From hand to eye: A meta-analysis of the benefit from handwriting training in visual graph recognition

Handwriting (HW) training seems to boost recognition of visual graphs and learning to read more than other learning experiences. However, effects across studies appear to be variable and the underlying cognitive mechanism has been elusive. We thus conducted a meta-analysis on 50 independent experiments (with 1525 participants) to determine the magnitude of this HW benefit in visual graph recognition, while enlightening the underlying cognitive mechanism, by investigating four types of moderators: training program (type of control training, presence/absence of phonological training, and HW tasks adopted); set size and training regime (duration and frequency of training session and total amount of training); granularity of visual discrimination and perceptual learning tasks; and age of participants. The benefit from HW training was moderate-to-large and significant (Hedge’s g = 0.58, SE = .09) and was also modulated by type of control training (larger relative to motor, g = 0.78, than to visual control, g = 0.37), phonological training (larger when it was absent, g = 0.79, than present, g = 0.47), and granularity of visual discrimination (larger for fine-grained, g = 0.93, than coarse-grained, g = 0.19). These results are consistent with symbolic accounts that hold that the advantage from HW training in visual graph recognition is about perceptual learning rather than the motor act. Multiple meta-regressions also revealed that training regime modulated the HW benefit. We conclude that HW training is effective to improve visual graph recognition, and hence, is still relevant for literacy instruction in the present digital era.

Intensive Phonological Training With Articulation—An Intervention Study to Boost Pupils' Word Decoding in Grade 1

The aim of this study is to examine how a structured intensive training period with a phonological multisensory reading training method, at the end of Grade 1, can develop pupils' ability to connect phonemes with the corresponding graphemes as well as their ability to decode. A total of 38 pupils in Grade 1 from four elementary schools participated in this randomized controlled trial (RCT) study. Of the 38 pupils 19 were randomly assigned to be part of the intervention group, the other 19 were included in the control group. The intervention involved 30 minutes of intensive training on a total of 20 sessions. The control group participated in regular reading lessons in the classroom. The study included pre- and posttesting of phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and decoding. The result shows that intensive phonological awareness training with articulation, during 20 sessions spread over 4–5 weeks, stimulates pupils' decoding ability in a positive direction.

Relevance of Phonological Awareness Intervention to a Jordanian EFL Classroom

Building on Tamimi and Rababah (2007), the present study is an investigation of the effectiveness of explicit phonological awareness intervention in contrast with formal classroom instruction on developing phonological awareness skills for Jordanian EFL second-graders in a governmental school. Based on some views (Adams, 1990; Yopp, 1992; Stanovich, 1994; and Chard and Dickson, 1999) a phonological training program was designed with focus on five phonological awareness skills, viz., segmentation, isolation, deletion, substitution and blending, and their respective sub-skills. On measures of Robertson and Salter's (1997) Phonological Awareness Test (PAT), the experimental group that had undergone 15 40-minute phonological awareness sessions outperformed in deletion, substitution and blending skills the control group which continued to receive formal classroom instruction based on Action Pack 2. The findings corroborate previous research conclusions favoring explicit phonological awareness interventions; thus giving less credit to formal classroom instruction. The study also calls for integrating phonological awareness interventions in Jordanian basic stages' curricula.