Declining reading skills among Dutch schoolchildren have been visible for a number of years, and the gap between strong and weak readers continues to increase. To identify ways to reduce this gap,...Show moreDeclining reading skills among Dutch schoolchildren have been visible for a number of years, and the gap between strong and weak readers continues to increase. To identify ways to reduce this gap, this study examines what support can be offered to weak readers in addition to regular reading lessons at school. It consists of a between-subject design with two interventions and a control group. The first intervention type (UIL) provided students with explicit reading instructions. The second intervention type (RA) mainly involved reading along with the student, similar to what parents do who read along with children at school. The interventions were given online through Microsoft Teams or Zoom. The effect of the interventions on improving students’ reading skills was examined for three dependent variables: word reading, silent reading and reading aloud. A significant effect was found only for word reading, with students in both the UIL and RA condition performing, on average, significantly better than students in the control condition and with students in the UIL condition performing, on average, significantly better than students in the RA condition. The study concludes that both intervention types did not have the desired effect on improving students’ reading skills as a whole, only on word reading. Further research should examine whether the online format or duration of the study could explain these results.Show less
