Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Emergent Literacy Activities In Preschool Years : The Effects Of Explicit Instruction On Rhyming And Narrative Development, Kristie Dawn Callihan

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Reading, a vitally important skill, develops early in a young child’s life. Research suggests that strong phonological awareness and narrative skills predict reading success. Using children’s literature that emphasized either rhymes (one of the earliest phonological awareness skills to emerge) or narrative structure, this study examined the effect of explicit teaching of rhymes and narrative structure on young children’s improvement in the ability to recognize and generate rhyming words and on improvement in the sophistication of narrative retellings. The results of this study, as well as the implications these findings have for speech-language pathologists and the need for further research, …