Research Findings: Letter name knowledge (LNK) is essential for a good start in learning to read. However, the literature shows conflicting results. Using an associative learning theory framework, the present study examined the influence of child and letter characteristics on LNK in French-speaking children. Children aged 3 to 5-6 years were asked…

In this article, the relationship between alphabet knowledge and reading development will be explored. Key topics will include how alphabet knowledge is not only a predictor for future reading success, but also how letters and their sounds serve as a bridge from a pre-alphabetic phase into a partial alphabetic phase, and beyond. Since each phase…

This mixed methods study explored the influence of an interactive writing intervention on preschoolers' skills of emergent literacy, as well as teacher perceptions of the intervention. Before the intervention assessment scores were collected on the subscales of letter name identification, letter sound identification, onset-rime blending, and…

Understanding the early literacy abilities of children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is essential for designing and testing methods of reading intervention focused on printed orthography. School-based professionals need assessments that measure word reading skills of students with heterogenous speech and physical…

Before formal instruction, preschoolers represent words in print in various degrees of conventionality. Unlicensed letters are letters that have no connection to the word that the child is aiming to write; they are neither licensed by phoneme-grapheme rules nor by orthographical representations in the mental lexicon. In the current paper, we…

In elementary school, an important goal of reading instruction is to enable children to read most words automatically by sight so that they can focus on learning from and enjoying what they are reading. But becoming a strong reader takes several years. Parents and caregivers need to know if a child is making good progress in learning to read.…

Writing systems differ in various aspects. English and Korean share basic principles of the alphabetic writing system. As an alphabetic script, Korean Hangul has relatively more regular mapping between graphemes and phonemes; however, its letters are written in syllable units, which encourages phonological retrieval at the syllable level.…

This study tested the potential of a technological intervention procedure for promoting letter-naming and initial-phoneme detection skills among preschoolers at risk for Specific Learning Disorder. The study rational is based on evidence for paired associated learning of visual-verbal stimuli, integrated with the use of a tangible technological…

This brief focuses on the 2023-2024 school-year implementation of "My Reading Academy" by the Early Learning Coalition of Palm Beach County (ELC PBC) that led its deployment in voluntary pre-K (VPK) classrooms across the School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) and independently operated for-profit and nonprofit centers, including…

Although most studies in the field of literacy development suggest that writing and reading are two sides of the same coin, very little is known about writing in kindergarten in comparison to the vast number of studies on reading. In this study, we explored the connections between writing and reading using correlation and regression analyses…

Since 2012, when preparatory grade (PG) became compulsory in Romania for 6-year olds, little understanding has been gained of how children's literacy evolves in PG, although over the same period, Romanian 15-year olds' reading performance has shown no signs of improvement (Noveanu et al., 2023). Children enter school with broadly varying literacy…

The objective for beginning writers is to learn how to generate alphabet-letters which are recognisable and easy to read. This study investigated the accuracy of Year 1 and 2 children's alphabet-letter-writing by evaluating their alphabet and orthographic knowledge, following evidence which identifies these skills as important for correctly…

The science of reading has made genuine progress in understanding reading and the teaching of reading, but is the science of reading just the science of reading English? Worldwide, a majority of students learn to read and write in non-European, nonalphabetic orthographies such as abjads (e.g., Arabic), abugidas/alphasyllabaries (e.g., Hindi), or…

In this article, we provide a cross-linguistic perspective on the universals and particulars in learning to read across seventeen different orthographies. Starting from the assumption that reading reflects a learned sensitivity to the systematic relationships between the surface forms of words and their meanings, we chose a broad group of…

The purpose of this study was to identify kindergarteners at risk for language and reading disorders and to determine predictors. A representative sample of 311 kindergarteners in general education classrooms in the U.S. Midwest were assessed with the Well Screening in fall, winter, and spring. Groups were compared using analysis of variance…