Not as Easy as ABC: Factors Affecting Early Alphabet Knowledge

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Early alphabet knowledge (AK) includes multiple components, e.g., distinguishing graphemes, producing letter names and sounds, increasing automaticity. AK is a key predictor of decoding, spelling, and reading comprehension in elementary school (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008). Children who do not quickly master this skill are at risk for longer-term reading difficulties (Catts et al., 2002; Kaplan & Walpole, 2005). Yet little research has been done to inform the design of early alphabet instruction (Piasta, 2014).

The purpose of this study was to understand the ease of learning different letters of the English alphabet. We tested nine hypotheses about the likelihood of knowing a particular letter: (a) letter is the child’s first initial, (b) letter is in the child’s first name, (c) alphabetical order, (d) frequency in print, (e) order presented in the curriculum, (f) developmental order of spoken phoneme production, (g) phonological transparency of the letter name, (h) visual similarity of upper and lower case forms, and (i) other visual features of the grapheme. These hypotheses addressed four general factors: first name advantage (a-b), input frequency (c-e), phonological cues (f-g), and visual cues (h-i).

Participants were 406 Head Start children (M = 45 months, 21% dual language learners, PPVT M = 91). Measured collected at the end of the school year were knowledge of upper case letter names (UCLN), lower case letter names (LCLCN), and lower case letter sounds (LCLS); vocabulary (PPVT); and phonological awareness (Get It, Got It, Go!).

The binary dependent measures were correct/incorrect response for each letter on UCLN, UCLS, and LCLS. Data were analyzed using two-level (i.e., letters nested within a child) multivariate logistic mixed models because the three outcome variables were matched and dependent each other. Independent variables were age, dual language status, PPVT, phonological awareness, and codes operationalizing each hypothesis (e.g., 1-26 for alphabetical order). Continuous variables were mean-centered.

For results see Figure 1 and Table 1. For brevity only odds ratios and significance levels of regression coefficients are shown. All hypotheses received at least partial support. As suggested by the size of the odds ratios, the strongest effects were for first initial, first name, and case similarity. For example, the odds of a child knowing an upper case letter name were 36 times higher if that letter was his or her first initial. The odds of knowing the name or sound of a lower case letter were 4 to almost 8 times higher, respectively, if the upper and lower case forms of that letter were highly similar, e.g., o, c, x. Other aspects of visual similarity and letter name transparency had strong effects on certain forms of AK.

Results suggest that children use multiple sources of information, i.e., personal relevance, input frequency, phonological cues, and visual features to master the task of learning letter shapes, names, and sounds. Instructional implications include starting with letters in the child’s name, allocating more time to difficult letters, helping children attend to cues that aid letter learning, and the order in which to introduce letters and case.

Authors

• Barbara D DeBaryshe, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  Presenting Author

• Seongah Im, University of Hawaii
  Non-Presenting Author