title: Replicability of sight word training and phonics training in poor readers: a randomised controlled trial.
abstract: Given the importance of effective treatments for children with reading impairment, paired with growing concern about the lack of scientific replication in psychological science, the aim of this study was to replicate a quasi-randomised trial of sight word and phonics training using a randomised controlled trial (RCT) design. One group of poor readers (N = 41) did 8 weeks of phonics training (i.e., phonological decoding) and then 8 weeks of sight word training (i.e., whole-word recognition). A second group did the reverse order of training. Sight word and phonics training each had a large and significant valid treatment effect on trained irregular words and word reading fluency. In addition, combined sight word and phonics training had a moderate and significant valid treatment effect on nonword reading accuracy and fluency. These findings demonstrate the reliability of both phonics and sight word training in treating poor readers in an era where the importance of scientific reliability is under close scrutiny.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Macquarie University, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McArthur
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Macquarie University, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohnen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Macquarie University, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Macquarie University, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Eve
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Macquarie University, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Banales
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Macquarie University, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders , Macquarie University, NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castles
keywords: Dyslexia; Phonics; Poor readers; Randomised controlled trial; Reading; Sight words