Abstract

Despite being a critical emergent literacy skill and an indicator of risk for later reading difficulties, relatively little is known about how alphabet knowledge develops over time. This study utilized a person-centered approach and longitudinal sample of 998 preschool-aged children (M = 56.50 months old) to examine patterns in letter name and letter-sound knowledge development, associations with child, home/family, and classroom factors, and kindergarten readiness outcomes. Results indicated three profiles: children demonstrating initially High knowledge and little growth before mastery, children demonstrating initially low knowledge but Growing trajectories toward mastery, and children demonstrating initially low knowledge whose growth was substantially Delayed. Multiple factors distinguished the High profile but few distinguished the Growing versus Delayed profiles; all differed in kindergarten readiness. Implications concerning risk, resiliency, and assessment/instruction are discussed.

摘要

尽管这是一项重要的新兴识字技能，也是以后阅读困难的风险指标，但人们对字母知识如何随着时间的推移而发展知之甚少。本研究采用以人为本的方法和 998 名学龄前儿童（M  = 56.50 个月大）的纵向样本来检查字母名称和字母发音知识发展的模式、与儿童、家庭/家庭和课堂因素的关联，以及幼儿园准备结果。结果显示了三个概况：儿童最初表现出高知识和在掌握之前几乎没有成长，儿童表现出最初的知识低，但逐渐走向掌握的轨迹，以及儿童表现出最初的低知识，其增长显着延迟。多个因素区分了高配置文件，但很少有区分增长配置文件和延迟配置文件的因素；幼儿园准备情况各不相同。讨论了有关风险、弹性和评估/指导的影响。