Growth, stability and predictors of word reading accuracy in European Portuguese: A longitudinal study from Grade 1 to Grade 4

Published Online: 18 October 2019 This study investigated the trajectories of word reading performance in European Portuguese from Grade 1 to Grade 4. First, we examined the developmental trajectories of students ’ word reading performance; second, we tested the influence of students ’ demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status on their word reading performance growth, as well as the existence of differences in the trajectories of typical readers and at-risk readers; and third, we analyzed the stability of word reading performance. A word reading test was administered to 269 Portuguese students at the end of each grade. The results suggested a cubic trend in word reading performance growth. Differences in word reading as a function of gender, school social action (SSA) coverage, maternal education and risk of reading failure were identified. A low stability of word reading performance across elementary school grades is also suggested. Implications for research on word reading skills and educational practices are discussed. This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013) and Research Centre on Child Studies (CIEC; UID/CED/00317/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) with the references POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562. The first, second and fourth authors are also supported by grants from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (references SFRH/BPD/102549/2014, SFRH/BD/78546/2011 and SFRH/BD/94763/2013, respectively).