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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
This article examines the effect of literacy teaching practices on the reading ability of first grade pupils in
Portuguese, a semi-transparent orthography. First grade teachers (N=267) self-reported their literacy
teaching practices through a questionnaire. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three groups with
different practices – Language Experience, Phonic, and Balanced. Eight teachers from each group were
randomly selected for classroom observation (N=24) to gain more in-depth information about their
practices, namely by analysing classroom management procedures and materials used. Their pupils’
reading abilities were assessed at the beginning and end of the first grade (N=465) through two tasks:
word reading and comprehension. Multivariate analysis of covariance, controlling for mother’s educational
levels, showed that pupils of balanced teachers had better results than pupils in the other two
groups. These results are in line with those described in the English literature, pointing out that the key
term for describing successful literacy teaching practices is balance: balance in classroom management
procedures, from more teacher-centred to more pupil-centred; balance in different types of reading
materials, from more authentic materials to materials designed to work on specific skills; and balance
between explicit instruction in grapheme-phoneme correspondences and reading and writing authentic
texts.
Description
Keywords
First grade Reading achievement Reading instruction Teaching practices
Citation
L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 18, 1-24 Doi: 10.17239/L1ESLL-2017.17.01.03
Publisher
International Association for Research in L1 Education