“A Ler Vamos…” and “L.E.R. Cãofiante”, with students in the first years of schooling

Abstract

Formal learning pathways of reading are heterogeneous, and difficulties should be considered transient and amenable to intervention. This conceptualization has led to systematic and scientifically based intervention strategies, as used in projet “A Ler Vamos…” and “L.E.R. Cãofiante”, with students in the first years of schooling. Thirty-nine students from the 2nd year of schooling in the municipalities of Matosinhos and Silves participated in the study. They were identified as presenting difficulties in reading learning and were divided into two experimental groups and one control group, with equivalence in their performance before the beginning of the intervention. Experimental group benefited from a bi-weekly intervention to  promote phonological awareness skills, reading decoding and reading fluency. This action was complemented with 15 minutes session using the Graphogame software and took place between November 2016 and May 2017. Intervention’s effectiveness was evaluated through a design with two measures repeated in time and the group factor (using mixed anovas). The analysis of the results shows the effectiveness of scientifically based intervention. In addition to the quantitative results, some of the experimental groups students obtained a very significant evolution, reaching the average performances of their classes throughout the school year. This study validates the intervention carried out in the municipalities of Matosinhos and Silves, which combined effective strategies in promoting basic reading skills with new technologies. In this communication, considerations will be made on intervention’s evaluation, as well as on the activities carried out and the possibility of generalization of these scientifically based interventions.