QUESTIONS/NOTES: Rhyme-Repetition Based Intervention Program

 In the study the children were assigned to one of four intervention conditions (recitation vs listening of
nursery rhyme, relating vs unrelating to the alphabet). Additionally, there was also a control group (non-
linguistic activities were done with them). The study indicated that all intervention groups read faster
compared to the control group one year later (Gr1). The recitation groups were superior to the listening
groups in all study measures (reading and spelling). In the kindergarten phase of the current study, we found
no advantages, in terms of letter knowledge, for the children practicing nursery rhymes related to the
alphabet over children practicing rhymes unrelated to the alphabet immediately after the intervention
program (Eghbaria-Ghanamah et al., 2020). However, long-term benefits of practicing texts related to the
alphabet can still be expected to occur when children attend first grade and start acquiring literacy skills. For
our study, will we then be able to do recitation of either alphabetically related or unrelated nursery rhymes?
 Intervention was done in Arabic. Therefore, cannot use ‘exact programme’.
 Only repeated active recitation, no rhyme identification of production activities. Similar to Harper, but Harper
additionally did ‘arts and crafts’ activities.
 Session structure: A review – reciting all previously learned lines (repeated twice); a practice (learning phase
– reciting three new lines, each line repeated 15 times before moving to the next line; and a summary of the
day’s activity – reciting the three newly learned lines. Typical kindergarten physical activities were inserted
after the seventh repetition of each of the three new nursery rhymes introduced in the session (three
activities per session). The children were asked to stand up, and the activities took place in the classroom.
The activities included jumping in place (2–3 times) or ball throwing and catching rounds (in pairs or with the
trainer). These brief activities were included to keep the children lively and engaged.

 All texts contained rhymes and were supplemented by pictorial illustrations. The nursery rhymes were
developed for the present study by two primary school teachers of Arabic, based on traditional children
rhymes. We can then also use traditional English rhymes?
 The intervention, afforded in the kindergarten, included 10 sessions, two sessions per week, over a period of
5–6 weeks. Each session lasted 30 minutes on nonconsecutive days of the week. All intervention sessions
were carried out in small groups of 4–5 children, in a quiet room in the kindergarten. Perfectly fits our study
 The study focused more on oral language than PA per say.
 Pro of this study than links to our study: ‘Vocal recitations in kindergarten can benefit the mastering of
literacy skills even in a language that differs from the one spoken in the child’s home.’ ‘When comparing the
sociolinguistic situation of Arabic to other situations, some researchers suggest that there are clear parallels
between the diglossic context of Arabic (written and spoken language differ) and the African American
context in the U.S., in which children learn to read and write in Standard American English that differs from
their spoken vernacular’