Phonologically Based Reading Intervention for Undergraduate English Learners At-Risk of Reading Difficulties: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Researchers have reported that English language learners (ELLs) may be at risk of reading difficulties in thepostsecondary setting. Although some students may only require explicit content-related vocabulary instruction andsupport with comprehension strategies in order to enhance comprehension, others may benefit from targeted shortterm intervention in foundational reading skills. In this study, we examined whether a phonologically based readingintervention for undergraduate ELLs at-risk of reading difficulties would result in significant between-group differencesfor the proximal variables of decoding and sight word recognition and the distal variable of reading comprehension.This pilot quasi-experimental group design study involved 9 participants (treatment = 6/control = 3) from variousL1 backgrounds, including Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic. Effect sizes were calculated for the proximal variables usingmeasures of word attack and letter-word identification, and the distal variable based on a measure of passagecomprehension. Although a small and small-medium effect were calculated for the measures of word attack and letterword identification, respectively, no effect was found for the measure of passage comprehension. Implications relatedto intervention dosage and additional intervention components are discussed.