Profiles of learner readers and their early literacy skills and environmental predictors: a large-scale longitudinal study from preschool to grade 1

As part of the French national cohort ELFE, a two-year longitudinal study was conducted and children’s literacy skills were assessed twice ( N = 2,767), namely at end preschool (t1) Grade 1 (t2). At t1, letter-name knowledge (LNK), phonological (PhoSk) vocabulary t2, phonemic segmentation, word reading, listening reading comprehension. Latent profile analyses t2 resulted in five profiles, ranging from good readers (48.8%), to average above mean (16.2%), with very low awareness skill (8.2%), poor comprehension (19.4%), general difficulties (7.4%). Two early (LNK PhoSk) two environmental variables (parents’ educational level household income) constituted predictors membership profile. However, home practices also predicted reader/poor reader albeit lower level.