English Word Recognition Skills of Elementary School Students

Word recognition plays a critical role in the early stages of L2 reading development. The present study examined the development of English word recognition skills in elementary school students across different grade levels. A total of 206 students in three schools participated in the study, and the schools were located in different regions. Multiple measures were developed and administered individually or in groups to investigate their word recognition skills, including letter naming, phonemic awareness, oral vocabulary, pseudoword decoding, and real word reading. The findings indicated that students’ ability to recognize words gradually improved across the grade levels with sharper increases between grades 4 and 5. However, there was a great deal of variation among individual students within the same grade level, and the so-called English divide was striking even in basic word recognition skills. Correlation analysis revealed that student performances on all measures correlated with each other, suggesting that these component processes may operate in tandem. Subsequent multiple regression analysis identified students’ decoding skill as the strongest predictor of word reading. Direction for further research and some pedagogical implications are suggested.