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FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren

Early intervention for children at risk of reading disorders in Northern Norway: A cluster randomised trial

Alternative title: Tidlig intervensjon for barn i Nord-Norge med risiko for lesevansker: En randomisert kontrollert studie

Awarded: NOK 14.2 mill.

The ongoing study evaluates the effect of an intervention entitled "ReadWell". Purpose of the study: The intervention aims to improve reading comprehension by enhancing language comprehension, word decoding, and their precursors. Method: The study focuses on Year 2 and Year 3 students (ages 7-9) identified as poor readers by Norwegian national reading tests. Participants are drawn from 25 schools in three municipalities in Northern Norway (N=416). The experimental group undergoes four weekly 45-minute sessions for nine months (from mid-September to mid-May), totaling 96 sessions, while the control group continues with “business-as-usual” classroom instruction. In this two-armed randomized study, participants are first grouped by (1) school (used as an indicator of their Socioeconomic Status (SES)), and (2) their status as second language learners (L2). This is done to reduce possible bias and to ensure that the intervention and control groups are as comparable as possible. Each participant is then randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. This approach ensures an equal number of L2 students in both groups at each school. The sessions are carefully structured, emphasizing both decoding and language comprehension. The decoding part reinforces letter-sound correspondences and emphasizes training in phonemic awareness. The language comprehension part provides training in semantics (including knowledge of word meanings), grammar (including inflectional verb endings, morphology, and syntax), and narratives (e.g., through re-telling the text of the day). All sessions are delivered via a laptop or tablet, with voice-over instructions to ensure standardized program delivery. Results: Preliminary findings from 28% of the sample (n=119) show significant effects on word decoding and non-word decoding at post-test I. Preliminary results further show non-significant effects on expressive language and reading comprehension. As expected, receptive language shows little or no effects. Conclusions: The preliminary evaluation indicates promising results. Updated post-test and six-month follow-up findings will be presented in due time. The scientific article reporting the outcome of the ReadWell study received "in-principle acceptance (IPA)" in the Journal of Educational Psychology in September 2022. This means that the article will be published provided that the study is successfully carried out according to pre-registered methods and analytical procedures, as well as a proper and evidence-based interpretation of the results when data collection is complete. The title of the article is "Improving Reading Comprehension through Language Comprehension and Early Word Reading: A Multi-Site Randomized Trial". The ReadWell study was also registered in the Open Science Framework (OSF) under the same title in September 2022.

The proposed study is a two-arm cluster randomized trial with group as the unit of randomisation. The two arms are (1) a programme to improve decoding skills and language comprehension and (2) "business as usual". The intervention is an intensive support programme delivered by trained teachers (or teaching assistants), and is designed to improve oral language ability and decoding skills in young students in Year 2 and Year 3 who are identified to be at risk for reading failure. The sessions focus on improving letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary, reception of grammar and narrative skills. Both the intervention group and the control group includes children in Northern Norway, where the share of poor readers is higher than the national average. The most critical R&D challenges to be faced is implementation fidelity. The training will however enable teachers to understand the importance of the intervention and their role for successful implementation. Another critical challenge is absence. Both students and teachers may miss sessions due to illness or other reasons. To avoid problems related to sick leave among teachers, all schools will be requested to have a backup plan (e.g. trained teaching assistants who can act as stand-ins). Teachers involved in the project will learn about the continuities between reading and language disorders. Given a successful outcome of the RCT study, however, the schools will continue to use the resources to ameliorate reading failure in future students. The project findings and experiences will furthermore be widely disseminated and thus contribute to a national knowledge base for the teaching profession.

Funding scheme:

FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren