Early reading in bilingual kindergartners: Can educational television help?

This study examines individual growth rates in phonological awareness and letter-word identification skills over an academic year for 150 Latino English-language learners. In October, February, and June of their kindergarten year, participants completed standardized measures of phonological awareness skills. Before the second and third assessments, one third of the children watched Arthur three times a week during school hours, and another third viewed Between the Lions. The last third did not view either show during school hours. Individual growth modeling analysis show that children who viewed Between the Lions had steeper growth trajectories than those who viewed Arthur for several of the phonological awareness measures. The findings suggest viewing Between the Lions is beneficial to children's early literacy skills.