Profiles of reading and fluency and spelling skills : stability and change across the early school years
In this longitudinal study, we examined what kind of profiles of reading fluency and spelling skills could be identified among pupils (N = 467) and how stable these profiles were during the first three years of school. We also investigated how monolingual (Swedish) and simultaneously bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) pupils and gender were distributed within the profiles. Three profiles of reading fluency and spelling skills were found among the pupils through latent profile analysis: low, average, and high performing. Latent transition analysis confirmed stable and identical profiles throughout the first school years. The distributions of monolingual and bilingual pupils and gender were equal in…
The Predictors of Literacy Skills among Monolingual and Bilingual Finnish–Swedish Children During First Grade
The aim of the study was to examine which predictor variables are related to literacy skills among monolingual Swedish (n = 269) and bilingual Finnish–Swedish (n = 229) children at the first grade in the Swedish-speaking schools in Finland. The participants were assessed in phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automatized naming (RAN), word recognition, reading fluency, and spelling. The results showed that RAN was the most significant predictor of reading and spelling skills in both language groups, and monolingual children performed significantly better in RAN. Moreover, letter knowledge predicted reading and spelling skills in both groups. However, no significant differences b…