| Abstract: | A group of 37 8‐year‐old children who had scored below the 20th percentile on a national reading test were offered intensive reading instruction in groups of four during Grade 3 in two periods (10 and 5 weeks). The intervention was delivered by six teachers who received training in a comprehensive reading intervention programme called Epi‐Meta‐Mastery‐Approach, designed on the basis of the theory of metalinguistic development ( Gombert, 1992 ). A control group of 36 children received increased instructional intensity during the same periods. The intervention group showed gains in comparison with the control group on measures of word and non‐word reading and spelling. |
