Browsing by Author "Denston A"

Now showing 1 - 12 of 12
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    A better start to literacy for bilingual children in New Zealand: Findings from an exploratory case study in te reo Māori and English
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2024-04-09) Denston A; Martin R; Gillon G; Everatt J
    This article details findings from an exploratory case study that examined the efficacy of a phonological awareness and vocabulary programme with children educated in a bilingual immersion context of English and te reo Māori (Māori language) in Aotearoa New Zealand. The current paper discusses changes in the development of early literacy skills in English and te reo Māori in two groups of children aged from 5 years 0 months to 7 years 5 months. Twenty-six children from two bilingual classrooms in a rural school participated in a programme implemented by teachers over 15 weeks. The programme included explicit instruction in phonological awareness and vocabulary. One classroom was from Level 1 te reo Māori immersion, and one was from Level 3 te reo Māori/English. Results were analysed at cohort and class levels. Analyses indicated that both groups of children significantly improved in phonological awareness skills, non-word reading, and expressive vocabulary. Correlational analyses indicated that growth in te reo Māori skills was positively associated with growth in English skills. These findings suggest that further investigation into how the explicit teaching of te reo Māori can benefit the development of phonological awareness and print-related skills in English.
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    A better start to literacy learning: findings from a teacher-implemented intervention in children’s first year at school
    (Springer Nature B.V, 8/01/2019) Gillon G; McNeill B; Scott A; Denston A; Wilson L; Carson K; Macfarlane AH
    This study investigated the feasibility of a teacher implemented intervention to accelerate phonological awareness, letter, and vocabulary knowledge in 141 children (mean age 5 years, 4 months) who entered school with lower levels of oral language ability. The children attended schools in low socioeconomic communities where additional stress was still evident 6 years after the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011. The teachers implemented the intervention at the class or large group level for 20 h (four 30-min sessions per week for 10 weeks). A stepped wedge research design was used to evaluate intervention effects. Children with lower oral language ability made significantly more progress in both their phonological awareness and targeted vocabulary knowledge when the teachers implemented the intervention compared to progress made when teachers implemented their usual literacy curriculum. Importantly, the intervention accelerated children’s ability to use improved phonological awareness skills when decoding novel words (treatment effect size d = 0.88). Boys responded to the intervention as well as girls and the skills of children who identified as Māori or Pacific Islands (45.5% of the cohort) improved in similar ways to children who identified as New Zealand European. The findings have important implications for designing successful teacher-implemented interventions, within a multi-tier approach, to support children who enter school with known challenges for their literacy learning.
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    Evaluation of the “Three Steps in Screening for Dyslexia” Assessment Protocol Designed for New Zealand Teachers
    (Springer Nature, 1/12/2022) Sleeman M; Everatt J; Arrow A; Denston A
    Traditionally, the New Zealand Ministry of Education opposed the recognition of dyslexia. However, since 2007, the Ministry of Education’s position has started to change, evidenced by the development of a working definition. In 2021 the Ministry of Education released Three Steps in Screening for Dyslexia (TSSD), an assessment protocol designed to support teachers to screen for dyslexia. The current research evaluated the TSSD with a sample of 209 children in Years 4 to 6 (8–10 years-of-age) from New Zealand. The research investigated whether children could be accurately classified using tests from the TSSD, whether the three-step protocol described in the TSSD was a valid assessment approach, and what effect operationalising the term average at different cut-off points had on dyslexia screening. Children were classified using two cluster analyses. The first analysis was based on tests from the Woodcock Johnson IV and the second analysis was based on tests from the TSSD. Subsequent analyses investigated specific aspects of the TSSD protocol, including its sequential design and the placement of cut-off points. Results revealed a number of limitations to the TSSD approach. The authors discuss three changes that could be made to improve the validity and reliability of the TSSD, including a broader assessment of the decoding and language comprehension constructs; directing teachers to assess both decoding and language comprehension, irrespective of a child’s language comprehension ability; and placing a greater emphasis on discrepancy bands over cut-off points.
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    Evidence-Based Class Literacy Instruction for Children With Speech and Language Difficulties
    (Wolters Kluwer Health Inc, 2020) Gillon G; Denston A; McNeill B; Scott A; Macfarlane A
    This study investigated the response to class-wide phonological awareness and oral language teaching for 40 children who entered school with speech and language difficulties. A stepped wedge research design was adopted to compare the immediate impact of the 10-week teacher-led instruction. The progress of the children with speech and language difficulties was monitored over the first school year and compared with 110 children with language difficulties alone and 95 children with typical development. Children with speech and language needs showed a strong intervention response in phoneme awareness and vocabulary learning but needed more support to transfer skills to word decoding and spelling. Implementing the approach earlier in the school year resulted in stronger literacy performance at the year-end for all three groups. The importance of positive speech–language pathologist and teacher collaborations to support a systematic approach to evidence-based foundational literacy teaching is discussed.
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    Exploring the distribution and cognitive profiles of poor readers across varying levels of reading difficulty: implications for identification and support
    (Wiley, 2024-04-25) Sleeman M; Everatt J; Arrow A; Denston A
    Background This study explored the impact of different cut-off points used to identify children with reading difficulties on the distribution of these children across the three poor reader groups predicted by the simple view of reading (dyslexia, specific comprehension difficulty and mixed difficulty). Additionally, the study investigated whether the cognitive profiles of these poor reader groups remained consistent across varying levels of reading impairment. Methods This study included 209 primary school children from New Zealand, in Years 4–6 and aged 8–10 years, who experienced reading comprehension difficulties. Using a two-step cluster analysis, participants were assigned to one of three poor reader groups: dyslexia, specific comprehension difficulty (SCD) and mixed difficulty. We examined the distribution of children across these groups at eight levels of reading comprehension difficulty and conducted strengths and weaknesses profiles at four levels of reading ability across 14 tests that assessed a range of reading-related skills. Additionally, we compared the performance of children in these groups who performed above and below the 10th percentile on a reading comprehension assessment across these tests. Results The results showed that the proportion of children assigned to each group varied across the reading levels, with children at the lower end of the reading comprehension continuum more likely to exhibit the mixed difficulty profile than the SCD and dyslexia profiles. Overall, the research found that dyslexia, SCD and mixed difficulty profiles could be identified at all levels of reading comprehension difficulty, though weaknesses in their reading-related skills increased as reading comprehension difficulties also increased. Conclusions Our findings suggest that struggling readers demonstrate distinct cognitive profiles across all levels of reading ability. These results have important implications for identifying and supporting struggling readers, as well as enhancing our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of reading difficulties. The possible relationship between the results obtained in this study and tiered models of reading support is discussed.
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    Review of the Literature on Speaking and Listening Skills
    (Ministry of Education, 2021-08-31) Denston A
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    Strengthening Socio-Emotional Learning in Aotearoa New Zealand: Teacher and Whānau Understandings of Wellbeing
    (Springer Nature, 17/08/2022) Denston A; Martin R; Fickel LH; O'Toole V
    International data provide evidence of the strong association between socio-emotional learning and wellbeing in students. However, while socio-emotional learning programmes are generally viewed as effective in developing socio-emotional capacities in students, culture is rarely considered within frameworks underpinning such programmes. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the high variability found in schools relating to approaches to develop wellbeing likely reflects universalistic conceptualisations of wellbeing and the low consideration for culture and language in socio-emotional learning. This indicates the need to develop a framework for socio-emotional learning that reflects the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. In the current article, we explore the socio-emotional understandings of teachers, and families and Māori whānau through wānanga and intentional noticing within a design-based research methodology to inform the development of a co-constructed framework for socio-emotional learning. Crucial to socio-emotional learning were the relationships between students, teachers, families and Māori whānau across the learning pathway. Relationships were viewed as being underpinned by communication skills and holding understandings of emotions and emotional states. Overall, culture, language, and identity were viewed by as fundamental to wellbeing and should be at the fore of frameworks for socio-emotional learning, which should be localised within Indigenous understandings of wellbeing.
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    Teacher experiences and perceptions related to developing a culturally and linguistically responsive emergent bilingual literacy program in Aotearoa New Zealand: A collaborative case study
    (Cambridge University Press, 14/12/2022) Denston A; Martin R; Taite-Pitama M; Green A; Gough R; Gillon G
    In this article we discuss teachers’ perceptions and experiences of a collaborative case study to adapt a literacy approach originally designed for an Aotearoa New Zealand English-medium context. The approach was adapted to meet the needs of learners in a school offering differing levels of bilingual education. Our collaboration included a facilitating researcher, supported by two researchers at a University (of Ngāi Tahu, Kati Mamoe, and Waitaha descent) and two classroom teachers of Māori descent from a small rural Māori community in Aotearoa New Zealand. We report findings from qualitative data collected from the two classroom teachers as part of the research process, analysed using a wānanga approach. Findings suggested that developing a linguistically and culturally responsive literacy approach to foster emergent bilingual language development required Kaupapa Māori approaches. These included ako (acknowledging the experiences and knowledge of the teacher and learner within shared learning experiences), the development of trust and quality relationships between the teachers and the facilitating researcher, and the ability of teachers to be agentic when implementing the approach. Teachers viewed responsiveness to culture and language as integral to developing an emergent bilingual literacy approach for children, which underpinned connections between teachers, children, and families.
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    Teachers’ perspectives of social-emotional learning: Informing the development of a linguistically and culturally responsive framework for social-emotional wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2022) Denston A; Martin R; Fickel L; O'Toole V
    Teachers’ understandings of social-emotional wellbeing contribute to developing ways that teachers can engage with students to develop social-emotional skills. This collaborative research project adopted a critical participatory action research methodology, informed by Kaupapa Māori research principles. The perceptions of teachers were explored through wānanga (ethical spaces for research) to inform the development of a co-constructed culturally and linguistically sustaining framework for social-emotional wellbeing. Findings suggested that creating a framework requires being informed by indigenous models of wellbeing. Results suggest that developing such a framework requires teachers to develop understandings of their own social-emotional competencies, as well as their students.
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    The effectiveness of a parent-implemented, phonological awareness programme on the phonological awareness skills of preschool children
    (Springer Nature, 2023-08-01) Bennett H; Denston A; Arrow A
    A child’s early literacy and language skills are the most reliable predictor of future academic achievement. Despite vast amounts of research supporting this link, many children start formal schooling with low early literacy skills. Without intervention or support, these children will likely continue to fall behind their peers. This exploratory study investigated the effectiveness of a parent-led phonological awareness programme (n = 3), implemented at home with their 4-year-old children (n = 4) in Christchurch, New Zealand. This study used an exploratory case study mixed methods design. The programme focused on improving children’s phonological awareness skills by providing parents with readily available activities which taught a range of phonological skills. Parents were supported throughout implementation by the researcher with coaching and modelling. Overall, the study found parents to be effective at implementing the phonological awareness programme and facilitating the development of their children’s emergent literacy skills. Children demonstrated increased phoneme identification, blending and segmenting skills and additional skills not explicitly taught, such as phoneme manipulation. Participation in the programme also positively affected children’s interest in literacy activities, such as reading and writing. Parent reports identified positive effects on children’s articulation, speech, engagement and overall confidence. Parents were positively affected by their participation in the programme, with reports of increased confidence in their English proficiencies and literacy skill development.
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    The identification and classification of struggling readers based on the simple view of reading
    (John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2022-08) Sleeman M; Everatt J; Arrow A; Denston A
    The simple view of reading (SVR) predicts that reading difficulties can result from decoding difficulties, language comprehension difficulties, or a combination of these difficulties. However, classification studies have identified a fourth group of children whose reading difficulties are unexplained by the model. This may be due to the type of classification model used. The current research included 209 children in Grades 3–5 (8–10 years of age) from New Zealand. Children were classified using the traditional approach and a cluster analysis. In contrast to the traditional classification model, the cluster analysis approach eliminated the unexplained reading difficulties group, suggesting that poor readers can be accurately assigned to one of three groups, which are consistent with those predicted by the SVR. The second set of analyses compared the three poor reader groups across 14 measures of reading comprehension, decoding, language comprehension, phonological awareness, and rapid naming. All three groups demonstrated reading comprehension difficulties, but the dyslexia group showed particular weaknesses in word processing and phonological areas, the SCD group showed problems deriving meaning from oral language, and the mixed group showed general deficits in most measures. The findings suggest that the SVR does have the potential to determine reading profiles and differential intervention methods.