A Meta-Analysis of the Long-Term Effects of Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, and Reading Comprehension Interventions

• Published in: Journal of learning disabilities Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 77 - 96
• Main Author: Suggate, Sebastian P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2016; SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Attrition; Coding; Comprehension; Comprehension - physiology; Control Groups; Dosage; Effect Size; Elementary Secondary Education; Experimental Groups; Fluency; Humans; Intervention; Kindergarten; Kindergarten students; Language; Language Therapy - statistics & numerical data; Learning disabilities; Literature Reviews; Long term; Maintenance; Meta Analysis; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) - statistics & numerical data; Phonemic Awareness; Phonemics; Phonics; Preschool children; Program Effectiveness; Program Evaluation; Quasiexperimental Design; Reading; Reading Comprehension; Reading Difficulties; Reading Fluency; Reading Instruction; Reading Skills; Research design; Research Methodology; Short term; Special education; Student Characteristics; Systematic review; phonics; reading intervention; fluency; phonemic awareness; comprehension; decoding; long-term
• ISSN: 0022-2194; 1538-4780; 1538-4780
• DOI: 10.1177/0022219414528540

Much is known about short-term—but very little about the long-term—effects of reading interventions. To rectify this, a detailed analysis of follow-up effects as a function of intervention, sample, and methodological variables was conducted. A total of 71 intervention-control groups were selected (N = 8,161 at posttest) from studies reporting posttest and follow-up data (M = 11.17 months) for previously established reading interventions. The posttest effect sizes indicated effects (dw = 0.37) that decreased to follow-up (dw = 0.22). Overall, comprehension and phonemic awareness interventions showed good maintenance of effect that transferred to nontargeted skills, whereas phonics and fluency interventions, and those for preschool and kindergarten children, tended not to. Several methodological features also related to effect sizes at follow-up, namely experimental design and dosage, and sample attrition, risk status, and gender balance.