Investigating an In-School Word-Families Flash Card Intervention to Facilitate Word Recognition in Kindergarteners

• In Event: Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: Examining Literacy Issues and Practices in Elementary School

Abstract

This study investigated whether color-coded word-families flashcards can facilitate kindergarten word recognition. Word-families have words that share a rime (vowel and remaining consonant sounds) but different onsets (initial consonant sounds). The rime was shown in black to indicate that all words with this spelling pattern have the same phonological representation. Different colors were used for initial consonants, indicating the sound changes from word to word. Children were pre- and post-tested on word recognition and phonological awareness (PA), matched on PA pretest scores, and then pairs were randomly assigned to intervention or control. Results suggest that word-families flashcards can facilitate word recognition development given a sufficient amount of practice, and that struggling learners may require extensive practice to experience benefits.

Authors

• Cheryl C. Durwin, Southern Connecticut State University

• Dina L. Moore, Southern Connecticut State University