Effectiveness of early reading intervention on the oral language development of Hong Kong preschoolers at risk for reading difficulties

Abstract

Prior research has shown that early provision of literacy intervention for children could yield higher effectiveness and a more positive prognosis. The present study examined the efficacy of the “Pathways Preschool Chinese Programme”, a 12-week preschool group reading intervention developed through systematic integration of storybooks and interactive activities with the aim of enhancing critical foundations of oral language, word decoding and readingand- writing-related abilities, in improving the oral language abilities of children at risk for reading difficulties. Three groups of children were recruited for the study: typically developing children, children at risk for reading difficulties without intervention, and at-risk children receiving the 12-week intervention. All participants were assessed on their oral language abilities at two time points (pre-and-post-intervention). The assessment batteries included discourse comprehension, oral vocabulary, narrative production, and cognitive functioning. Group comparison analyses using ANCOVAs indicated that the intervention group performed significantly better in discourse comprehension and oral vocabulary than their at-risk control peers. In addition, the intervention group’s post-intervention performance on discourse comprehension caught up with those of the typical age-control group. The present findings provided both educational and clinical implications supporting early intervention programmes for children at risk for reading difficulties.