One flashcard teaching method used to teach discrete academic skills is strategic incremental rehearsal (SIR). Although the evidence for SIR is strong, no studies have evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of SIR when used in a small-group format. The current study used a combinatorial design using a multiple baseline with an embedded adapted…

One of the difficulties in teaching Turkish, which is a phonetically rich language, to foreigners, is that similar sounds are often confused with each other. Since even a single punctuation mark is crucial for writing and reading Turkish letters (i-i, o-ö, u-ü, c-ç, g-g, s-s, etc.), students who use the Arabic alphabet have great difficulty…

Alphabet training of primary school students is an essential, but challenging activity. Alphabet knowledge is an important fundamental literacy skill which has been found to directly impact the future academic success of students. Game-based learning and the use of multimodal engagement activities have been found to be effective intervention…

In this article, I illustrate how research from cognitive science and the science of reading can inform research on the science of reading instruction. This purpose is accomplished by focusing on four recently published randomized control trials of instruction designed to teach alphabet letters to 3- and 4-year-old children (N = 342) attending…

Letter learning is nuanced, complex, and essential to the development of an effective literacy processing system. Forming and naming letters, rapidly differentiating between visually similar letters, and recognizing their sound correspondences are foundational to becoming a reader and writer. Indeed, control over letters affects monitoring,…

Orthographic knowledge of alphabet-letters is thought to mediate accurate motor execution of letter-writing. This study examined the effectiveness of a handwriting program for early non-proficient writers which integrated instruction of factual, procedural, and spatial information to develop orthographic knowledge of alphabet-letters, for the…

Purpose: Phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge are fundamental building blocks for literacy development. We identified preschoolers with persistent delays in these skills and evaluated the efficacy of a supplemental curriculum to remediate deficits in early literacy skills. Method: Using a cluster design, 21 classrooms were randomly…

The importance of letter sound knowledge (LSK) as a precursor to later literacy skills has been well-documented. Since English language learners (ELLs), or students who first acquired a language other than English, continue to underperform in reading compared to their English-speaking peers, they are particularly at-risk for reading and academic…

The role of executive function training in supporting child development has been increasingly studied. Executive function is largely related to the prefrontal cortex. The anterior portion of the prefrontal cortex, which is area 10 on the Brodmann map, is essential for the emergence of higher-order executive functions. Accumulating evidence…

This study investigated the potential of phonetic symbols and keywords as response labels for perceptual training of L2 sounds. Seventy-one Spanish learners of English were assigned to three groups: symbols, keywords, and control. Students in the symbols and keywords groups followed a 4-week High Variability Phonetic Training (HVPT) program based…

Application of psycholinguistic insights initiated a long career researching how children learn to read words. A theory was proposed claiming that spellings of individual words are stored in memory when their graphemes become bonded to phonemes in their pronunciations along with meanings, and this enables readers to read stored words automatically…

Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) is commonly thought of as one of the best predictors of reading achievement when compared to phonological awareness and letter name knowledge (Norton & Wolf, 2012). However, only one previous study has demonstrated significant growth following a RAN intervention (Vander Stappen & Reybroeck, 2018). This…

Incremental rehearsal (IR) is a flashcard intervention that involves the interspersal of previously mastered targets and immediate error correction. Previous research indicates IR is an effective intervention for teaching discrete skills. Much of existing research, however, was conducted with typically developing students. The current study aimed…

While mobile devices are becoming increasingly ubiquitous (even in low-income families in the United States) and are being used for educational purposes, it is unclear how these technological tools may benefit letter learning (a foundational precursor to early literacy achievement) in preschool children. To contribute clarity, this study tested…

Learning the relationships between letters and sounds is a key component of early literacy development and a central aim during the first year of school. Introducing one new letter a week is the most common approach in many countries, but little is known about how the pace of letter instruction contributes to the development of early literacy…