Sources of individual differences in reading acquisition.

Abstract

Sources of individual differences in reading achievement were investigated in a longitudinal study of 543 children, A variety of individual attributes covering prereading abilities, oral language abilities, motor skills, personality, and home background were measured at school entry. Reading achievement was subsequently assessed at the end of Kindergarten and Grade 1. The strongest predictors of reading achievement were tasks tapping phonological processing skills, interdigital dexterity, and familiarity with the alphabetic code of English script. Collectively, individual attributes accounted for 63% of the variance in reading achievement at the end of Kindergarten and 59% at the end of Grade 1. A short set of five predictors offers a potentially useful screening test for the early identification of reading-disabled children. The effect of the ability composition of a child's class and school was also assessed. Significant ability-composition effects were obtained, accounting for 9% of Kindergarten and 6% of Grade 1 reading achievement variance over and above variance owing to individual factors. Peer ability was as strong a predictor of individual reading achievement as individual ability. Children emerging from primary school exhibit enormous variation in their reading achievement. Within a single school it is possible to find children who are reading at several grades above their own grade level, while other children at the same school are reading at several grades below. Furthermore, there are often substantial differences in reading achievement between schools. The source of this enormous variation in achievement has been the focus of considerable research in the last two decades. Both in-school factors, such as school and teacher characteristics, and out-of-school factors, such as individual pupil abilities and family background, have been investigated. The general conclusion from this research is that out-of-school factors have a far greater We wish to thank the district inspectors, principals, teachers, parents, and pupils associated with the schools in the Geelong region where the research was carried out. Particular thanks are due Barbara Matthews and Bobbie Waterman for their help with the testing of subjects and analysis of data. Financial support for the research was provided by the Percy Baxter Charitable Trust, Deakin University, and the Australian Research Grants Scheme.