Letter knowledge

This study investigates the relationship between letter knowledge and word recognition in first-grade students in Türkiye. Specifically, it examines how students' approaches to letter knowledge (e.g., focusing on letter names vs. sounds) and their tendency to confuse similar letters relate to their performance on letter recognition tasks and pseudoword reading tasks. 172 first-grade students (84 female) participated in the study. The findings show that students who focus on letter names and those who accurately recognize letters in their own names perform better on both types of tasks. Struggling readers were more likely to confuse phonologically or visually similar letters. Furthermore, the similarity effect and proactive and retroactive interference were found to influence students' letter knowledge. Interestingly, students demonstrated higher accuracy in reading letters appearing earlier in the alphabetic sequence. These findings suggest the need for further research and potential adjustments to the alphabet teaching order in Türkiye to better support early literacy development."