Abstract
Abstract
This thesis followed the literacy development of two cohorts of children (N = 102) from school entry to the end of their second year of school in New Zealand (NZ). Children in Cohort 2 (n = 58) experienced the COVID-19 lockdown during their second year of school. Additional analyses explored contributors to resilience in literacy development of this subset whose schooling was disrupted by the 2020 lockdown.
Study 1. Researchers emphasise the importance of early identification of children with literacy difficulties. Study 1 investigated the prediction of reading-related skills after two years of school from oral language skills at school entry and developing early literacy skills in beginning literacy instruction and whether predictive relationships are consistent across levels of reading progress.
Correlational and traditional multivariate regression analyses found oral language skills at school entry and indices of developing early literacy skills derived from progress monitoring across the first six months of school predicted theoretically-relevant indices of reading after two years of school, though quantile regression analyses indicated some predictors only contributed to some levels of follow-up performance. Specifically, developing early decoding skills predicted two-year reading comprehension for those with lower performance whereas oral language added to the prediction for more proficient readers. Findings support the predictive validity of the methods utilised to measure developing early literacy skills (ELS) and help clarify predictive relations of different skills for different reading-related outcomes and levels of performance.
Study 2. Emerging research suggests varying impacts to children’s learning associated with COVID-related school closures, though literacy-specific research with young primary school children is limited within NZ. This study explored impacts of the 2020 lockdown on children’s literacy progress at follow-up, and whether literacy-learning activities during lockdown contributed to their progress.
Comparative analyses revealed children in Cohort 2 progressed over 2020, and their progress did not differ statistically from Cohort 1 who had not experienced lockdown. Relations between at-home learning activities and two-year literacy outcomes varied as a function of children’s early-learning skill, at-home learning activity, and outcome measure. Negative bivariate relations suggest parents may provide, and children ask for, more literacy support when literacy skills are less-well developed. However, children with better early pre- reading progress and who received more parent literacy teaching or requested more parental support/ initiated more learning tasks, sometimes had better literacy outcomes. Moreover, child participation in school learning and reading for pleasure positively contributed to some literacy outcomes. Child participation moderated some ELS predictors, suggesting increased engagement in school learning may offset early differences in ELS development.