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Topic

Examining Early Reading Skills in Native Ewe-speaking Children in Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana

Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies

Date & location

• Tuesday, August 20, 2024

• 9:30 A.M.

• Virtual Defence

Reviewers

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Gina Harrison, Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, ·¬ÇÑÉçÇø (Supervisor)

• Dr. Donna McGhie-Richmond, Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, UVic (Member) 

External Examiner

• Dr. Tim Anderson, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, UVic

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Pable Restrepo Gautier, Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies, UVic

   

Abstract

This study aimed to adapt the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to assess reading abilities in Ewe and English among young learners in the Cape Coast Metropolis. Using a correlational research design, first-grade students (n=42) from two Ewe community schools completed a collection of early literacy measures in English and adapted from English to Ewe. Results from the paired samples t-tests revealed that at one-minute of administration, students performed higher in English Letter Naming Fluency than Ewe Letter Naming Fluency. Yet, no significant differences were found in Phonemic Segmentation Fluency or Word Reading Fluency for both languages. At overall minutes, students’ performance in English Letter Naming Fluency was still higher than Ewe Letter Naming Fluency, with no differences in Phonemic Segmentation Fluency or Word Reading Fluency. Ewe Oral Reading Fluency Accuracy was significantly higher than English Oral Reading Fluency Accuracy. Again, the correlation matrices at both time scales revealed that there were some associations between different fluency measures. However, these relationships varied in strength and significance across languages and tasks. Finally, English Phonemic Segmentation Fluency explained 15% of English Oral Reading Fluency, with Letter Naming Fluency contributing an insignificant 6%, and Word Reading Fluency significantly improving the model by 27%. Ewe Phonemic Segmentation Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency did not significantly explain Ewe Oral Reading Fluency variance, but Ewe Word Reading Fluency explained 12% over a one-minute interval and 39% overall.