Phonological Analysis Skills Research Articles

Young dual language learners’ emergent writing development

ABSTRACTThis study examined how early writing develops in Spanish–English-speaking children of Mexican and Central American descent who are dual language learners (DLLs) in the United States. The emergent writing skills in Spanish and English of 140 preschoolers in a multisite study were assessed using name- and word-writing tasks during the children’s prekindergarten year. A subset of children were assessed in Kindergarten. Findings suggest that Spanish–English DLLs exhibit a similar progression in their conceptualization of writing to monolingual preschool-aged children, progressing from universal to language-specific writing features. Similarities in the development of the conceptualization of the writing systems specific to each of their languages were also observed. Strong cross-linguistic association between writing words in English and Spanish from fall to spring was found in the children’s earlier phases of writing conceptualization. Vocabulary skills also seem to influence their writing development after phonological analysis skills have emerged.

The influence of phonological processing and inattentive behavior on reading acquisition.

This article reports the findings from a longitudinal study investigating the influence of phonological processing and inattentive behavior on reading acquisition. Data from individually administered measures of phonological processing and reading, as well as teacher ratings of children's behavior, were collected from a cohort of 132 children at 12-month intervals, from kindergarten to 2nd grade. Results from multiple linear regression analyses employing latent constructs of phonological abilities and inattentive behavior provided support for the hypothesized model, with kindergarten measures of inattentiveness and phonological abilities predicting subsequent reading performance. An analysis of reciprocal relationships among these constructs revealed evidence that inattentiveness also interfered with the acquisition of phonological analysis skills. Implications for reading instruction and reading interventions are discussed.

Is it memory or phonological difficulty?

ABSTRACT The continuing discussion concerning the relationship between short‐term auditory memory (STAM) skills and phonological difficulties was explored in one subject (aged 12;11) with a residual immature speech pattern, poor auditory and phonological analysis skills, and specific language difficulties. The views to be considered include: (1) That poor STAM reflects a weak knowledge of language (Bloom & Lahey, 1978); (2) That poor storage within STAM results in language difficulties (Gathercole & Baddeley, 1990); (3) That phonological processing difficulties lead to imitations in the phonological component of working memory (Brady, 1991); or (4) That there is a disassociation of phonological processing skills and STAM (Pennington, Van Orden, Kirson & Haith, 1991). A battery of five experiments to test components of the working memory model designed by Gathercole and Baddeley (1990) was administered. These consisted of non‐word repetition, serial word recall of phonologically similar and phonologically dissimilar words, an auditory discrimination task, and two tests to assess speech rate. The first two tests are felt to assess phonological memory skills. The tests had previously been administered to a group of 10‐year‐old dyslexic subjects and their normal age‐matched controls by Nicolson and Fawcett (personal communication).The subject converted non‐words to real words or phrases retaining the syllable structure. He did not show evidence of a phonological similarity effect, indicating that he may have been relying on information other than phonological. He displayed some phonological discrimination difficulties. His articulation time was slower than the dyslexic subjects and the controls, especially for long words. His voice latency was difficult to evaluate. It appears from this evidence that the subject was attempting to use his weak phonological skills, but was supporting these with other, possibly semantic, skills.The results appear to indicate that the subject has a weak phonological store in his working memory. It is difficult to argue, though, that the capacity of the phonological store has affected the subject's auditory and phonological difficulties. It would appear that perceptual and phonological processing difficulties have resulted in the subject attempting to utilise other linguistic skills available when pressured to analyse speech. This explanation would reinforce the arguments of Bloom and Lahey (1978) or Brady (1991). This allows the professionals working with the subject to consider multiple strategies for word recall, analysis and manipulation, possibly drawing on the semantic strategies he is already developing.

Phonological Analysis Skills, Verbal Working Memory, and Reading Ability in Second-Grade Children

This study tested the hypothesis that phonological analysis skills make a unique contribution to reading ability against the hypothesis that one latent phonological factor underlies the assocations among analysis skills, verbal working memory skills, and reading achievement. Hierachical multiple regression analyses examined the unique contributions of phonological analysis and verbal working memory measures to the prediction of 3 measures of concurrent reading ability in 68 second‐grade children (mean age 7 years 4 months). Phonological analysis and verbal working memory measures each accounted for unique variation in each of the 3 reading measures. In addition, phonological analysis measures, but not verbal working memory measures, were particularly strong predictors of pseudoword reading skills. These results suggest that, although phonological analysis and verbal working memory skills share a substantial amount of common variance, phonological analysis and verbal working memory tasks do tap somewhat different reading‐related skills. Copyright

Phonological Analysis Skills, Verbal Working Memory, and Reading Ability in Second-Grade Children

Phonological Analysis Skills, Verbal Working Memory, and Reading Ability in Second-Grade Children

Components of Reading Skill in Postkindergarten Precocious Readers and Level-Matched Second Graders

Precocious readers are children who have made exceptionally rapid progress in beginning literacy. This study of precocious readers was designed to describe their skills in two ways: (a) by identifying any special strengths or weaknesses in precocious readers' component skills, relative to the skills of older but less rapidly developing readers, and (b) by identifying the extent to which individual differences in the skill patterns of precocious readers are multidimensional. The cognitive, word-reading, and text-reading skills of 116 postkindergarten precocious readers were compared with those of 123 second graders, mostly above-average readers, who were matched with the precocious readers on reading comprehension level. The two groups were compared using multiple-indicator modeling techniques. The same factor pattern accounted for the performance of both groups on a set of 29 measures. Therefore, comparisons of factor mean levels and factor covariances were interpretable. No meaningful weaknesses were identified in the average skill pattern of postkindergarten precocious readers. Their strengths tended to mirror weaknesses often identified among disabled readers. Precocious readers are especially rapid text readers, and they also are accurate identifiers of individual words, able to draw on strong phonological analysis skills as well as orthographic processes. However, covariances between orthographic and phonological word identification and between oral text-reading accuracy and effectiveness were lower for precocious than for second-grade readers, suggesting a diversity of skill patterns among highly able beginning readers.

A Reading-Level Design Study of Phonological Skills Underlying Fourth-Grade Children's Word Reading Difficulties

A 3-group reading-level design was used to investigate phonological analysis, verbal working memory, and pseudoword reading performance in less skilled fourth-grade readers. Children were given phonological oddity tasks assessing their sensitivity to subsyllabic and phonemic units, together with standardized tests of verbal working memory and pseudoword reading. Less skilled fourth-grade readers performed lower than both chronological age and reading-level controls on the phonological oddity and pseudoword reading tests. Less skilled fourth-grade readers performed at the same level as skilled second-grade readers on a test of verbal working memory. Skilled fourth-grade readers scored higher than both other groups on this test. Correlational analyses were consistent with the view that phonological analysis skills contribute more strongly than verbal working memory skills to children's decoding abilities.

Visual and phonological processing of words: a comparison of good and poor readers.

At the beginning of the school year, 80 first graders, half receiving phonics instruction and half receiving whole word instruction, were asked to spell, read aloud, and recognize 60 regular and exception words. A standardized reading test and phoneme segmentation test were also administered. Those above grade level in reading excelled in phonological recording and application of grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules and were weaker in utilization of visual-orthographic knowledge. Those below grade level applied visual more than phonological coding and benefited from the visual-orthographic knowledge available in a clue word. Results support a continuum of visual and phonological analysis skills in first-grade reading consistent with Frith's (1985) logographic, alphabetic, and orthographic skill levels.

Relationships between word decoding speed, general name-retrieval ability, and reading progress in first-grade children.

A discrete-trial reaction time methodology was employed in order to measurethe speed with which skilled and less-skilled readers named colors, pictures,numbers, letters, and words. Words were the only stimulus type that theskilled readers named more rapidly. The equality of naming times for colors,pictures, and numbers suggests that a general name retrieval deficit, suggestedby earlier studies of dyslexic children, does not appear to be characteristic ofless-skilled nondyslexic children. Instead, the marked word decoding speeddifference, in conjunction with the lack of a letter naming difference betweenthe two groups, supports previous research that has suggested that phonologi-cal analysis skills may be important determinants of early reading acquisi-tion.