Habilidades prelectoras en niños uruguayos de diferente nivel socioeconómico / Differential pre-literacy skills development in Uruguayan children from different socioeconomic backgrounds

Resumen El objetivo del presente estudio fue comparar las habilidades prelectoras en 50 preescolares uruguayos de 5 años de edad de diferente nivel socioeconómico (NSE) y analizar el impacto de estas habilidades en el aprendizaje de la lectura. Para ello, se evaluó a los niños mediante pruebas de vocabulario receptivo, conciencia fonológica, conocimiento sobre el nombre y el sonido de las letras, y denominación rápida de objetos a fin del nivel preescolar Tiempo 1 (T1). Un año más tarde, se evaluó a un subgrupo de la muestra inicial mediante una prueba de lectura de palabras Tiempo 2 (T2). Los resultados señalaron la existencia de correlaciones significativas entre los predictores (T1) y la lectura de palabras (T2) y entre todas las variables evaluadas y el nivel socioeconómico de los niños. La comparación del desempeño intergrupal señaló la existencia de diferencias significativas en todas las habilidades evaluadas a favor del nivel socioeconómico medio. Sin embargo, el desempeño en la lectura de palabras de ambos grupos fue bajo. Por otra parte, un análisis de regresión mostró que, para los niños de nivel socioeconómico bajo, el nivel de conciencia fonológica fue el que explicó la mayor parte de la varianza en la eficiencia lectora. El nivel de lectura de los niños de nivel socioeconómico medio fue mayormente explicado por el conocimiento del nombre de las letras. Los resultados ponen en evidencia la importancia de atender a las diferencias que se generan temprano en el desarrollo de habilidades lingüísticas fundamentales para aprender a leer.

Abstract Learning to read transforms lives. Reading contributes to knowledge acquisition, cultural engagement, and success in the school. The unequal distribution of literacy skills in a society is associated with economic and social inequalities as a result, children with a poor foundation in literacy before entering formal schooling are more likely to struggle academically and to drop out of school. For these reasons, there has been an intense scientific interest for decades in understanding how children learn to read. It is well established that in the early stages of reading development, phonological awareness, letter name-sounds knowledge, and the naming speed are three independent longitudinal predictors of children's later word-reading skills in alphabetic-writing systems. Phonological awareness constitutes the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of their own language, meanwhile letter knowledge promotes the discovery of systematic relationships between writing and oral language. As early readers develop some level of phonological awareness and some level of letter knowledge, they can recognize written words through phonological recoding processes, in which graphemes are recoded as phonemes and assembled to pronounce words. In addition, rapid naming expresses the speed at which phonological information is accessed from a graphic label. Phonological processing and letter knowledge are powerfully affected by the experience, stimulation, and support that children receive before beginning formal education. Most children acquire these abilities relatively effortlessly during early childhood. However, there is a significant number of children in Latin America who experience difficulties in their pre-literacy skills development. This study examined the cognitive profiles of a total of 50 Uruguayan preschoolers from different socioeconomic backgrounds from two public schools in Montevideo, Uruguay. Twenty-six children from low-income households were compared to peers from middle-income. At the end of the pre-schooling period (time 1) receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, letter name-sounds knowledge, and object naming speed tests were administered to children. One year later (time 2), word -reading of a subgroup of children was measured. Significant correlations were observed between all predictors at time 1; between predictors at time 1 and word reading at time 2; and between all measured abilities and socioeconomic status. Comparative analysis between children of different socioeconomic status showed that children growing up in poverty contexts performed more poorly than their peers from middle-income families in all the tests. Nonetheless, both groups performed poorly in word reading. Descriptive statistics indicated that, out of a total of 26 words, low SES children correctly read a total of 7 words per minute, and medium SES children a total of 14 words. Finally, regression analyses indicated that phonological awareness contributed 30 % variance in predicting the total score achieved in a reading-word test in children of low-income families, meanwhile letter name knowledge contributed 74 % variance in predicting the total score achieved in a reading-word test in their peers from middle-income families. In general terms, results of pre-reading skills and reading performance seem to indicate that children of different socioeconomic status use different word recognition strategies according to their level of letter-knowledge of and phonological processing. Discussion considers international literature pointing out that children who enter elementary school with limited reading-related skills are unlikely to be able to keep pace with their peers. These findings warn about the importance to elaborate systematic and high-quality educational proposals to try to reduce the gap in reading development for children from low-income families. Developing literacy and language skills before formal schooling sets a child up for success in school and life. Results also suggest the importance of analyzing the variables that affect reading development in populations that are not the majority described.

Efeitos de Intervenções em Letramento Emergente: Uma Revisão Bibliográfica na Base ScIELO / Effects of Emergent Literacy Interventions: A Literature Review in the SciELO Database

Resumo Na perspectiva do letramento emergente, a alfabetização é influenciada pelas seguintes competências: processamento fonológico, conhecimentos sobre a escrita e linguagem oral. Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo realizar um levantamento sistemático, na base de dados SciELO, de estudos que analisaram o efeito de programas visando ao desenvolvimento de habilidades de letramento emergente em pré-escolares nos últimos dez anos. Dos 15 estudos identificados, oito foram intervenções focadas no desenvolvimento da consciência fonológica, quatro tiveram foco na linguagem oral, baseando-se na leitura compartilhada e três abordaram ambos os tipos de habilidades. Apesar da diversidade, apenas um estudo não obteve efeitos positivos significativos. Os resultados sugerem maior eficácia de programas abordando tanto habilidades linguísticas, quanto metalinguísticas. Questões metodológicas e implicações educacionais são discutidas.

Abstract In the early literacy approach, learning to read is affected by phonological processing, print awareness and oral language skills. This study aimed to conduct a search in the SciELO database for research that analyzed the effect of programs seeking to develop early literacy skills in kindergartners in the past ten years. Fifteen studies were identified: eight were interventions focused on phonological awareness development, four were focused on oral language based on shared reading and three were focused on both sets of skills. Despite the diversity, only one study did not show significant effects. The results suggest that programs that integrate both linguistic and metalinguistic skills are more effective. Methodological questions and educational implications of the studies are also discussed.

Revisión sistemática sobre intervenciones en alfabetización temprana: implicancias para intervenir en español / A systematic review on early literacy interventions: implications for interventions in Spanish

Resumen Contar con herramientas para el diseño y la implementación de intervenciones en alfabetización con niños hispanohablantes reúne cada vez mayor interés entre docentes e investigadores. Para contribuir a esta demanda, realizamos una revisión sistemática con el objetivo de sintetizar la información disponible sobre intervenciones basadas en la evidencia (IBE) con niños de primero a tercer grado escolar. Nuestros resultados recogen información sobre 20 IBE, que buscaron mejorar al menos uno de los siguientes componentes críticos nombrados por el NRP (2000): conciencia fonológica, principio alfabético, fluidez, vocabulario y comprensión. Dado que el 90% de ellos fue realizado con niños angloparlantes nos dedicamos a discutir críticamente la aplicabilidad de esta evidencia al contexto particular de países hispanohablantes. Si bien muchas de las características generales de las IBE implementadas en inglés podrían servir de guía para intervenir en español, resulta imprescindible tener en cuenta las diferencias estructurales en la ortografía de ambas lenguas. A su vez, identificamos estrategias transversales y técnicas de implementación en las IBE, que por su carácter universal podrían ser de utilidad práctica también para intervenir en el desarrollo lector en español.

Abstract An area of increasing interest amongst teachers and researchers is the availability of tools for the design and implementation of literacy interventions with Spanish speaking children. The present systematic literature review contributes to this need by summarizing available findings on evidence-based literacy interventions (EBI) for children from first to third year of primary school. Our results are based on 20 EBI that aimed at improving at least one of the critical components mentioned by the NRP (2000): phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. As 90% of the studies were completed with English-speaking children, we critically discussed the applicability of this evidence to the specific context of Spanish-speaking countries. Although many of the general characteristics of the EBI completed with English speaking children could also guide interventions in Spanish, it remains crucial to take into account structural differences between the orthographies of both languages. Moreover, we identified transversal strategies and implementation techniques that due to their universal character could also be useful for early literacy interventions in Spanish.

Conocimientos sobre la lectoescritura emergente y prácticas en las aulas para su promoción: Un estudio con docentes de Educación preescolar en Costa Rica / Emergent Literacy Knowledge and Classroom Practices for its promotion: a Study with Preschool Education Teachers in Costa Rica

Resumen Las concepciones y los conocimientos docentes afectan la práctica docente y esta, a su vez, influye en los logros de desarrollo en lectoescritura emergente de los niños preescolares. Esta investigación explora las valoraciones docentes de prácticas efectivas en el aula para la promoción de la lectoescritura emergente y sus conocimientos sobre conciencia fonológica y fonemas. Una muestra conformada por 284 docentes a cargo de salones de educación preescolar contestó un cuestionario en línea. Los resultados indicaron diferencias según tipo de universidad en la cual se tituló la docente. Las docentes graduadas de universidades públicas otorgaron mayor importancia a prácticas efectivas en el aula para la promoción de la lectoescritura emergente que las docentes graduadas de universidades privadas. Si bien la mayoría de participantes consideró la conciencia fonológica como un factor importante para el desarrollo de la lectoescritura, los conocimientos sobre esta fueron deficientes en toda la muestra. Igualmente, los conocimientos docentes sobre los fonemas y su habilidad para identificarlos en palabras concretas también fueron deficientes. Estos y otros hallazgos se discuten a la luz de sus implicaciones para la promoción de la calidad en la educación preescolar costarricense.

Abstract Teachers' conceptions and knowledge affect their practices, and teachers' practices influence preschoolers' early literacy development. This study explores how much teachers value classroom practices previously proven to be effective in promoting early literacy development, and how much teachers know about phonological awareness and phonemes. A sample of 284 preschool teachers filled out an online questionnaire. Results showed differences as a function of the kind of university where teachers obtained their university degree. Teachers who graduated from public universities considered practices proven to be effective to promote early literacy more important than teachers who graduated from private universities. Although most participants considered phonological awareness an important factor for early literacy development, knowledge about it was deficient across the whole sample. Teachers' knowledge about phonemes and their abilities to identify phonemes in specific words were deficient. Findings are discussed in light of their implications for promoting quality preschool education in Costa Rica.

Programa Multissensorial/Fônico: Efeitos em pré-escolares em risco de apresentarem dificuldades de alfabetização / Multisensory/Phonics Program: Effects in kindergartners at risk for presenting literacy difficulties / Programa Multisensorial/Fónico: Efectos en niños preescolares en riesgo de presentar dificultades de alfabetización

Este estudo avalia os resultados de um programa multissensorial com ênfase fônica sobre o desempenho em consciência fonológica (CF), conhecimentode letras (CL) e habilidades iniciais de leitura e escrita em pré-escolares. Participaram do estudo 36 alunos de uma Pré-escola Municipal, com idade média de 5,5 anos. O delineamento consistiu em Pré-teste, Intervenção e Pós-testes 1 e 2. As crianças que, no Pré-teste, obtiveram resultados inferiores nas provas de CL e/ou CF foram consideradas em risco para apresentar dificuldades na alfabetização. Habilidades de leitura e escrita também foram mensuradas. Os participantes foram distribuídos, aleatoriamente, em Grupo Multissensorial (GM) e Grupo Controle (GC). O GM participou de três sessões de intervenção semanais, durante quatro meses, totalizando 48 sessões. O GC realizou atividades alternativas. Os resultados indicam efeitos significativos da intervenção para as crianças do grupo de risco, para todas as habilidades avaliadas, sugerindo a eficácia do programa para prevenir dificuldades na alfabetização.

This study evaluates the results of a multisensory program with phonics emphasis on the performance in phonological awareness (PA), letters knowledge (LK) and early reading and writing skills in pre-school children. The participants were 36 students of a public pre-school, with mean age of 5,5 years old. The design consisted of Pre-test, Intervention and Post-tests 1 and 2. Children who presented low results in Pre-test in LK and/or PA tasks were considered at risk for presenting reading and writing difficulties. Spelling and reading skills were also assessed. The children were allocated randomly in two groups: Multisensory Group (MG) and Control Group (CG). The MG participated of three intervention sessions per week, during four months, totaling 48 sessions. The CG held alternative activities. The results showed a significant effect of the intervention for children at risk in all skills assessed, suggesting the effectiveness of the program to prevent literacy difficulties.

Este estudio evalua los resultados de un programa multisensorial con énfasis fonética sobre la conciencia fonológica (CF), el conocimiento del alfabeto (CA) y las destrezas iniciales de lectura y escritura en niños preescolares. Participaron 36 estudiantes de una escuela pública, con edad media de 5,5 años. El estudio consistió en Pre-teste, Intervención y Pos-testes 1 y 2. Los niños que tuvieron resultados inferiores en CA e/o en CF fueran considerados en riesgo de presentar dificultades en la alfabetización. Las habilidades de lectura y escritura también fueron evaluadas. Los participantes fueron divididos aleatoriamente en Grupo Multisensorial (GM) y Grupo Control (GC). El GM participó en tres sesiones de intervención semanales, durante cuatro meses (48 sesiones). El GC realizó actividades alternativas. Los resultados indican efecto positivo dela intervención para los niños de riesgo, para todas las habilidades evaluadas, lo que sugiere la eficacia del programa para evitar dificultades en la alfabetización.

Habilidades y conocimientos constitutivos de la alfabetización temprana: Semejanzas y diferencias según el entorno social y las oportunidades educativas / Early literacy skills: Similarities and differences caused by social environment and school opportunities

Dada la relevancia del desarrollo temprano de los conocimientos o habilidades considerados precursores de la alfabetización, resulta fundamental, para la elaboración de propuestas pedagógicas, identificar aquellos aspectos en los que es necesario focalizar dichas propuestas. En este sentido, el estudio que se informa abordó la incidencia del medio en las habilidades tempranas de lectura y escritura en tres grupos de niños de diferente procedencia socioeconómica (niveles socioeconómicos medio urbano, bajo urbano y bajo rural). Los niños respondieron a 11 pruebas que evalúan las siguientes variables precursoras de la alfabetización: Habilidades de procesamiento fonológico, Conocimiento de las correspondencias, Habilidades de discriminación visual de letras y palabras, Habilidad de lectura de palabras en contexto, Capacidad de reconocimiento de acciones de lectura y escritura, Formas tempranas de escritura, Conocimiento de lenguaje técnico y Manejo de libro. Los resultados obtenidos señalan que existen diferencias entre los grupos en las tareas implicadas en el reconocimiento de lenguaje técnico, en las de conciencia fonológica y en las formas de escritura. Sin embargo, no se hallaron diferencias entre los niños de los distintos sectores socioeconómicos evaluados en las tareas de discriminación, manejo de libro y reconocimiento de acciones de lectura y escritura. En concordancia con el modelo evolutivo de Nelson (2007), los grupos muestran un desempeño similar en conocimientos que responden a procesos perceptivos básicos y difieren en aquellos que la investigación ha demostrado que requieren de la intervención de un adulto alfabetizado.

Due to the fact that early literacy skills are crucial for reading and writing learning process, it is important to identify them in order to design teaching activities. Most of the former literacy studies have been carried out with middle class children and show that reading and writing learning process begins very early at home. The rate and the way reading and writing are developed is highly related with parents educational level and the kind and frequency of the literacy activities they propose. There are differences between social groups with regard to these activities that may cause knowledge differences at early age that may explain reading and writing learning process failure in low income children. From a developmental perspective there have been numerous studies focused mainly on literacy learning before formal teaching of reading and writing in school. These researches tempt to explore and describe the concepts, knowledge, skills and early actions of reading and writing as well as the social context where these developments occur. In the framework of these observations, the aim of the present study was to compare early reading and writing skills in three groups of children from different socioeconomic environment. From theoretical and methodological point of view we have take in account a cognitive psychology perspective to explore those variables considered early literacy skills such as phonological awareness, early writing skills among others as well as we have adopted as teaching and learning process framework Vigotsky's zone of proximal development as well as Bruner's scaffolding. The groups were described according to different variables such us age (measured up to May, 30th), sex and socioeconomic level. In order to measure the last variable, parents education level and job were considered according Sartú (1992) occupational scale. Using this variables three groups were selected: Group A was formed by 20 children mean age 5.5-year-olds from middle urban income families who attended a public kindergarten school situated in a middle class neighborhood. Group B was formed by 19 kids mean age 5.3-year-olds from low income families who attended to a public kindergarten school in a low income urban neighborhood. Group C was formed by 17 children mean age 5.3-year-olds who attended a public kindergarten school from a low rural income area. Kids were assessed with 11 tasks: Phonological awareness, Letter-sound correspondences, Differences between letters, Words from pictures, Reading words in context, Recognition of writing and reading activities, Early reading and writing performance, Technical vocabulary knowledge, proper usage of books was tested. The results of this study provides empirical information on the early literacy pattern of learning process of Spanish-speaking children as well as differences in knowledge and skills involved in this process between children from different socioeconomic groups. Differences between the three groups were observed in technical vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness tasks performance. There were no differences between socioeconomically groups in distinguishing letters and words from pictures, recognizing writing and reading activities and proper using of books. According to Nelson (2007), children have a similar performance in those activities based on basic cognitive skills and differ in the ones that involve adult's instruction. The similar performances of the groups tested seems to indicate that the knowledge involved in early literacy process is develop in a sequence characterized by an emerging knowledge about writing in the social environment. The fact that children did not grasp a complete competence in one knowledge before reaching it in other later ability shows that literacy acquisition is characterized by an overlapping development of different abilities and knowledge.

Redes de colaboración en situaciones de alfabetización con niños pequeños: Un estudio en poblaciones urbano marginales de Argentina / Collaboration networks in family literacy situations with preschool children: A study with poor urban population from Argentina

En el presente trabajo se informan los resultados de un estudio focalizado en el análisis cualitativo (Glasser & Strauss, 1967) de las características particulares que adoptan las situaciones de alfabetización familiar en el que participaron 30 niños de 4 años de barrios urbano-marginados de Argentina. Se atendió específicamente a la estructura de relaciones y de mediaciones sociales que durante la consecución de las situaciones configuran oportunidades para la participación del niño pequeño. El corpus estuvo conformado por 124 situaciones de alfabetización registradas por medio de audio, generadas a partir de la implementación de un programa de alfabetización temprana y familiar. Los resultados mostraron que en estos hogares en los que el bajo nivel de escolaridad de los adultos podía inhibir la consecución de la actividad de alfabetización, la composición extendida de las familias y la participación de los niños en amplias redes sociales facilita la realización de las actividades. En efecto, se observó que las situaciones de alfabetización se desarrollan en el marco de la interacción entre el niño y múltiples y diversos participantes que conforman distintas redes de colaboración en las que los niños pequeños, los niños mayores y los adultos desempeñan distintos roles. Estos resultados tienen fuertes implicancias pedagógicas, en tanto advierten sobre la importancia de entrelazar toda intervención educativa en los primeros años con los conocimientos y los patrones de interacción que caracterizan a la cultura de los niños, tanto en el contexto escolar de la educación inicial como en el familiar.

This study follows current psycholinguistic models (Nelson, 1996, 2007; Snow, 1972; Tomasello, 2003) that subscribe to the central premises of sociocultural theories of human development (Vygotsky, 1964). The authors aim to present a qualitative analysis of the particular characteristics of the family literacy situations that took place in the homes of 30 children from Argentina's urban poor population. The psycholinguistic models discussed in this study take the close link between the development of language and cognitive development into account and assume that both types of development occur in social interaction. In addition, they emphasize the subjective, experiential component of the child's interactions with the world. Children construct meaning by experimenting with the objects, knowledge, and tools that they come into contact with in the activities in which they participate. Children's experiences also depend on the people they interact with, whose verbal and non-verbal presentations and scaffolding the child uses in a process of collaborative construction of structures of meaning (Nelson, 2007). Analysis in the present study is focused specifically on the structure and social mediations that shape children's opportunities to participate in literacy situations. The corpus consists of 124 audio-recorded literacy situations that were generated by the introduction of children's books that contained stories and literacy activities. Differently from major previous studies regarding family literacy (Bus, Leseman & Keultjes, 2000; Delgado-Gaitan, 1990; Hammer, 2001; Heath, 1983; Leseman & Van Tuijl, 2006; McNaughton, 2006; Reyes, Alexandra & Azuara, 2007; Taylor & Dorsey-Gaines, 1988, among others), the unit of analysis was the situation as it naturally occurred in the home, considering all the participants and not just the mother-child dyad. The ecological approach adopted in this study allowed identifying the particular characteristics of the early literacy situations that took place in the homes of children from Argentina's urban poor. Results showed that in these homes, where the low education level of adults might have inhibited the consecution of literacy activities, the extended composition of the families and the fact that children participate in extended social networks facilitated the activities' development. The literacy situations took place within the framework of the interaction between the child and the diverse and multiple participants that comprise the collaboration networks where children and adults assume different roles. These results showed that the children's books are used in situations that capitalize on several characteristics of the sociocultural setting. The books' introduction in the homes created situations that took advantage of certain characteristics of these populations' natural contexts, such as the variety of interlocutors, and transformed other characteristics by sustaining the interaction over an extended period of time. This highlights the linguistic and cognitive potential that interaction with a written text implies. The study's results also corroborate and exemplify in the field of early literacy acquisition the findings of previous research done in within the framework of the sociocultural perspective with children in black communities (Ward, 1971, cited in Rogoff, 1993), as well as with children from indigenous Hawaiian populations (Farran & Mistry, cited in Rogoff, 1993), and from the indigenous Colla community (Rosemberg & Borzone, 1998). Although the aforementioned studies didn't seek to study the literacy processes they too showed the inclusion of small children in wide collaboration networks, as well as the differentiation and division of roles in order to complete various activities performed in collaboration (Farran & Mistry, cited in Rogoff, 1993; Rogoff, 1993; Ward, 1971, cited in Rogoff, 1993). These findings have strong pedagogical implications: they show that it is important to interweave early educational interventions with the funds of knowledge and interactional patterns that characterize children's culture.

Resultados de un programa de alfabetización temprana: Desempeño en lectura en niños de sectores en desventaja socioeconómica / Result of an early literacy intervention program: Reading skills in children with socio-economic disadvantages

El objetivo del trabajo que se informa fue contribuir al conocimiento del proceso de alfabetización temprana en español en sectores en desventaja socioeconómica y cultural y analizar los resultados de un estudio destinado al desarrollo de habilidades relativas a la lectura de palabras y textos en niños de 4 a 7 años de edad. Se comparó el desempeño de dos grupos de niños (experimental y control) que concurrían a escuelas públicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina) y que habían sido homologados en todas las variables analizadas. Uno de ellos recibió intervención específica en alfabetización temprana durante 2 años. Las evaluaciones se realizaron antes, durante y a mediano plazo, una vez finalizada la intervención. Sobre los datos obtenidos se calcularon estadísticos descriptivos (medias, desvíos estándar y porcentajes de aciertos) y estadísticos inferenciales (prueba t y de diferencia de proporciones). Asimismo, se realizaron análisis cualitativos de los tipos de errores cometidos y de las estrategias utilizadas para la lectura de palabras (pre-analítica,analítica incompleta inicial e intermedia y alfabética consolidada) y lectura de texto (lectura silabeante sin y con recodificación, fluida y expresiva). Los resultados encontrados muestran mejoras evidentes en la lectura de palabras largas y pseudopalabras, con una diferencia al final de la intervención de hasta un 33% entre ambos grupos, a favor del grupo experimental, cuyos niños utilizan mayor porcentaje de estrategias analíticas. En la lectura de textos aparece una diferencia similar (27%) a favor del grupo experimental, entre los niños que pueden leer fluidamente un texto corto. Esto prepara los cimientos para un adecuado progreso en la comprensión lectora y demuestra el alto impacto de la intervención realizada.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the process of early literacy in Spanish in children with cultural and socio-economic disadvantages. Likewise, it aims at showing the results of a study about reading skills - specifically the reading of words and texts by 4 to 7 year-old children. The study was conducted following research models of Cognitive Psychology and was carried out by comparing the performance of two groups of children, the test group and the control group. These children attended public schools in the Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and they were treated as equivalents in all of the analyzed variables. One of the groups received specific early literacy intervention for two years. The assessments were made before, during and midway after finishing the intervention. The reading of words and pseudo words as well as reading and reading comprehension were evaluated. Gough and Juel (1989) propose a simple reading model that states that reading comprehension is the result of the multiplication of decoding and oral language comprehension [RC (reading comprehension) = D*LC (decoding multiplied by language comprehension)]. The multiplying nature of this relationship means that both factors, D and LC, are necessary for comprehension purposes but none of them are sufficient by themselves (Gough, Juel, & Griffith, 1992; Hoover & Gough, 1990). By analyzing the correlation between RC and each of the two factors, it is clearly shown that decoding is the most important step at the beginning of the learning process [r (RC*D) = .61 and r (RC*LC) =.39] and that the values are later reversed at the beginning of secondary school [r (RC*LC) = .68 and r (RC*D) = .39] (Alegría, 2006). Therefore, the differences in the reading comprehension process during the first years of schooling could be due to differences in fluency in reading. At the same time, the automatic word recognition theory (La Berge & Samuels, 1974) provides a strong explanation about the importance of fluency in reading. If the word recognition process is not fluent enough, a lot of energy is placed on paying attention, causing comprehension to be impaired. Taking the above information into account, one of the objectives of the implemented early intervention program has been to promote automatic decoding so that a minimum of other attention resources would be needed. In order to achieve this, it was necessary to develop phonological skills, knowledege of grapheme - phoneme correspondence, as well as the fast ensemble of phonemes. From the data gathered descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and achievement percentages) and inferential statistics (t test and percentage difference tests) were obtained. Likewise, a qualitative analysis of the types of mistakes made and the strategies used for word reading (pre-analytical, initial incomplete analytical and intermediate, and consolidated literacy) as well as the different categories in oral text reading (syllabification reading with and without recoding, fluent and expressive) was made. The results of the study show significant improvement in the reading of long words and pseudo words with a 33 % difference between the two groups, in favor of the experimental group, at the end of the intervention. The children from this group use a greater percentage of analytical strategies, which helps them read new words. Regarding text reading, there is a 27% difference among the children who can read a short text fluently in the test group and the ones who cannot do it in the control group. This finding has helped established a good foundation for adequate improvement in reading comprehension skills and shows the high impact the intervention has had on these children.

Diseño de una prueba tamiz para caracterizar prerrecurrentes de lectura y escritura en población preescolar / Screening test design to characterize the early literacy of reading and writing in preschool population

El estudio se propuso diseñar una prueba tamiz para caracterizar los prerrecurrentes de lectura y escritura en población preescolar de 2 a 5 años de edad. Para la elaboración del instrumento se siguió el método propio del diseño y construcción de pruebas. Para la fase de conceptualización se consultaron 38 fuentes bibliográficas y 17 baterías de evaluación relacionadas con el tema de aprendizaje de la lectura, la escritura y el desarrollo del lenguaje. Para la fase de ensayo de los reactivos se recurrió a la validación por juicio de 8 expertos, y a la realización de una prueba piloto en una población de 50 niños y niñas del rango de edad requerido. Como resultado se obtuvo un instrumento que permite identificar comportamientos, conocimientos, habilidades y destrezas de tipo cognitivo, metacognitivo, lingüístico y actitudinal que ejecutan los niños y que se consideran precursores para el aprendizaje y adecuado desarrollo de la lectura y la escritura.

The objective of this study was to design a screening test to characterize the early literacy of reading and writing in pre-school population from 2 to 5 years of age. The own method of the design and construction of tests were taken in order to produce the instrument. For the conceptualization phase, 38 literature sources were consulted and 17 batteries of assessment related to the topic of learning of reading, writing and language development. For the testing phase of the reagents, for validation was resorted by judgment of 8 experts, and to the accomplishment of a pilot test in a population of 50 boys and girls with the range of range required age. As a result, got to build an instrument that allows to identify the occurrence of knowledge, abilities and cognitive metacognitive, linguistic and behavioural skills, that early literacy is considered appropriate for the learning and suitable development of the reading and the writing, and which are in normal conditions in early childhood