Introduction
Teaching letters and sound fluency to preschool students may present certain difficulties.
Due to the young age of such pupils, they may need to understand some letter-sound correspondences and represent sounds with letters incorrectly (Block & Duke, 2015). Background research indicates that early reading accuracy depends on children’s sensitivity to letter-sound patterns (Deacon, 2012).
The research question is whether 30-minute sessions three times a week can significantly improve preschoolers’ letter-sound fluency. Since the participants and the researcher are well acquainted, it is anticipated that the study would proceed in a positive environment. Thus, the researcher can identify whether the intervention is successful based on participants with equal comprehension. The project is expected to last six weeks, and the analyses will be performed both during and after the intervention.
Review of Related Literature
Scholars and teachers have long recognized the problem of letter-sound confusion.
However, despite numerous research studies on this issue, an effective solution has yet to be found. Still, researchers analyze the problem from different angles, offering sufficient findings to help investigate the current aspect (Block & Duke, 2015; Deacon, 2012; González et al., 2015). The articles found concentrate on a number of important topics, including the challenges presented by the phonological and morphological quirks of English letters and sounds, strategies for improving preschoolers’ letter and sound fluency, and methods for evaluating reading proficiency (Clemens, Lai, Burke, & Wu, 2017; Dougherty Stahl, 2014).
Block and Duke (2015). Clemens et al. (2017) and Deacon (2012) investigate the confusion caused by letter names and their effect on reading literacy. The authors of both research stress that young learners’ sensitivity to letter-sound patterns is crucial to their reading development. Deacon (2012) remarks that phonological awareness plays a significant role in the accuracy of early word reading. According to the scholar, while many efforts have been made to analyze the promotion of speech sound mapping with the help of phonological skills, more needs to be known about the independence of phonological awareness from morphological and orthographic awareness. Deacon (2012) recommends conducting a thorough examination of reading literacy as influenced by morphological, phonological, and orthographic processing because all of these components have a combined effect on reading literacy.
Deacon (2012) and Block and Duke (2015) acknowledge the effect of orthographic awareness on children’s reading skills. However, Block and Duke’s (2015) study is practical rather than research-based. Scholars suggest various options for helping teachers make their students’ literacy development easier and more accessible. Block and Duke (2015) emphasize that although letter names can confuse children, English is quite systematic, and its orthography is complex for several justifiable reasons. Block and Duke (2012) conclude that despite difficulties in teaching and learning English sounds, teachers should predict their pupils’ problems and devise solutions to them.
In their research, Clemens et al. (2017) focus on the contribution of LNF and LSF to the reading development of young students. Scholars specifically point out that a more thorough understanding of these fluencies can improve instructional judgments. According to Clements et al. (2017), children’s reading fluency may be uniquely predicted by the beginning state of LNF and LSF as well as their growth in these areas. This suggests that both LNF and LSF have independent effects on text reading abilities. Along with direct dependence, an indirect connection is also evident.
Between these measures, the authors conclude that fluency with sounds and letters is a crucial predictor of consecutive reading skills development and is thus regularly evaluated in pre-kindergarten children (Clemens et al., 2017). Academics stress the importance of these tests for improving reading skills development.
Besides recognizing sound-letter confusion and the need for its elimination, scholars also pay attention to increasing letter and sound fluency. González et al. (2015) and Block and Duke (2012) provide strategies to lessen children’s confusion during the learning process. Block and Duke (2012) note that the primary aspect that teachers should bear in mind is that equal time and attention should be given to teaching the sounds associated with a letter and teaching the letter name. Additionally, it is strongly advised against requiring youngsters to learn spelling correctly at a young age. Rather, young learners should be encouraged to approximate and invent spelling, promoting their literacy development (Block & Duke, 2012). Lastly, researchers point out that pointing students toward related terms significantly improves fluency.
Research by González et al. (2015) investigates ways to increase reading fluency in students with dyslexia. Having applied the method of training letter-speech sound integration, scholars conclude that this approach leads to an increased reading speed and decreased spelling mistakes. Even though González et al. (2015)’s study focuses on dyslexic kids, some of their strategies can be applied to a regular classroom where students struggle to distinguish between letters and sounds.
The third aspect discussed in the located sources concerns the evaluation of children’s knowledge. Results presented by Dougherty Stahl (2014), Piasta, Phillips, Williams, Bowles, and Anthony (2016), and ProjectCentral (2003) suggest that systematic instruction and formative assessment are needed to increase the development of letter and sound fluency. Scholars note that timely identification of mistakes can help correct them within a shorter time.
Method
Participants
The participants of this study will include two pre-kindergarten students from a public South Florida elementary school. The school’s population includes 88% African American, 10% Hispanic, and 2% Caucasian. The two students in the sample are male and female. The two sample participants are in the same classroom, and the teacher has identified both as having difficulties in letter-sound fluency. Students will be selected non-randomly using convenience sampling. Convenience sampling is also known as haphazard or accidental, and it includes using individuals available when performing the study (Mills& Gay, 2016). The ages of the participants will be approximately the same. Children under the age of five will ideally be included in the study.
Instruments
The instrument employed in the current project is the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading.
The second Edition (DAR-2) was suggested by Roswell, Chall, Curtis, and Kearns in 2005 (Unruh & McKellar, 2017). The teacher can assess students’ phonological and print awareness, word analysis, spelling, and basic sight word recognition skills with the aid of DAR-2 (Unruh & McKellar, 2017). More importantly, DAR-2 helps the teacher assess the recognition of letters and their sounds, which is the main object of the current study. The present project, DAR-2, will be employed to evaluate children’s sound and letter recognition.
Procedure
The first baseline assessment will be conducted during the first week of the semester. The students will receive the proper letter instruction thrice a week for 15 minutes for three weeks. Data will be collected at the end of each intervention week. The final baseline data will be collected after the intervention is complete. At least three data points will be collected for the final baseline phase.
Design
The study will have an A-B design, which allows the researcher to make baseline measurements until stability is formed repetitively and then provide a treatment phase. Moreover, a second baseline phase can be applied to create an improved design. The design will support the purpose of the research since it will allow for assessing the success of the suggested intervention.
Data Analyses
Data (analysis will be based on visual inspection (analysis of the graphic presentation of results) (Mills & Gay, 2016). The assessment will be performed after each session for the research and on the same days after regular lessons for the participants. With these assessments in hand, the instructor will use the visual to compare them. The research project will last for weeks, at the end of which the researcher will compare and contrast the letter-sound fluency level of participants.
Results
The study results show that the letter sound fluency intervention improved the phonological skills of preschoolers. After three weeks of the study, it is evident that the participants improved their letter sound fluency skills. The participants recognized and pronounced individual letters better, which plays a critical role in the early reading development of the kids. In addition, the results suggest that the intervention was effective for both male and female participants, which means it benefits a wide range of preschoolers.
DAR-2 assessment was an objective and standard tool to measure the participants’ letter-sound fluency skills. It enhanced preciseness in measuring their skills and promoted accuracy in determining the effectiveness of the study. The study used an A-B-A subject design, and its dependent variable was letter-sound fluency, while the independent variable was the ability to isolate certain phonemes. The research question examined whether teaching letter and sound fluency to preschoolers may present certain difficulties.
Discussion
The study involved two participants identified by their teacher as having difficulties in letter-sound fluency. The sample was selected using convenience, a useful method in explorative studies with small sample sizes. The DAR-2 was a valid and reliable tool for assessing children’s reading skills. The study employed an A-B-A subject design where baseline measurements were taken before the intervention (A phase), followed by the intervention phase (B phase), and finally, a post-intervention phase to assess any changes in letter-sound fluency (A phase). This kind of design is useful in examining the effects of an intervention on an individual or small group of participants. In addition, it allows researchers to determine the effect of the intervention on the dependent variables.
The data analysis was analyzed based on a visual inspection of the results graphic presentation, which is a valid method because it captures individual differences between respondents (Mills & Gay, 2016). Further, the study showed that the intervention was effective because it improved preschoolers’ letter-sound recognition. Therefore, the study is significant to educators because it informs the instructional practices and designs interventions relevant to improving learners’ letter-sound fluency. Additionally, this study is a basis for other researchers to conduct more rigorous studies regarding the effectiveness of letter-sound fluency interventions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the study aimed to investigate the effect of a letter-sound fluency intervention on preschoolers’ phonological skills. The study results showed that the intervention was effective in improving the students’ letter-sound fluency skills because there was an improvement in the scores on the DAR assessment tool. The A-B-A design allowed multiple baseline measurements before and after the intervention.
The results imply that early intervention measures targeting letter-sound fluency would improve learners’ phonological skills. Improved phonological skills lead to strong reading skills among children, essential for academic success. In addition, the study is important in demonstrating the significance of evidence-based practices, such as DAR-2 assessments, in informing instructional decision-making and monitoring the learner’s progress.
One of the study’s limitations is that the sample size needed to be bigger, which limited the generalizability of the results. Another limitation is convenience sampling, which introduces bias in the selection process. Lastly, the study only measured the intervention’s short-term effects, making it unclear whether their effects would last long. Therefore, future studies can be carried out with larger sample sizes and more rigorous designs to provide more reliable results regarding the effectiveness of the intervention.
References
Block, M. K., & Duke, N. K. (2015). Letter names can cause confusion and other things to know about letter-sound relationships. Young children, 70(1), 84-91.
Clemens, N. H., Lai, M. H. C., Burke, M., & Wu, J.-Y. (2017). Interrelations of growth in letter naming and sound fluency in kindergarten and implications for subsequent reading fluency. School Psychology Review, 46(3), 272–287).
Deacon, S. H. (2012). Sounds, letters, and meanings: The independent influences of phonological, morphological and orthographic skills on early word reading accuracy. Journal of Research in Reading, 35(4), 456–475.
Dougherty Stahl, K. (2014). New insights about letter learning. The Reading Teacher, 68(4), 261–265.
González, G. F., Žarić, G., Tijms, J., Bonte, M., Blomert, L., & van der Molen, M. W. (2015). A randomized controlled trial on the beneficial effects of training letter-speech sound integration on reading fluency in children with dyslexia. PLoS ONE, 10(12), e0143914.
Mills, G. E., & Gay, L. R. (2016). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and applications (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Piasta, S. B., Phillips, B. M., Williams, J. M., Bowles, R. P., & Anthony, J. L. (2016). Measuring your children’s alphabet knowledge: Development and validation of brief letter-sound knowledge assessments. The Elementary School Journal, 116(4), 523–548.
Project Central. (2003). Cool tools: Informal reading assessments. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Department of Education.
Unruh, S., & McKellar, N. A. (2017). Assessment and intervention for English language learners: Translating research into practice. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.