The influence of early literacy instruction on children's learning in kindergarten.

Research suggests that children need both phonics and whole language experience in learning to read although there is little empirical evidence showing that instruction incorporating both approaches is more effective than either one used alone. This study closes this gap in the existing literature by examining the effect of each approach as well as the interaction between them. Specifically, using data from the base year of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998--99 (ECLS-K), this study investigates the impact of early literacy instruction on kindergarten children's learning defined in terms of both the product and process of learning, as well as the social aspect of children's learning. Three child outcomes at the end of kindergarten are examined in this study: direct cognitive test scores, indirect teacher ratings of children's achievement in language and literacy on the Academic Rating Scale, and indirect teacher ratings of children's approaches to learning according to the Social Rating Scale. Four composite measures of instructional approaches are constructed from teachers' reports of their instructional practices in the teacher survey: phonics, teacher-directed instruction, integrated language arts, and advanced writing. The analytic sample includes a nationally representative sample of 13,609 kindergarten children in 2,690 classrooms and 788 schools. Within a multilevel framework of school effects research, this study employs three-level HLM models (children nested within classrooms within schools), which is most appropriate for the research questions and nested data used in the study. The findings from this study strongly support the notion of comprehensive early literacy instruction. Children learned significantly more at the end of kindergarten in classrooms where teachers reported using both integrated language arts and phonics more often. Children also displayed more optimal approaches to learning in classrooms where more integrated language arts and phonics occurred. This suggests that effective teachers use the combination of integrated language arts and phonics rather than either approach alone. In addition, this study also found that children from low-SES families learned more in classrooms where there were more teacher-directed instruction and fewer behavior problems taking place. Implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed.