A Meta Analysis of the Long Term Effects of Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, and Reading Comprehension Interventions
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.
Journal of learning disabilities