The Power of Children's Learning in their Reading Development
We examine how children become strong, fluent readers, including what they learn from reading itself.
Efficient reading is essential to children’s ability to learn in the classroom and beyond. And yet, children also learn a great deal from reading itself; it is the key place where children learn new words– words that are far more complex than those they hear in everyday conversation.
In the present study we examine what underlies children’s ability to learn from their reading, and just how much this learning skill helps them in their literacy development more generally.
Background
Our Approach
Over the course of a four-year longitudinal study, we are following the same participants from Grade Primary to Grade 3, collecting data annually on their learning, reading and language skills to understand where children’s learning skill comes from and how it supports their reading development. Children will complete a variety of language, cognitive, and reading activities designed to be fun and age appropriate, like choosing between letter patterns and reading words. Some activities will be conducted one-on-one with our research assistants while others will take place in small groups.
From 2025-2028, we are following kids from Primary to Grade 3. We conduct data collection in the winter and spring of each year. Results from Primary and Grade 1 will yield information on the foundational skills that underly learning from reading. Results through to Grade 3 will show how these learning skills underpin children’s reading development over time.
Thank you to our partners and funders!
Thank you to all the students, parents, teachers, and administrators who continue to make our work possible!
NSERC | Inter-University Research Network (IURN), Department of Education and Early Childhood Development | SSHRC | Dalhousie University