Effects of instructional intervention programs on reading skills of students with reading difficulties

Abstract

Evaluating the impacts of instructional intervention programs on students with reading difficulties is important for setting guidelines to teachers, researchers, and policy-makers. The aim of this research is to examine how these interventions initiatives impact the reading abilities of students diagnosed with reading difficulties (RD). 38 impact sizes obtained from 17 meta-analysis studies are analysed with second order meta-analysis method. These studies included are carried out between 1999 and 2023, and focus on the effects of instructional intervention programs on the reading abilities of individuals who experience difficulties in reading. Finally, in the analysis, it is decided that the impact of instructional intervention programmes on students with RD is mid-range (g=.50). Also, instructional intervention programs caused important differences according to the type of intervention, quality level, and the year of publication on the reading abilities of individuals with RD. It is determined that comprehension strategy instruction (CSI) intervention programs are more efficient than foundational reading skills instruction (FRSI) and multicomponent instruction (MI) intervention programs. It is necessary to make more experimental studies to determine if instructional interventions cause meaningful differences in terms of the characteristics of participant students. It can also be beneficial to carry out primary meta-analysis studies that test the impact of instructional interventions on the reading abilities of individuals with RD who are determined with standardized tests.