Shapiro, Laura and Cunningham, Anna and Witton, Caroline and Talcott, Joel Brent and Burgess, Adrian-Philip and Rochelle, Kim Sheree
(2020).
Aston literacy project 2011-1016.
[Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex:
UK Data Archive.
10.5255/UKDA-SN-852671
This is the latest version of this item.
We aim to characterise the skills that predict reading development, and the difficulties experienced by poor readers.
The research will focus on large, heterogeneous samples representing the full range of reading achievements and underlying skills. We will build models of the skills-reading relationship to test key theories from the literature. For example speech processing skills could be dependent on neural encoding of basic sounds in the auditory pathway, thus speech and non-speech skills should significantly predict reading. In contrast, speech and non-speech skills may correlate highly, but only speech skills directly predict reading acquisition.
Previous research and our pilot work suggest a shift in reliance from broad auditory skills to more specific speech skills in beginning to intermediate readers. We will examine broad, long term trends by comparing groups of beginning vs. intermediate readers and conduct a detailed analysis of changes in individual children tested at two stages of beginning to read.
Finally the PhD project will focus on deficit groups selected from our large sample in order to investigate whether the severity of reading difficulty varies according to the age at which deficits were observed and the breadth of deficit (eg, specific speech-sound vs. more general auditory deficits).
Data description (abstract)
These datasets include information on children's auditory and phonological skills during primary school. They were used as part of the Aston Literacy Project to investigate the relationship between auditory skills, phonological skills, and reading in children at the beginning and intermediate stages of literacy development.
| Data creators: |
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| Sponsors: |
Economic and Social Research Council
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| Grant reference: |
ES/H031685/1
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| Topic classification: |
Education
Psychology
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| Keywords: |
SCHOOLCHILDREN, READING SKILLS, CHILDREN, PRIMARY EDUCATION
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| Project title: |
Tracking changes in the influence of broad auditory and specific phonological skills on beginning and intermediate reading performance
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| Grant holders: |
Laura Shapiro, Caroline Witton, Adrian Burgess, Kim Rochelle, Joel Talcott
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| Project dates: |
| From | To |
|---|
| 9 April 2011 | 8 December 2016 |
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| Date published: |
05 Jun 2020 15:19
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| Last modified: |
05 Jun 2020 15:19
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| Collection period: |
| Date from: | Date to: |
|---|
| 9 April 2011 | 8 December 2016 |
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| Geographical area: |
West Midlands |
| Country: |
United Kingdom |
| Data collection method: |
Headteachers from local schools were invited to take part in the study. We then asked the school leadership to give their approval for us to conduct the research in their school. Following approval, parents were informed about the study, and given an opportunity to opt their child out of the assessments. Children attending participating schools, whose parents have not opted out of the study, were then invited to participate and given information about the study in age-appropriate terms, and asked them whether they want to take part. We only tested children who actively consented to take part and it was made clear that they could stop at any time. All children from the appropriate year group (Reception, Year 1 or Year 2) were invited to take part. No child was excluded unless their parents opted them out or if the child did not actively consent. Children who had difficulty understanding/ communicating were allowed to participate to the best of their ability and praised for their participation, as normal. The tests were designed for use with children at all levels of ability and verbal instructions were kept to a minimum. The assessments were conducted on a one-to-one basis in a quiet area close to the child’s classroom. Research Assistants who were experienced in working with children conducted the assessments. Research Assistants were trained to work with each child on a one-to-one basis, using the exact same verbal instructions and procedure for each child, praising the child for their efforts, regardless of their performance. Each phase of data collection was conducted over a three month period, requiring up to 6 sessions of approximately 20mins per child. The assessments we used were a combination of standardised tests of reading, memory and nonverbal reasoning plus bespoke measures. These measures are described in Cunningham et al. (2015). Children responded either by articulating the speech sounds, or through key presses which enabled them to repeat back the sounds. Laptops were used to present the stimuli through headphones and allow responses to be directly recorded onto a spreadsheet. In order to avoid causing discomfort, the tests were designed so that the initial material was easy, progressing to more difficult material, and tests that include a large amount of difficult material were discontinued once the child made a certain number of errors (see Cunningham, et al., 2015). |
| Observation unit: |
Individual |
| Kind of data: |
Numeric |
| Type of data: |
Cohort and longitudinal studies |
| Resource language: |
English |
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| Data sourcing, processing and preparation: |
Data from each child was entered directly onto computer and then subsequently compiled into one large dataset. Data was entered in anonymous format, using a code number for each child. A list of names was held separately and securely. Our code numbers are not included on the uploaded spreadsheet and these data therefore cannot be linked back to participant names.
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| Rights owners: |
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| Contact: |
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| Notes on access: |
The Data Collection is available to any user without the requirement for registration for download/access.
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| Publisher: |
UK Data Archive
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| Last modified: |
05 Jun 2020 15:19
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