A Quasi-Experimental Study of Letter-Sound and Sight-Word Recognition among School Students with Dyslexia

Abstract

Dyslexia is a specific knowledge difficulty that is often associated with the development of accurate also fluent word reading skills. Word reading includes both letter-sound recognition and sight-word recognition. Students must be able to recognize familiar words quickly and have solid letter-sound relationships. The present study examined letter-sound and sight-word recognition of school students with dyslexia using a quasi-experimental research design with eighty students: forty students in the experimental group and forty students in the control group. A pre-test and post-test control group design was used. The experimental group was provided with structured teaching strategies to enhance word-reading skills, whereas the control group received conventional instructional practices. Letter-sound and sight-word skills were measured prior to and following the intervention. Letter-sound and sight-word scores were analyzed in separate analyzes of covariance (ANCOVA) with the respective pre-test score as the covariate. For letter-sound, the adjusted posttest scores were 14.095 for the control group and 17.355 for the experimental group. The ANCOVA indicated a significant difference between groups, F (1, 77) = 116.499, p < .001, η2 = .602. The adjusted post-test means for sight words were 5.853 for the control group & 6.622 for the experimental group. The ANCOVA also revealed a statistically prove with significant difference, F (1, 77) = 15.191, p < .001, η² = .165. Results suggest that the structured instructional approach was associated with significantly greater adjusted post-test performance in both letter-sound and sight-word recognition. This paper highlights the importance of teaching specific aspects of word reading to students with dyslexia.