The study tested phonological awareness in a cross-sectional sample of 200 Arabic-speaking 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th graders from low and mid-high Socio-Economic Status (SES). Participants were native speakers of a local dialect of Palestinian Arabic spoken in the north of Israel. Twelve phonological awareness tasks were administered: six of…

The problem investigated in this study was decreasing annual reading proficiency among students in intermediate elementary grades (Grades 3-5). Deficiencies in reading proficiency can negatively impact overall student achievement. The purpose of this study was to investigate intermediate elementary teachers' perceptions of their instructional…

The purpose of the Teacher Prep Review is to guarantee teachers have expertise in reading instruction (as well as other essential areas NCTQ assesses) before being trusted to teach children to read. By regularly reviewing the reading coursework provided by nearly 700 elementary teacher preparation programs, the National Council on Teacher Quality…

When acquiring a second language, learners must become able to perceive the difference between novel sounds ("discrimination") and also associate strings of sounds with distinct vocabulary items ("lexical encoding"). Recent research has questioned whether discrimination is a sufficient or necessary condition for encoding, and…

The purpose of this research study was to prove if students who are intellectually disabled can obtain phonemic awareness and the ability to read independently with the use of Wilson's Fundations. This study aims to investigate if students who have been identified as intellectually disabled are able to gain phonemic awareness by using Wilson's…

This transnational comparative study between Costa Rica and the United States provides an in-depth understanding of the similarities and differences of the early literacy practices of educators in the Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten classroom settings. Drawing upon Costa Rica's curricular approach to Early Childhood Education, based upon the…

This study examined the response of two students in the Southwestern United States with autism spectrum disorder and IQ in the intellectual disability range to a comprehensive, text-based reading intervention. The intervention, "Friends on the Block," includes multiple strands of literacy providing explicit instruction in phonics,…

A hallmark of skilled reading is recognizing written words automatically from memory by sight. How beginning readers attain this skill is explained. They must acquire foundational knowledge, including phonemic segmentation, grapheme-phoneme knowledge, decoding, and spelling skills. When these skills are applied, spellings of words become bonded to…

The acquisition of a second language (L2) may be challenging in adulthood, as the phonological system of the native language (L1) can sometimes limit the perception of phonological contrasts in L2. The present study aimed to (a) examine the influence of an L1 (Hebrew) that lacks a phonemic contrast for vowel length on the ability to discriminate…

Purpose: This study evaluated the equivalence of the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS) when administrated via telepractice (Tele-TILLS) and face-to-face methods. Method: Participants were 51 children and adolescents in three age bands, ages 6-7 years (n = 9), 8-11 years (n = 21), and 12-18 years (n = 21). Data were gathered…

Shadowing, a practice of repeating what one hears as simultaneously and accurately as possible, has been researched in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) field for years. The research findings have shown that shadowing contributes to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' bottom-up listening skills, which leads to…

Equipping elementary (i.e., grades K-5) teachers with adequate content and pedagogical knowledge to promote effective reading instruction based on the science of reading is a crucial piece of the reading education puzzle. We reviewed 20 empirical studies to examine the impact of teacher preparation and training programs on elementary teachers'…

Advocates of the science of reading have argued that (a) teacher preparation programs do not provide adequate preparation to teach code-related reading skills; (b) as a result, teachers lack knowledge of this area of literacy development; and (c) without that knowledge, teachers are unable to effectively teach students to read. In this integrative…

One of the most significant reasons children struggle with primary literacy skills is due to poor phonemic knowledge and understanding. This study was designed to identify foundational strategies necessary, needed, and used to help decrease struggles in reading performance and academic growth while addressing long term guidance for higher reading…

The purpose of this case series was to explore whether adults who did not have the opportunity to acquire reading skills during childhood are able to do so rapidly if trained with an adequate literacy program. After 14 weeks of training with a new, optimized, literacy course based on cognitive research, six out of eight participants became able to…