Reflections on Phonological Working Memory, Letter Knowledge, and Phonological Awareness: A Reply to Hartmann (2008)

Abstract

Purpose S. Rvachew and M. Grawburg (2006) found that speech perception and vocabulary skills jointly predicted the phonological awareness skills of children with a speech sound disorder. E. Hartmann (2008) suggested that the Rvachew and Grawburg model would be improved by the addition of phonological working memory. Hartmann further suggested that the link between phoneme awareness and letter knowledge should be modeled as a reciprocal relationship. In this letter, Rvachew and Grawburg respond to Hartmann’s suggestions for modification of the model. Method The literature on the role of phonological working memory in the development of vocabulary knowledge and phonological awareness was reviewed. Data presented previously by Rvachew and Grawburg (2006) and Rvachew (2006) were reanalyzed. Results The reanalysis of previously reported longitudinal data revealed that the relationship between letter knowledge and specific aspects of phonological awareness was not reciprocal for kindergarten-age children with a speech sound disorder. Conclusions Phonological working memory, if measured so that relative performance levels do not reflect differences in articulatory accuracy, may not alter the model because of its close correspondence with speech perception skills. However, further study of the hypothesized causal relationships modeled by Rvachew and Grawburg (2006) would be valuable, especially if experimental research designs were used.