Abstract
In this chapter, we present findings from the Munich Longitudinal Study on the Genesis of Individual Competencies (LOGIC) concerning the early prediction of reading and spelling in school. About 210 children participated in the study. The various predictor variables were assessed during the last year of kindergarten and represented four different domains (i e, IQ, phonological awareness, memory capacity, and early literacy). The criterion measures were assessed from Grade two on and tapped various aspects of reading (i.e., decoding speed and reading comprehension) and spelling. As a main result, the data indicate that all four predictor domains had a significant impact on the acquisition of reading and spelling skills in school. However, the relative contribution of the domains varied as a function of the criterion under study and the measurement point considered. Although the data confirmed the importance of phonological awareness in the process of learning to read and to spell, they also highlight the relevance of early letter knowledge for subsequent literacy. Contrary to expectations, sex differences and individual differences in quality of instruction did not have a major impact on results. Taken together, our findings confirm the results of major Anglo-American and Scandinavian studies, indicating that the importance of predictor domains such as phonological awareness, memory capacity, and early literacy generalizes across several languages.
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Schneider, W., Näslund, J.C. (1997). The Early Prediction of Reading and Spelling: Evidence from the Munich Longitudinal Study on the Genesis of Individual Competencies. In: Leong, C.K., Joshi, R.M. (eds) Cross-Language Studies of Learning to Read and Spell. NATO ASI Series, vol 87. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1197-5_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1197-5_8
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