My letter and your letter: The development of Icelandic children's letter-knowledge between ages four and six

Abstract

Knowing the letters of the alphabet and letter-sound correspondences are important foundation skills for children´s literacy development. Preschool children´s letter-knowledge has been found to predict reading performance in the first years of schooling. Formal reading instruction begins at different ages in different countries. In the UK and USA, the starting age is around age four in kindergarten while in many European countries, including Iceland, formal reading instruction starts in first grade, at age six. However, children do not only learn letters in school, they also learn about letters from their parents and in their daily life. Letter-knowledge in preschool has been found to be correlated to factors like socioeconomic status of the family and the home literacy environment. Research on young children´s letter-knowledge confirms that it is not a matter of chance which letters they first learn, some letters seem to be easier to learn than others. Most children, for example, learn their own and their family members´ initials first and English- speaking children are more likely to know the letters B, X, O and A than V, U, N and G. It is not fully known what determines why some letters are learned before others. However, factors such as their order in the alphabet, their prevalence in the written language and how clear their corresponding sounds are might have something to do with it.

The aim of this study was to explore Icelandic children´s letter-knowledge. The main research questions were the following: How does children´s letter knowledge develop between ages four and six? Are some letters learned before others and if so, which letters? Is Icelandic children´s letter-knowledge influenced by parents´ SES, literacy environment in their homes and/or by their language skills? How does the letter knowledge of children who know few letters at age 4 and 5 develop, and do children who still know few letters at the end of first grade have common characteristics in terms of SES, their home literacy environment or language skills?

144 children were followed up for three years from age four to six. Letter-knowledge and language skills were assessed every year. In the first two years (preschool) the children were asked about the names of 28 letters. In the third year (first grade) they were asked about both names and sounds of letters. At age four, the children´s language skills were assessed with a vocabulary test, a grammar test, and a test assessing phonological awareness. Information about families´ SES and the children´s home literacy environment was obtained with a questionnaire answered by the parents at the beginning of the study.

Results confirm that Icelandic children´s letter-knowledge develops well before formal schooling. At age four the children knew on average 12 letter names out of 28, and 20 letters at age five. At age six, at the end of their first year of formal schooling, most of the children knew all or almost all letter names and the corresponding sounds. At ages four and five, the letters S, A and K were the ones most children knew, followed by H, R, L, M, and B. These letters were also the most common first letter in the names of family members in the children´s family.

The children´s letter-knowledge significantly correlated with parents’ education, and family income. Furthermore, letter-knowledge was significantly correlated with measures of children’s language skills all three years, most strongly with phonological awareness at ages four and five, but also with vocabulary and grammar all three years. As for the children´s home literacy environment, around 70% of the parents reported more than 50 children’s books in their homes and over 90% of parents read to their children more than twice a week. The correlation between these questions and the children´s letter knowledge was weak and non-significant. In contrast, a significant correlation was found between letter knowledge and the frequency with which the parents reported drawing the attention of their children to letters and print during shared book reading at home. Both these results are in line with findings from other research, such as Sénéchal et al´s home literacy model.

Most of the children who knew few letters at ages four and five had caught up with their peers by the end of first grade. Those who still knew the sounds of fewer than 20 letters at age six came from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and scored significantly lower on all language measures than children who knew 20 or more letters.

These results confirm that even though there is no formal letter instruction in Icelandic preschools, children develop their letter-knowledge through daily routines and informal instruction in their homes and in preschool. The reason for the weak correlation between home literacy environment and letter-knowledge might be the fact that most Icelandic homes are quite rich in children´s books and reading to children is common practice both in Icelandic families and preschools. The fact that all Icelandic children attend the same preschools, independently of the social or economic status of their parents, might reduce the impact literacy environment in homes otherwise might have on children's development of letter-knowledge and literacy.