Development and standardization of phonological awareness test for Hindi-speaking 3 to 6 year old kindergarten children (PATH-KG)

Abstract

Abstract Purpose: Development of phonological awareness skills plays an important role in acquiring early literacy skills. This study aimed to develop a psychometrically sound tool to measure phonological awareness skills of 3–6 years old native Hindi-speaking children aged of 3–6 years. Materials and Methods: Tasks were extracted at different linguistic levels. The test items were selected and sent for a familiarity check with teachers. The development and standardization of the test followed a systematic procedure, including randomized sample selection, expert judgment to evaluate items, face and content validity analysis, determination of I-CVI and kappa, reexamining the items after two rounds of judgment by experts, pilot study, analysis of the descriptive measures including the t test, and calculation of Cronbach α and SEm. The test–retest reliability was also measured. The test was developed and standardized for Hindi-speaking 3–6-year-old children (N = 270). Results: The Cronbach α was computed as 0.81, indicating high internal consistency. The standard error of the measurement indicating the reliability of the test was found to be 0.70. Pearson’s r for the test–retest correlation for the three age groups was found to be ≥0.78. Descriptive statistical measures were computed and data were analyzed for comparison across age and gender. Conclusions: With adequate content validity, good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, the developed test represents a standardized assessment tool for native Hindi-speaking 3–6-year-old children. With this test, children with deficient phonological awareness skills and at risk of reading difficulties can be identified early for timely intervention.