Emerging phonological awareness differentiates children with and without familial risk for dyslexia after controlling for general language skills

Emerging phonological awareness was compared in two groups of 3.5-year-old children belonging to the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (JLD): children with familial risk of dyslexia (at-risk group n = 98) and children without such risk (control group n = 91). Four computer animated tasks were used: Word-level and Syllable-level Segment Identification, Synthesis, and Continuation of Phonological Units. The control group children manifested higher mastery than children in the at-risk group in phonological awareness, and the proportion of children with a low phonological awareness mean score was 2.5 times higher in the at-risk group than in the control group. In both groups, phonological awareness at 3.5 years was predicted by early language skills assessed between 14 and 26 months of age, and it was also associated with concurrent language. The difference between the at-risk and control group at 3.5-year in phonological awareness remained significant, even when the effect of other language skills such as productive and receptive vocabulary, and mastery of inflections, measured both at earlier ages and concurrently were controlled for. Our findings indicate that familial risk for dyslexia is reliably reflected in emerging phonological awareness already at this early age and it can be assessed independently of other language skills.     

Observed Classroom Quality Profiles of Kindergarten Classrooms in Finland

Research Findings: The aim of the present study was to examine classroom quality profiles of kindergarten classrooms using a person-centered approach and to analyze these patterns in regard to teacher and classroom characteristics. Observations of the domains of Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support were conducted in 49 Finnish kindergarten classrooms utilizing the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (R. C. Pianta, K. M. LaParo, &; B. K. Hamre, 2008 Pianta , R. C. , &; Hadden , D. S. ( 2008 , June ). What we know about the quality of early education settings: Implications for research on teacher preparation and professional development . The State Education Standard , pp. 20–27 . [Google Scholar]). In addition, questionnaire data on classroom and teacher characteristics, as well as Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure (D. Stipek &; P. Byler, 2004 LaParo , K. M. , Pianta , R. C. , &; Stuhlman , M. ( 2004 ). The Classroom Assessment Scoring System: Findings from the prekindergarten year . The Elementary School Journal , 104 , 409 – 426 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) observational ratings, were used in the analyses. Latent profiling analysis was utilized to identify different profiles of classroom quality. Four latent profiles of classroom quality were identified that differed from one another most clearly in the domain of Emotional Support. Profile 1 represented a generally high level and Profile 4 a generally low level of classroom quality compared to the other profiles, whereas the medium-quality Profiles 2 and 3 showed varying levels of support in the assessed dimensions of quality. Only a few differences emerged among the profiles in classroom and teacher characteristics: The teachers in Profile 4 provided the least literacy instruction and had the least amount of work experience of all of the teachers. The findings using the Early Childhood Classroom Observation Measure indicated that child-centered practices were predominant among the profiles of higher classroom quality. Practice or Policy: The results of this study can be used to recognize kindergarten teachers' professional strengths and weaknesses and to support teachers' professional development with the aid of pedagogical interventions.     

Mothers' causal attributions concerning the reading achievement of their children with and without familial risk for dyslexia

The present study analyzed data from the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia to investigate the factors to which mothers of children with and without familial risk for dyslexia attribute the causes of their first-grade children's reading achievement. Mothers' causal attributions were assessed three times during their children's first school year. Children's verbal intelligence was assessed at 5 years and their word and nonword reading skills at 6.5 years. The results showed that the higher the word reading skills the children had, the more their mothers attributed their success to ability than to effort. However, if children had familial risk for dyslexia, their mothers' attribution of success to ability decreased during the first grade as compared with the ability attributions of mothers whose children were in the control group.     

Classroom effect on primary school students’ self-concept in literacy and mathematics

According to the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLP) model, high individual academic performance in a particular subject is related to high self-concept in that subject, whereas high average classroom performance has a negative effect on self-concept. In the present study, data from Finnish primary school students in grade 3 (504 students), grade 4 (487 students), and grade 6 (365 students) are used to examine whether the assumptions of the BFLP effect model hold already in primary school. Furthermore, we examined gender differences in BFLP effect. The results showed that as expected students’ high performance in literacy and in mathematics was related to high self-concept in the same subject. Support for the negative classroom effect was small and it depended on the school subject and student’s gender. That is, a high average classroom performance already in grade 3 had a negative but small effect on boys’ self-concept in mathematics. In literacy and among girls, only little support was found for the negative classroom effect.

     

Kindergarten pre-reading skills predict Grade 9 reading comprehension (PISA Reading) but fail to explain gender difference

Reading and Writing - One of the aims for compulsory education is to diminish or alleviate differences in children’s skills existing prior to school entry. However, a growing gender gap in...     

Classroom organization and teacher stress predict learning motivation in kindergarten children

This study examined the extent to which observed teaching practices and self-reported teacher stress predict children’s learning motivation and phonological awareness in kindergarten. The pre-reading skills of 1,268 children were measured at the beginning of their kindergarten year. Their learning motivation and phonological awareness were assessed in the following spring. Questionnaires measuring teacher stress were filled out by 137 kindergarten teachers. A pair of trained observers used the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pianta et al. 2008) to observe 49 kindergarten teachers from the whole sample on their emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. The results of multilevel modeling showed that low teacher stress and high classroom organization predicted high learning motivation in children and that the children’s learning motivation contributed to their level of phonological awareness. Moreover, children’s learning motivation mediated the association between teacher stress and children’s phonological awareness. The results emphasize the importance of teachers’ pedagogical well-being and classroom organizational quality for children’s learning motivation.     

The cross-lagged associations between classroom interactions and children’s achievement behaviors

This study examined the cross-lagged associations between the quality of classroom interactions and children’s behaviors in achievement situations. The achievement behaviors in challenging test situations of 166 Finnish children from 70 classrooms were rated by trained testers in grades 1 and 2. The quality of classroom interactions in terms of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support were observed in 25 classrooms (out of 70) in grades 1 and 2. The results of multilevel modeling showed that classroom teachers’ low emotional support predicted children’s subsequent high passive avoidance, whereas high classroom organization and instructional support predicted children’s high social dependence. Furthermore, the more children showed active task avoidance, the more emotional and instructional support and classroom organization teachers showed later on in the classroom. The findings emphasize the importance of warm and supportive classroom interactions for children’s adaptive achievement behaviors. The results also suggest that teachers adapt their classroom interactions with respect to children’s active task avoidance.     

A multidimensional adapted process model of teaching

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - In the present study, we aimed to specify the key competence domains perceived to be critical for the teaching profession and depict them as...     

Task avoidance, number skills and parental learning difficulties as predictors of poor response to instruction

Altogether 1,285 Finnish children were followed up from the end of kindergarten through Grade 1. All were nonreaders at school entrance. The aim was to delineate predictors of resistance to treatment that are evidenced as little or no reading progress during Grade 1. On the basis of reading achievement in Grade 1 spring, four subgroups were formed. These were fast, average, and slow reading acquisition and slow progress in both reading and math. Kindergarten spring scores in phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid naming, and number skills differentiated well among the groups, the latter two being more robust predictors. Task avoidance added to the prediction over and above cognitive skills. Its effect disappeared when parental history of reading and math difficulties was included in the equation. The present results depict poor response to instruction as a general learning problem rather than a specific reading difficulty. Poor response to instruction differs from dyslexia also in that treatment resisters start school with cognitive prerequisites that do not indicate severe reading and math problems.