Does strength of phonological representations predict phonological awareness in preschool children?

2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDITH G. FOY ◽  
VIRGINIA MANN
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Letter Knowledge ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Rhyme Awareness

Previous research has shown a clear relationship between phonological awareness and early reading ability. This article concerns some aspects of spoken language skill that may contribute to the development of phonological awareness, as manifested in rhyme awareness and phoneme awareness. It addresses the hypothesis that phonological awareness abilities are associated with measures that purportedly tap into the strength of phonological representations. We examined rhyme awareness, phoneme awareness, articulatory skill, speech perception, vocabulary, and letter and word knowledge in 40 children, aged 4 to 6, who were just beginning to be exposed to formal reading experiences in private preschools. The children also received cognitive tests and tests of reading ability. The results did not validate strength of phonological representation as a unitary construct underlying phonological awareness more generally, but instead revealed a selective pattern of associations between spoken language tasks and aspects of phonological awareness. Speech perception was closely associated with rhyme awareness measures when age, vocabulary, and letter knowledge were controlled. Children with a less developed sense of rhyme had a less mature pattern of articulation, independent of age, vocabulary, and letter knowledge. Phoneme awareness was associated with phonological perception and production. Children with low phoneme awareness skills showed a different pattern of speech perception and articulation errors than children with strong abilities. However, these differences appeared to be largely a function of age, letter knowledge, and especially vocabulary knowledge.

Home literacy environment and phonological awareness in preschool children: Differential effects for rhyme and phoneme awareness

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
JUDITH G. FOY ◽  
VIRGINIA MANN
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Home Literacy Environment ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Home Literacy ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Letter Knowledge ◽  
Literacy Environment ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Active Involvement

The literature to date suggests that the best predictor of early reading ability, phonological awareness, appears to be associated with the acquisition of letter-sound and vocabulary knowledge and with the development of well-defined phonological representations. It further suggests that at least some aspects of phonological awareness critically depend upon literacy exposure. In this study of 4- to 6-year-olds, we examine whether aspects of the home literacy environment are differentially associated with phonological awareness. Parental responses to a questionnaire about the home literacy environment are compared to children's awareness of rhyme and phonemes, as well as to their vocabulary, letter knowledge, and performance on measures of phonological strength (nonword repetition, rapid naming skill, phonological distinctness, and auditory discrimination). The results showed that a teaching focus in the home literacy environment and exposure to reading-related media are directly associated with phoneme awareness and indirectly associated via letter knowledge and vocabulary. Exposure to reading-related media and parents' active involvement in children's literature were also directly and indirectly linked with rhyme awareness skills via their association with letter and vocabulary knowledge.

2. How to learn to read (or not)

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-33
Author(s):  
Margaret J. Snowling
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Reading Development ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Rapid Naming ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Alphabetic Principle ◽  
Learning To Read

‘How to learn to read (or not)’ looks at the stages through which a child must progress on the journey to literacy and the demands of learning to read. It argues that literacy builds on a foundation of spoken language and emphasizes the importance of the skills a child brings to reading. It also discusses the alphabetic principle, phoneme awareness, learning to spell, reading for meaning, and learning to read in different languages. In summary, a ‘triple foundation’ of symbol knowledge, phonological awareness, and rapid naming ability appears to underpin reading development universally. However, there are also additional predictors that are language-specific.

Facilitating Phoneme Awareness Development in 3- and 4-Year-Old Children With Speech Impairment

2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 308-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail T. Gillon
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Early Literacy ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Letter Knowledge ◽  
Speech Impairment ◽  
Early Literacy Development ◽  
Reading And Spelling

Purpose: This study investigated the phonological awareness and early literacy development of 12 children who presented at 3 years of age with moderate or severe speech impairment. The children’s response to early intervention that included specific activities to facilitate phoneme awareness and letter knowledge, in addition to improving speech intelligibility, was examined. Method: Using a 3-year longitudinal design, the children’s development in phonological awareness was monitored and compared to that of a group of 19 children without speech impairment. During the monitoring period from 3 to 5 years of age, the children with speech impairment received, on average, 25.5 intervention sessions. At 6 years of age, the children’s performance on phonological awareness, reading, and spelling measures was also compared to that of the 19 children without impairment as well as to a matched control group of children with speech impairment who had not received any specific instruction in phonological awareness. Results: The results indicated that (a) phoneme awareness can be stimulated in children with speech impairment as young as 3 and 4 years of age, (b) facilitating phoneme awareness development can be achieved concurrently with improvement in speech intelligibility, and (c) enhancing phoneme awareness and letter knowledge during the preschool years is associated with successful early reading and spelling experiences for children with speech impairment. Clinical Implications: The data provide evidence to support the clinical practice of integrating activities to develop phoneme awareness and letter knowledge into therapy for 3- and 4-year-old children with moderate or severe speech impairment.

scholarly journals Literacy Outcomes for Primary School Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing: A Cohort Comparison Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 701-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Harris ◽  
Emmanouela Terlektsi ◽  
Fiona E. Kyle
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Language And Literacy ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Phonological Skills ◽  
Over Time

Purpose In this study, we compared the language and literacy of two cohorts of children with severe–profound hearing loss, recruited 10 years apart, to determine if outcomes had improved in line with the introduction of newborn hearing screening and access to improved hearing aid technology. Method Forty-two children with deafness, aged 5–7 years with a mean unaided loss of 102 DB, were assessed on language, reading, and phonological skills. Their performance was compared with that of a similar group of 32 children with deafness assessed 10 years earlier and also a group of 40 children with normal hearing of similar single word reading ability. Results English vocabulary was significantly higher in the new cohort although it was still below chronological age. Phonological awareness and reading ability had not significantly changed over time. In both cohorts, English vocabulary predicted reading, but phonological awareness was only a significant predictor for the new cohort. Conclusions The current results show that vocabulary knowledge of children with severe–profound hearing loss has improved over time, but there has not been a commensurate improvement in phonological skills or reading. They suggest that children with severe–profound hearing loss will require continued support to develop robust phonological coding skills to underpin reading.

scholarly journals Orthographic influences, vocabulary development, and phonological awareness in deaf children who use cochlear implants

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
DEBORAH JAMES ◽  
KAUKAB RAJPUT ◽  
JULIE BRINTON ◽  
USHA GOSWAMI
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Orthographic Knowledge ◽  
Important Predictor ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Rhyme Awareness ◽  
Hearing Children

ABSTRACTIn the current study, we explore the influence of orthographic knowledge on phonological awareness in children with cochlear implants and compare developmental associations to those found for hearing children matched for word reading level or chronological age. We show an influence of orthographic knowledge on syllable and phoneme awareness in deaf and hearing children, but no orthographic effect on rhyme awareness. Nonorthographic rhyme awareness was a significant predictor of reading outcomes for all groups. However, whereas receptive vocabulary knowledge was the most important predictor of word reading variance in the cochlear implant group, rhyme awareness was the only important predictor of word reading variance in the reading level matched hearing group. Both vocabulary and rhyme awareness were equally important in predicting reading in the chronological age-matched hearing group. The data suggest that both deaf and hearing children are influenced by orthography when making phonological judgments, and that phonological awareness and vocabulary are both important for reading development.

scholarly journals Reading and Phonological Awareness in Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 463-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine J. Alcock ◽  
Damaris S. Ngorosho ◽  
Matthew C. H. Jukes
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
First Language ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Baseline Study ◽  
Disproportionate Number ◽  
Out Of School

Literacy levels in Africa are low, and school instruction outcomes are not promising. Africa also has a disproportionate number of unschooled children. Phonological awareness (PA), especially phoneme awareness, is critically associated with literacy, but there is little evidence about whether PA is gained through literacy, schooling, or both, because most children studied are in education and can read at least letters. Our previous study of PA and reading in children in and out of school in Tanzania found that PA was associated with reading ability, not schooling or age, and many unschooled children learned to read. We retested 85 children from the baseline study, on measures of PA and literacy, approximately 2 years later. We found that more unschooled children had now learned to read but PA had generally not improved for these children. Unschooled children were still poorer at PA than schooled children. At 2 years, schooling now independently predicted PA and literacy. PA also predicted literacy and vice versa. Explicit phoneme awareness was again poor, even in accurate readers. More unschooled children have now learned to read, possibly because local literacy is in their first language; however, schooling improves reading and PA.

scholarly journals Manipulating word properties: Targeting vocabulary learning for children with and without speech sound inaccuracies

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-121
Author(s):  
Kimberly D McDowell ◽  
Jeri Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Absolute Number ◽  
Neighborhood Density ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Phonotactic Probability

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the relations between speech sound accuracy, vocabulary, and phonological awareness, and (2) to examine the effect of word properties of neighborhood density and phonotactic probability on word learning within a storybook context, for children with and without speech sound inaccuracies. Fifty K–1 children (aged 5–6 years; 25 with, 25 without speech sound inaccuracies) completed inclusionary measures of oral language, speech sound accuracy, hearing screening, oral–motor screening, and nonverbal intelligence. Participants completed study-specific measures of standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary, stimuli-specific vocabulary knowledge, and phonological awareness. Twice weekly, for 30 minutes, an 11-week storybook-based intervention took place, targeting word learning, with words selected based on density and probability. Storybooks were researcher generated to intentionally manipulate the word properties of the stimuli words. Each storybook contained two stimuli words, four exposures per word per reading. Results indicated that both speech sound accuracy and vocabulary predicted unique variance in phonological awareness in children with speech sound inaccuracies. No statistically significant differences in the absolute number of words children learned emerged. Group differences were noted in emerging word knowledge with typically developing children outperforming children with speech sound inaccuracies. Differences were noted in the types of words that children learned. Results suggest that children with speech sound inaccuracies may be at risk for later reading difficulties. Speech language pathologists need to be targeting words that promote change within a child’s phonological system (sublexical) and his/her lexical system.

Effectiveness of Preschool-Wide Teacher-Implemented Phoneme Awareness and Letter-Sound Knowledge Instruction on Code-Based School-Entry Reading Readiness

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karyn L. Carson ◽  
Anne E. Bayetto ◽  
Anna F. B. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Reading Readiness ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Typical Development ◽  
Speech Language Pathologists ◽  
Preschool Program ◽  
Language Difficulties ◽  
Letter Sound

This study investigated the effect of preschool-wide, teacher-implemented, phoneme-focused phonological awareness (PA) and letter-sound knowledge (LSK) instruction, on raising code-based school-entry reading readiness for children with Spoken Language Difficulties (SLD) and Typical Development (TD), when supported by weekly coaching by trainee speech-language pathologists. A total of 90 4-year-old children participated, whereby 50 children, inclusive of 13 children with SLD, received 10 weeks of preschool-wide, teacher-delivered, phoneme-focused PA and LSK instruction. In all, 40 children, inclusive of 10 children with SLD, continued with the usual preschool program. Post-instruction, children in the experimental condition performed significantly higher in phoneme awareness, LSK, and early decoding compared with control children. Children with SLD in the experimental condition performed significantly higher in phoneme awareness and LSK, but not in early decoding, compared with control children with SLD. Overall, preschool-wide, teacher-implemented, phoneme-focused PA and LSK instruction can support code-based reading readiness skills for children with SLD and TD.

scholarly journals An Assessment of Chinese Adult Learners’ English Phonological Awareness

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Hu
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Phoneme Awareness ◽  
Chinese Adult ◽  
Rhyme Awareness ◽  
Chinese English Learners ◽  
Do So

The present study aims to conduct a valid comprehensive assessment of Chinese adult learners’ phonological awareness (PA) in English. To do so, 408 college students were classified into three groups based on their English proficiency; four tasks (oddity, segmentation, blending, and deletion) with varying complexity employed to test all three levels of PA (syllable awareness, onset-rhyme awareness, and phoneme awareness). The results revealed that 1) overall PA improved with English proficiency; 2) among four tasks, only the performances on oddity were not significantly affected by English proficiency; 3) English proficiency attained significance for all three levels of PA; and 4) in terms of subtest where task and PA interacted, English proficiency’s impact was mediated by the complexity of task and level of PA. This study is meant to guide PA researchers on a valid PA assessment and Chinese English teachers on PA training for their Chinese English learners.

scholarly journals Speechreading Ability Is Related to Phonological Awareness and Single-Word Reading in Both Deaf and Hearing Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3775-3785
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Buchanan-Worster ◽  
Mairéad MacSweeney ◽  
Hannah Pimperton ◽  
Fiona Kyle ◽  
Margaret Harris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Single Word Reading ◽  
Hearing Children

Purpose Speechreading (lipreading) is a correlate of reading ability in both deaf and hearing children. We investigated whether the relationship between speechreading and single-word reading is mediated by phonological awareness in deaf and hearing children. Method In two separate studies, 66 deaf children and 138 hearing children, aged 5–8 years old, were assessed on measures of speechreading, phonological awareness, and single-word reading. We assessed the concurrent relationships between latent variables measuring speechreading, phonological awareness, and single-word reading. Results In both deaf and hearing children, there was a strong relationship between speechreading and single-word reading, which was fully mediated by phonological awareness. Conclusions These results are consistent with ideas from previous studies that visual speech information contributes to the development of phonological representations in both deaf and hearing children, which, in turn, support learning to read. Future longitudinal and training studies are required to establish whether these relationships reflect causal effects.

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