Phonological awareness skills in young African American English speakers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine African American children’s performance on a phonological awareness task that included items reflecting differences between African American English (AAE) and mainstream American English. The relationship between spoken production of AAE forms and performance on phonological awareness, vocabulary, and letter-word recognition tasks was also investigated. Analyses indicated that children who produced fewer AAE features in speech performed significantly different from those who produced AAE features more frequently on the experimental phonological awareness task. Furthermore, analyses showed that the relationship between spoken AAE production and phonological awareness was partially mediated, while the relationship with letter-word recognition was fully mediated. Overall, the results suggest a direct relation between spoken AAE use and phonological awareness and an indirect relation with letter-word reading.