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Factors associated with lowercase alphabet naming in kindergarteners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2012

FRANCIS L. HUANG  and
MARCIA A. INVERNIZZI
FRANCIS L. HUANG*
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
MARCIA A. INVERNIZZI
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Francis L. Huang, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903. E-mail: fhh2b@virginia.edu
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Abstract

We investigated five hypotheses related to the successful naming of lowercase letters. Participants included 5,020 first-time kindergarteners from economically disadvantaged homes who previously attended publicly funded preschools. Results analyzed using three-level logistic regression showed that children have a higher probability of correctly identifying letters that appear in their own name and letters that appear frequently in print. In addition, lowercase letter shape similarity to its uppercase counterpart and letter order were also associated with the correct identification of the letter. Finally, if a lowercase letter had a visual and phonological resemblance to other letters, students had a lower probability of identifying the letter correctly. Implications for instruction are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 35 , Issue 6 , November 2014 , pp. 943 - 968
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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