain relatively less from reading instruction in the first grade.
ESTE ESTUDIO investigó el curso evolutivo de las habilidades de lectura en niños de pre-escolar y escuela primaria, así como los antecedentes cognitivos y sociales de dicho desarrollo. Ciento noventa y seis niños de 5 a 6 años fueron evaluados en octubre y abril en pre-escolar y nuevamente en primer grado. Los datos incluyeron medidas de habilidad de lectura y sus antecedentes cognitivos y sociales y fueron analizados usando el método “Simplex and Piecewise Growth Curve Modeling.” Los resultados mostraron que, durante el año de pre-escolar las diferencias individuales en lectura aumentaron y que este crecimiento fue más rápido entre aquellos que entraron a preescolar con habilidades bien desarrolladas. Sin embargo, durante el primer grado, las diferencias individuales en lectura disminuyeron. Los resultados sugieren que la enseñanza sistemática de la lectura en la educación primaria es más beneficiosa para los niños con habilidades de lectoescritura menos desarrolladas; en tanto que los niños con habilidades de lectura más desarrolladas obtienen relativamente menos beneficios de la enseñanza de la lectura en primer grado.
The effects of an interactive shared-reading intervention were evaluated with 3-to 4-year-old children from low-income families who attended subsidized child care. The children entered the program with oral language skills that were significantly below age-level as measured by standardized tests. Children were pretested and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) no treatment control, (b) a school condition in which children were read to by their teachers in small groups, (c) a home condition in which children were read to by their parents, and (d) a combined school plus home condition. Parents and teachers were trained in a specific form of interactive reading via an instructional videotape. The intervention was conducted for 6 weeks, after which children were posttested on standardized measures of oral language, and language samples were obtained during a shared-reading assessment. Significant effects of the reading intervention were obtained at posttest and were largest for children in conditions involving home reading.