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Research Article

The impact of an early intervention on vocabulary, phonological awareness, and letter–sound knowledge among Spanish-speaking kindergarteners

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ABSTRACT

This study examined the impact of two different interventions: Phonological Awareness PA–only versus PA, vocabulary, and Morphological Awareness (MA) on Spanish-speaking kindergarteners’ language and literacy skills. We took measures on PA, vocabulary, letter-name and sound knowledge, and MA. Children in the comprehensive intervention condition showed significant growth from pretest to posttest on all measures and an overall vocabulary knowledge advantage over children in the PA-only intervention. Children in the PA condition showed significant growth on vocabulary out of context, letter-name sound knowledge, initial syllable identity, and rhyme identity. Results support the integration of PA, vocabulary, and MA in kindergarten interventions. The importance of including MA in kindergarten vocabulary interventions and the feasibility of classroom interventions by trained teachers are discussed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) [PIP 2013-2016]

Notes on contributors

María Elsa Porta

María Elsa Porta is a researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Argentina). She carried out four projects assessing the effects of linguistic intervention programs on reading achievement among Spanish-speaking children from low-income homes. She is the main author of numerous articles.

Gloria Ramirez

Gloria Ramirez is an associate professor at Thompson Rivers University, Toronto, Canadá. Her research interests are understanding children´s biliteracy and bilingual development and the mechanisms that facilitate the transfer of skills across languages. She is the author of numerous articles and coauthor of a book.

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