This study sought to respond to calls for increased attention to syntactic instruction, including instruction that is responsive to students' literacy needs and linguistic resources. Through a mixed-methods study, we sought to explore whether a syntactic intervention that focused on building students' metalanguage and metatalk was effective in supporting syntactic knowledge. In this study, 49 sixth graders in an urban middle school in the western US were assigned to one of two conditions: a treatment condition receiving syntactic instruction (n = 25) or an alternate condition (n = 24). Although these results are exploratory, quantitative data analysis suggested that students in the treatment condition showed a deeper understanding of targeted syntactic constructions (i.e., appositive phrases) within connected text than students in the alternate condition (p = .04). In addition, qualitative analysis of interview data suggested that students in the treatment condition leveraged metalanguage and metatalk taught in the intervention to evaluate the function and purpose of syntactic features. While more research is needed, these results suggest the potential value of syntactic instruction in supporting students' syntactic knowledge, including the value of leveraging metalanguage and metatalk specifically.
Response to Intervention (RTI) implementation can provide teachers with collective opportunities to learn about data-based decision making (DBDM) and increase their self-efficacy around this process. This study explores teacher awareness of RTI for reading implementation and its relation to self-efficacy for DBDM. Survey data comprised 1,000 teachers in 63 elementary schools across 12 states. Administrators of these 63 schools were interviewed using a standard interview protocol. Using a multiple indicator multiple cause model, we found awareness of RTI to be related to self-efficacy in DBDM. Teachers providing Tier 2 support and teachers in schools where paraeducators provided tiered instruction had higher awareness. Administrators' description of RTI was not related to teacher awareness. These results suggest higher teacher involvement in RTI policies and procedures might provide vicarious and mastery experiences around DBDM that lead to increased self-efficacy in DBDM.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and amid rising social and economic challenges, many Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) children, particularly those identified as at-risk for early literacy difficulties and related educational challenges, are entering school with underdeveloped social-emotional competencies, limited language exposure, and reduced access to nurturing learning environments. This mixed-method study examines how emotionally responsive teaching through positive storybook reading initiatives is associated with changes in the social-ecological resilience of Pre-K children (n = 278) at risk for early literacy difficulties and related educational challenges. It also explores how pre-service teachers (n = 12) implement this literacy-based intervention to support these children's emotional well-being and foundational reading skills. Findings indicated statistically significant increases in emotional regulation, peer relationships, and sense of belonging following the intervention, with variations linked to school context and implementation. Reflections from pre-service teachers suggested that integrating social-emotional learning with literacy instruction was associated with the development of empathy, perseverance, and problem-solving skills. Overall, the findings support the view that resilience may be conceptualized as a teachable capacity that can be nurtured through developmentally appropriate storytelling, highlighting a scalable approach for supporting the well-being and academic success of vulnerable young learners.
The main goal of this research was to examine the relationships among student characteristics, environmental factors, and component skills that influence reading comprehension among second-grade multilingual English language learners from Kenya. The study compares the predictive relationships among reading component skills, students, and environmental characteristics between learners with below average reading ability and those with average reading ability. Participants included 628 second-grade students in a randomized controlled trial who completed a series of literacy assessments at the end of their school year. Data analysis comprised a series of Zero-inflated Poisson regression models, with each reading component as the outcome variable. Predictor variables included gender, treatment status, age, socioeconomic status, school location, and various component reading skills, as identified in prior literature. The results from the count models showed that treatment, letter-sound knowledge, and vocabulary significantly influenced phonological awareness. Letter-sound knowledge and vocabulary significantly influenced decoding fluency. Decoding and vocabulary knowledge significantly predicted text reading fluency. Finally, letter-sound fluency, vocabulary, and text reading fluency predicted reading comprehension when all variables were included in the same model. The Zero-inflated model indicated that poor vocabulary knowledge increased the likelihood of zero scores on phonological awareness and reading comprehension. Increasing age was negatively correlated with phonological awareness and reading comprehension. The findings highlight that these skills are interconnected and crucial for reading comprehension. This study adds to the existing literature and offers pedagogical insights for literacy and language activities targeting English language learners in multilingual contexts.
Math research has shown that vocabulary is an integral part of mathematical comprehension and proficiency, especially for language learners and students with learning difficulties. Mathematical vocabulary is largely based on the Greek and Latin layers of the English language, and as such includes a depth of Greek and Latin morpheme roots. Teaching morphemes and morphological word analysis has been proven to significantly impact student comprehension. However, to link these powerful literacy strategies with math instruction, teachers must know which morphemes are contained within their grade-level math vocabulary. This content analysis study presents the findings from investigating two grades' sample questions from a national standardized test's mathematical vocabulary. Findings include frequency analyses for Greek and Latin morpheme types, lists of high-utility morphemes for each mathematical domain, and recommendations for cross-curricular connections and teaching strategies. Teachers can use this study's results to plan morphology-focused vocabulary instruction for mathematics.
Writing is a cognitively demanding skill that draws heavily on self-regulatory processes, yet how domain-general self-regulation and task-specific self-assessment jointly relate to writing outcomes in students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a population with well-documented executive functioning challenges, remains poorly understood. This study examined: (a) writing performance at the microstructure (linguistic) and macrostructure (discourse) levels, (b) self-reported SRL and post-task self-assessment, and (c) whether ADHD moderates the SRL-writing relationship. The study involved 59 students in Grades 3-8 with and without ADHD. Each participant completed two digital writing tasks, an SRL questionnaire, and post-task writing self-assessments. Students with ADHD scored significantly lower than peers on both micro- and macrostructure writing (Cohen's d =.74 and .73, respectively) and endorsed lower post-task self-assessment for task fulfillment and organization/coherence, consistent with their lower macrostructure writing scores. Self-reported SRL did not differ by group. SRL was positively associated with writing performance, but moderation by ADHD status was inconclusive given the modest sample size. Findings support pairing domain-general SRL self-report with task-specific self-assessment when characterizing writing outcomes in students with ADHD, and point to macrostructure-level demands as a particular area of difficulty.
Sentence writing is a critical early writing skill but intervention research in this area has typically lagged behind other aspects of writing, particularly for students with or at-risk for writing difficulties. This multiple baseline across participants single-case study evaluated the effect of a sentence writing intervention on the writing of early elementary grade struggling writers. The three second-grade participants received daily lessons on how to identify parts of a complete sentence (who/what, action, capital letter, punctuation) and use them in their own writing. Results indicated a functional relationship between the intervention and sentence writing for two out of three participants with a large to very large effect on participants' ability to identify and use sentence parts in writing as well as a moderate to large effect on participants' correct and incorrect word sequences in their writing. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been rising considerably among children worldwide. As a developmental disability involving restricted behaviors and interests, and difficulties with social interaction, the literacy development among children with ASD has been under-researched. The present study investigated the influence of home literacy environment on oral vocabulary acquisition among kindergarteners with ASD in China. Thirty-five children with ASD and thirty-two typically developing (TD) children were recruited. Results demonstrated that, compared with TD children, children with ASD showed lower engagement in home literacy practices. Additionally, home literacy environment was significantly associated with oral vocabulary development among children with ASD, and the use of technology for literacy practices at home was a significant predictor for the performance of oral vocabulary among children with ASD. Findings from this study extended the scope of literacy development among children with ASD and provided insights into the influence of home literacy environment on vocabulary acquisition among children with ASD.
This study explored students' perceptions of multiple combinations of mastery-oriented and performance-oriented classroom goal structure (CGS) profiles based on specific instructional dimensions (i.e., task, autonomy/time, group, and recognition/evaluation) in reading classes and examined the associations between these profiles and trichotomous achievement goals, self-efficacy, and reading performance. The participants included 843 eighth-grade students from Beijing, mainland China. Questionnaires were used to collect students' perceptions of instructional dimensions, achievement goals, and self-efficacy, whereas reading performance was derived from standardized test scores obtained two months prior to the administration of the questionnaire. Latent profile analysis revealed three distinct profiles: Profile 1, "Performance-evaluation & group-dominant CGS" (12%); Profile 2, "Balanced-moderate CGS" (34%); and Profile 3, "Mastery-dominant CGS" (54%). The results obtained via the Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars approach revealed that the students in Profile 3 obtained significantly higher values in terms of individual achievement goals, self-efficacy, and reading performance than the students in the other two profiles did. Mediation analyses further revealed that compared with the students in Profile 1, students in Profiles 2 and 3 exhibited higher self-efficacy and reading performance through the indirect associations through mastery goals. This quantitative study provides empirical support for mastery-oriented instruction and demonstrates the adaptive role of mastery goals in the East Asian reading domain.
Background: Enhancing early language skills that play an essential role in later literacy, remains a significant challenge in preschool education. Addressing this issue requires the development of programs specifically designed to foster these skills in preschool children. The present pilot study examines the impact of an integrated program on syllabic awareness and vocabulary skills in typically developing preschool children within a school setting. Methods: Two groups, an intervention group and a comparison group, were compared. The intervention group underwent the program for three months, while the comparison group participated in regular school activities aimed at improving these same skills. The participants were evaluated using the Syllabic Awareness Evaluation Test and the Semantic Type Metalinguistic Skills Test at three different times (pre-intervention, post-intervention and three months after the intervention). Results: Our findings demonstrated that the intervention group showed greater gains than the comparison group, with differences emerging in phonological awareness at the end of the intervention and in semantic skills three months after it concluded. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the effectiveness of the integrated program in improving syllabic and semantic metalinguistic skills in preschool children relative to focused interventions. This implies the potential for intervention programs capable of integrating language skills, which are known to be relevant for later literacy.
This study examined the role of reading anxiety (RA) in 3rd grade children's reading performance, alongside recognized cognitive predictors, such as phonological awareness (PA), naming speed (RAN), and verbal working memory (VWM). To enable this investigation, the 20-item version of the Reading Anxiety Scale (RAS-20) was first adapted for European Portuguese, as no validated instrument was previously available. Participants included 109 Portuguese children (61 girls and 48 boys; MTotal = 8.96 years, SD = .32) assessed on non-verbal reasoning, trait anxiety, RA, reading comprehension, text reading fluency, PA, RAN, and VWM. To examine the factor structure of the adapted scale, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the original model was first conducted showing inadequate fit. This was followed by exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and a subsequent CFA of the refined model. The final 16-item solution demonstrated acceptable fit, supporting a three-factor structure and providing evidence of reliability and preliminary support for construct validity for the Portuguese version (RAS-P). Hierarchical regression analyses showed that RA contributed significantly to reading comprehension and text reading fluency when considered independently. However, when cognitive predictors were included in the models, the contribution of RA decreased but remained significant for reading comprehension, whereas it became non-significant for text reading fluency. These findings suggest that RA plays a complementary, but not primary, role in reading performance. This study contributes to a more integrated understanding of emotional and cognitive influences on reading performance and provides a validated tool for assessing RA in European Portuguese children.
Although writing attitudes have been found to positively predict writing achievement and writing interventions have been found to enhance writing attitudes, existing research has predominately focused on evaluating writing attitudes before and after the implementation of writing interventions. In this study, 45 fourth-grade students participated in a six-week performance feedback writing intervention, with writing attitudes assessed both pre- and post-intervention as well as throughout the intervention implementation period. Results indicated that students' writing attitudes were moderate and declined at both the onset and conclusion of the intervention. Contrary to the initial expectations, improvements in writing proficiency were negatively associated with writing attitudes. These findings suggest that students' attitudes may be particularly sensitive to feedback effects, highlighting important directions for future research and practice aimed at improving writing proficiency in emerging writers.
Literature plays a central role in many L2 curricula around the world, offering rich linguistic input, fostering interpretive and aesthetic engagement, and supporting deeper cultural and critical understanding. This study investigated how reading motivation, self-reported use of reading strategies, tolerance of ambiguity, attitudes toward literature, and overall English proficiency jointly related to upper-secondary school learners' literary competence in an EFL context. A sample of 264 Norwegian VG1 students completed a literary assessment based on a short story and a battery of affective, cognitive, and experiential measures. Using a moderated mediation framework, the data analysis revealed that reading motivation exerted a positive direct effect on participants' assessment scores (i.e., literary competence, measured as a performance outcome). However, reading motivation was negatively associated with self-reported reading strategy use, producing a small suppressor effect, and the magnitude of both pathways depended on overall proficiency: the positive direct effect weakened at higher proficiency, while the negative indirect effect intensified. Tolerance of ambiguity, literary attitudes, and extramural literary engagement also contributed uniquely to literary competence. These findings suggest a developmental shift from conscious, effortful reading strategy use toward more tacit processing with respect to specifically literary reading as proficiency increases, underscoring the need for differentiated pedagogical approaches.
Reading efficiently and accurately is critical to reading comprehension. Determining what words are important for readers to know and be able to read accurately to support passage-specific comprehension is less understood and has been conceptualized differently throughout the literature. Two ways of conceptualizing word importance, word relevance, as measured by Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF), and word frequency, were the focus of the current study. 191 adolescent participants (97 males and 94 females, 9-14years old) read two informational passages and the number of errors was recorded. Each word's frequency and TF-IDF per passage was determined. Random effects logistic regression models were used to determine if word frequency and word relevance metrics independently predicted the number of errors for each passage. To examine how word frequency and relevance impact passage-specific reading comprehension, each error was classified by frequency and relevance level (e.g., low relevance-mid frequency) and then the number of errors in each category was used to predict passage comprehension outcomes. Results revealed that the two concepts of word importance are not redundant in predicting reading errors. The number of errors on low frequency-high relevance words predicted passage-specific comprehension across passages (β = -1.04, p = 0.04; β = -1.28, p = 0.025). Word relevance is a viable metric to conceptualize word importance in texts. Considering word relevance in addition to frequency could have research and practical implications related to passage comprehension.
Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often face co-occurring challenges in phonological working memory (WM) and emotion regulation (ER), yet early interventions typically focus narrowly on language development. This study investigated the impact of integrating dialogic reading (DR) into Responsive Teaching (RT), an empirically validated caregiver-mediated intervention, on multiple developmental domains in children with DLD. Thirty children aged 48 to 72 months were randomly assigned to either an RT-only control group or an experimental group receiving both DR and RT. Standardized assessments were administered at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 12-week follow-up to evaluate receptive language (TELD), phonological WM (nonword repetition), and ER (Emotion Regulation Checklist). Findings revealed that children in the DR+RT group showed significantly greater improvements in receptive language, phonological WM, and ER compared to the RT-only group. Notably, WM gains emerged immediately post-intervention, while gains in language and ER became more evident during follow-up. These results align with developmental models of executive functioning and self-regulation and support the use of DR as a multi-domain, caregiver-mediated approach to early intervention.
Reading comprehension is a critical skill for academic success and lifelong learning. This study examines the impact of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies in Reading with Differentiation (PALS-RD) on the reading performance of fourth-grade students in the Rio Grande Valley, a predominantly bilingual and low-income community (50.0% Female, 97.1% Hispanic/Latinx, 90% qualifying for free or reduced lunch). The PALS-RD program, an adaptation of the original PALS in Reading, incorporates technology-based progress monitoring and morphology instruction to support language development. A randomized controlled trial was conducted during the 2023-2024 school year, involving 34 teachers and 524 students across 10 elementary schools. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of PALS-RD in improving reading achievement and to compare the reading gains of PALS-RD students to pre-pandemic peers. Results indicate that while there were no main effects on reading fluency and comprehension, students with below-average comprehension at the start of the study showed significant gains. Specifically, these students demonstrated greater gains in reading comprehension compared to similar peers who did not participate in the PALS-RD program. Additionally, PALS-RD students demonstrated reading gains comparable to pre-pandemic peers, suggesting the program's potential in mitigating learning loss. These findings underscore the importance of the Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) program and its differentiated instruction in effectively addressing the diverse needs of students in high-need contexts, ensuring that all students receive the support they need to succeed.
This study systematically examined how different types of regulated learning (i.e., self-regulation, co-regulation, and socially shared regulation) develop over time in different proficiency 11th-grade EFL pairs with ADHD during collaborative writing tasks. Using a maximal variation design, the study focused on two EFL pairs with ADHD, one high-proficiency and one low-proficiency, selected based on their pretest performance in terms of writing complexity, accuracy, and fluency. During 16 weeks, the pairs were asked to write eight collaborative tasks during which their interactions were recorded (16 h). After each task, learners submitted reflective logs, and at the end of the study, they participated in semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that co-regulation was the dominant type of regulation in both pairs' productions over time. Then, the high-proficiency pair increasingly demonstrated socially shared regulation, while the low-proficiency pair relied more on self-regulation. In addition, different developmental paths were reported for each pair in terms of the sub-categories of each type of regulation: planning (setting goals, clarifying task conditions, deciding on how to carry on with the task, and assigning roles and responsibilities), monitoring (assessing own or partner's understanding, monitoring progress, questioning to check understanding, and realizing a mistake), and evaluating (reviewing the group's entire progress). The reflective logs highlighted the learners' awareness of their regulated learning process; the interviews, coded through Engestrom's Activity Theory, highlighted differences in the way the pairs perceived the components of the collaborative activity.
Writing difficulties associated with dyslexia are often characterized by problems with fluent and accurate transcription, which can impede effective written expression. This raises the question of whether speech recognition technology, i.e. Speech-to-Text technology (STT), can support primary school students with dyslexia by reducing transcription demands, and, consequently, enhancing text production and writing motivation. Although prior research suggests advantages of STT over conventional modalities, evidence remains limited, particularly regarding its impact on the development of text production skills and potential transfer between modalities. This controlled intervention study, conducted in Switzerland, involved 107 Grade 5 students with dyslexia and compared one group using STT for text production with two groups producing text by hand across an 18-week intervention. The study was complemented by interviews with 12 participating teachers, speech and language pathologists and special needs teachers. The findings reveal no significant effect of STT use on text production skills or writing motivation that transferred to the handwriting modality. However, texts produced with STT were longer and more accurate than those produced by hand, and students demonstrated gains in fluency from pre- to post-test within the STT condition. These results suggest that while STT use may not enhance the acquisition of text production skills more than handwriting, it holds strong potential as an assistive technology to support text production for students with dyslexia.
Creative writing provides students with the opportunity to freely express their emotions and thoughts by using their imagination and original expression skills. When the creative writing process is supported by various writing strategies and constructive feedback is provided by the teacher on students' work, students may become more willing to engage in writing activities. In this way, students may gradually write more fluently over time. For students who write fluently and enjoy writing, writing activities may eventually cease to be perceived as a difficulty. Writing anxiety may negatively affect students' writing performance, whereas creative writing activities may reduce writing anxiety while supporting the development of writing fluency and overall writing achievement. The main aim of the present study is to examine the effect of creative writing strategies on improving writing fluency and reducing writing anxiety among ten-year-old fourth-grade primary school students. In this quantitative study, a quasi-experimental design was employed. A simple random sampling method was used to determine the study group (experimental group = 30, control group = 30). The writing anxiety scale and creative writing prompts were used to collect the data during the approximately six-week implementation period. The results of the study indicated that the writing fluency of the students in the experimental group improved through the use of creative writing strategies. Similarly, students' writing anxiety showed a decreasing tendency.
