Phonological Awareness Test Research Articles

Linear and nonlinear processing of Hebrew templatic words: the role of metalinguistic awareness

Abstract While universal linguistic theories advocate linear processing of words across languages, psycholinguistic research of Semitic templatic words supports the nonlinear processing into the root and template, mainly due to semantic specifications related to the root and the morphological awareness needed in the tasks. The present study examined whether the root and template affect the word processing of Hebrew native speakers due to metalinguistic awareness regardless of semantics. We designed an auditory rhyme judgment task, a phonological awareness test that requires linear processing and reduces semantics. The task included Hebrew CVCVC templatic word pairs comprising varying root and template phonemes, transposed-phoneme roots emphasizing phonological cooccurrence restrictions, and identical phoneme roots accentuating lexical-syntactic information pronounced in the vocalic melody templates. Findings revealed low accuracy rates in rhyming pairs, particularly those with accentuated linguistic information, indicating distraction from linear processing. However, the accuracy distributions among participants and between and within the stimulus types showed that linear processing also occurred. These results suggest that both linear and nonlinear processing modes are accessible to native Hebrew speakers. The study aligns with models of the mental lexicon proposing dynamic language processing influenced by both linguistic and non-linguistic factors, highlighting the idiosyncratic nature of word processing strategies.

초등 읽기부진 아동의 음운인식과 인지기능 요인 간의 관계 분석

The purpose of this study is to provide basic data for acquiring phonological awareness of children with poor reading by grasping the relationship between phonological perception and cognitive function factors of children with poor reading skills in elementary school. The subjects of this study were analyzed with 95 students enrolled in the 1st to 6th grades of elementary school commissioned by four regional education support offices in Jeollanam-do for poor reading. The analysis results are as follows. First, as a result of conducting an independent sample t-test to verify the difference between the measurement variables through intelligence tests, attention tests, and phonological awareness tests of children with poor reading in elementary school, there was a significant difference between grades(low grades, upper grades) in attention and phonological awareness. Second, as a result of conducting correlation analysis to find out the relationship between phonological awareness and measurement factors of children with poor reading in elementary school, attention, language understanding, and working memory had a significant positive correlation. Third, as a result of conducting hierarchical multiple regression analysis to find out the relative influence of the measurement variables on the phonological awareness of children with poor reading in elementary school, it was found that selective attention and working memory abilities had the greatest influence on phonological awareness.

The Effect of PA Intervention through Remote Collaboration for CCK

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effects of a phonological awareness and phonics intervention through remote collaboration between SLPs and teachers on the decoding skills of children from multicultural families with poor reading in the lower grades of elementary school. Methods: In this study, a multi-probe design was used to verify the effect of the intervention. The subjects were 3 multicultural children with poor reading skills (grades 1-2) and 3 teachers for each child. Their reading skills were examined through tests of phonological awareness and decoding (word level) in the baseline, intervention, and maintenance phases. Additionally, tests of decoding (sentence level) were conducted in the generalization phase to examine generalization at the sentence level. In this study, SLPs provided instruction to each child twice a week and also provided guide videos to each teacher once a week for 2 months. Results: All children were found to have high improvements in decoding skills (word level) and phonological awareness skills. Additionally, as a result of standardized reading and writing test (QRW), all children’s post-intervention raw scores were improved in all areas. In the generalization phase, all children showed improvements in decoding skills (sentence level). In the maintenance phase, all children were found to have a large effect size. Conclusion: The results show that phonological awareness and phonics intervention through remote collaboration between two experts had positive effects on the decoding skills of multicultural children with poor reading. Also, this intervention improved teachers’ teaching efficacy. Thus, the implementation of studies for collaboration between experts is suggested.

How relations between early reading skills and third-grade mathematics outcomes vary across distribution: A quantile regression approach.

Early reading skills are critical for later academic outcomes, which include mathematics. Yet, these relations may vary by a child's ability level. This study examined how early reading skills relate to different levels of third-grade mathematics. The samples included 105 same-sex twin pairs (210 individuals, 57% female, 43% male) from the ongoing longitudinal Western Reserve Reading and Math Projects, assessed at kindergarten (M = 6.18, SD = 0.44) and third grade (M = 9.07, SD = 0.49). Kindergarten reading measures consisted of the Letter Identification task from the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised Normative Update, the Deletion subtests from Phonological Awareness Test, and the Letter Naming Fluency task from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills; third-grade math measures included Calculation, Fluency, Applied Problem, and Quantitative Concepts subtests of Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. Both linear and quantile regressions were conducted using reading measures as predictors and math measures as the dependent variables. Linear regressions indicated that the Deletion Summary Score was a unique predictor of Applied Problems, and Letter Naming Fluency was a significant and unique predictor of Calculation Fluency and Quantitative Concepts. Quantile regressions provided a more thorough analysis of these relations. It was found that Letter Naming Fluency was significantly associated with Calculation, Calculation Fluency, and Quantitative Concepts at the lower level. The Deletion Summary Score had relatively stable relations with Applied Problems across all levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

"Speech Is Golden": The Importance of Colloquial Arabic for Reading Standard Arabic for Beginning Readers.

We investigated the role of spoken language in the acquisition of literacy in the context of Arabic diglossia, where the written language, Standard Arabic, deviates substantially from the spoken language, Colloquial Arabic, children acquire naturally from birth. The participants (N = 110; 40 girls) were Saudi Arabic-speaking children in Grades 2-4. Children completed assessments of oral paragraph reading and word decoding using a vowelized script. They also completed three spoken assessments of Colloquial Arabic, which include sentence comprehension, sentence completion, and pragmatic knowledge, as well as a test of phonological awareness. We used path analysis to investigate the contributions of each of the spoken language indicators, decoding, and phonological awareness to reading comprehension (RC) in single and multiple serial mediator models. We found that spoken language (i.e., sentence comprehension, sentence completion, and pragmatic knowledge) and word decoding uniquely contributed to RC. Moreover, word decoding mediated the association between spoken language and RC. The path from spoken language to phonological awareness, then to word decoding, and finally to RC was inconclusive. While most studies on literacy acquisition in the context of Arabic diglossia focus on the linguistic distance between the colloquial (spoken) and the standard (written) language varieties, our results highlight the important contribution of spoken language skills to reading skills in Arabic despite this linguistic gap. The important implication of these findings is that spoken language interventions aimed at boosting children's narrative language skills in their home language (Colloquial Arabic) are an important tool for building a foundation for literacy in diglossia contexts.

Visual attention and phonological processing in children with developmental language disorder

IntroductionDevelopmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a neurobiological condition characterized by insufficient language and communication development, with no underlying physical, sensory, or cognitive explanations. A prominent feature among children with DLD is their struggle with phonological processing, a pivotal skill for later reading proficiency. Recent research suggests that children with DLD may also exhibit impairments in various non-linguistic cognitive abilities, including memory, attention, and perception. Of particular importance is visual attention, which plays a critical role in integrating visual perceptual information with diverse cognitive and linguistic processes.ObjectiveTo characterize visual attention during phonological processing tasks in Colombian children with DLD.MethodologyThis study employed a cross-sectional descriptive experimental design involving 20 children diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and 20 children without language difficulties. All participants underwent language, vocabulary, and phonological awareness tests. Additionally, an experimental task utilizing the eye-tracking method was designed and administered to measure phonological processing with phonological and lexical distractors.ResultsChildren with DLD exhibited diminished performance on phonological awareness tasks, as evidenced by their lower scores. This was further supported by the experimental phonological processing task, where an interference effect was observed in the presence of lexical distractors for word recognition, but not with phonological distractors.ConclusionChildren with DLD demonstrated deficiencies in both phonological awareness and visual attention skills during linguistic and phonological processing tasks. They also exhibit reduced sensitivity in identifying phonological relations such as rhyme. The study discusses these findings along with their clinical implications, emphasizing the importance of assessing online processing abilities in children with DLD and considering the influence of other cognitive abilities on their linguistic performance.

Co-occurrence and cognitive basis of low language and low reading skills in children speaking a transparent language

AbstractWe investigated the comorbidity of low language and reading skills in 6- to 8-year-old monolingual Polish-speaking children (N = 962) using three different approaches: norming data to determine the prevalence of co-morbid difficulties, group comparisons of profiles on key cognitive-linguistic measures, and a case series analysis examining the frequency of single versus multiple deficits. We identified four groups of children based on their oral language and reading skills: children with low oral language skills alone, low reading skills alone, comorbid low language/reading skills, and typically developing chronological-age controls. We characterized the four groups (n = 38 per group) in terms of oral language and reading skills measured with normed test batteries, and in terms of the cognitive-linguistic profiles measured by the phonological awareness test (PA), rapid automatized naming test (RAN), and nonword repetition tests (NWR). We found that 24–31% of children with one type of difficulty had comorbid difficulties in the other domain. All groups differed significantly in cognitive-linguistic profiles. For each measure, the comorbid group had the lowest results. The group of children with isolated low language skills had better results than the comorbid group in (1) Sentence repetition (sub-test in an oral language test), (2) discrimination-based, blending-based, and elision-based PA sub-tests, (3) RAN (both digits and letters). The group with isolated low reading skills had better results than the comorbid group in: (1) discrimination-based PA sub-test, (2) NWR tests. The results indicate differences in cognitive-linguistic profiles between the groups with low language and/or low reading skills. They highlight the need to control for both types of difficulties in researching low language and/or reading skills, and to screen for comorbid issues while diagnosing children.

The Relationship between Auditory Analysis and Dictation Skills among Jordanian Fourth-Grade Students with Learning Difficulties.

This study aims to explore the skills of Jordanian Arabic-speaking fourth graders with learning difficulties in terms of auditory analysis and dictation tests. It mainly aims to investigate the relationship between students' abilities to perform auditory analyses and dictation tests. The sample in the study consists of 110 Jordanian fourth graders, who are then divided into 54 students with learning difficulties who are diagnosed as having a satisfactory level of reading and writing and 56 typically developing students. The students are asked to respond to two tests, the auditory analysis and the phonological awareness test, which are prepared by the researcher himself. The results demonstrate a statistically significant positive correlation between the auditory analysis and dictation skills of fourth-grade students with learning difficulties. This means that improving the auditory analysis skills corresponds to an increase in the dictation skills of these students. The results also reveal a statistically significant correlation between auditory analysis and dictation skills in typically developing students.

THE STUDENTS PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS ON READING COMPREHENSION AT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

This research aims to find out the significant correlation between students` phonological awareness and reading comprehension at senior high school. This research employs a descriptive quantitative research design. The research population consisted of 21 samples from Ma Pesantren Al-Tenth Qamar's grade. Purposive sampling was used, and data was collected using phonological awareness and reading comprehension tests. The data was analyzed using SPSS 25.0 by the researcher. The average of the phonological awareness test was 79,28, and the average of the reading comprehension test was 72,85, based on findings of this study. At the 0.05 level of significance, the correlation coefficient was 0.711. The correlation coefficient (0.711) was within the range of 0.600 - 0.800, indicating that the interpretation of correlation could be classified as enough. Based on the findings, it was possible to conclude that the correlation coefficient Ha was accepted. As a result, there was a strong relationship between students' phonological awareness and reading comprehension

The acquisition of a novel phonetic category in a foreign language setting: Input versus phonological awareness

Input-related factors are fundamental for the acquisition of new second language (L2) phones (e.g., Flege et al., 1995). Nonetheless, evidence from instructional settings suggests that, in foreign language contexts, input alone may not be sufficient for the formation of new phonetic categories. In the present study, we investigated to what extent the acquisition of a novel L2 phone (/ð/) is associated with input-related variables and phonological awareness. First language (L1) Brazilian Portuguese speakers of English answered a language background, a phonological self-awareness questionnaire, and completed a paragraph reading task and a phonological awareness test. The recordings were submitted to acoustic analysis and accuracy assessment by Brazilian teachers of English. Linear mixed-effects models revealed that perceived accuracy was predicted by input quality and phonological self-awareness, suggesting that greater interaction with L1 speakers of the target language and heightened phonological self-awareness play an important role in the acquisition of the tested L2 phone.

EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH AND ADULT EFL LEARNERS’ PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS

This study examines the duration of adult EFL learners’ extramural English activities related to their phonological awareness. For this purpose, (Indonesian, N = 32, 3 males and 29 females) learners participated in the study. After analyzing the questionnaires and the phonological awareness test using the non-parametric (Spearman) correlation, the result showed a strong positive correlation between the amount of time the adult EFL learners spend for spoken and written extramural English activities and their phonological awareness ability. The extramural English activities they mainly engage in are dealing with technology. The findings call for future research examining the effect of extramural English on phonological awareness and other possible English components or skills.

Impact of Age on Reading Abilities in Egyptian Children with Unilateral Cochlear Implant

Abstract Background Reading problems means difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols. Children with cochlear implants generally suffer from reading problems which have been partly attributed to underlying deficit in phonological awareness. Chronological age represents important factor that affects their reading abilities. Aim of the Work This work aims to assess reading abilities in cochlear implant school children in order to highlight their reading problem profile, as to consider such problems in earlier years of life. This would subsequently solve their expected academic delay. Subjects and Methods This study was applied on 30 Egyptian Arabic-speaking children with unilateral cochlear implant in the age range between 5 to 11 years old. All of them underwent audiological evaluation, psychometric evaluation, Phonological Awareness Test, and Arabic Reading Screening Test (ARST). Results Analysis of the results of the participated children to the phonological awareness test and Arabic reading screening test, revealed that the majority of the studied patients were below the 5th percentile in all sub items of both tests. This indicates that cochlear implanted children have reading problems. There is positive correlation between most of subitems of both tests and chronological age of children. Conclusion and recommendation Cochlear implanted children had poor scores in phonological awareness test and Arabic reading screening test, their reading abilities were extremely impaired. Chronological age may be considered a factor that affects this relation. This higher susceptibility to reading problems as well as the importance of reading for their academic careers should be considered in their rehabilitation plan.

Development of Phonological Processing Test in Marathi (PPT-M) for Young Adults

IntroductionCentral auditory processing and phonological processing are interconnected as they both involve successful intertwining of auditory, cognitive, and language mechanisms. A deficit in the ability to process spoken language can result in CAPD. The aim of this study was to develop a test (PPT-M) to evaluate the level of phonological processing among young Marathi-speaking adults. A second aim was to investigate the difference in the phonological processing of words and non-words.Material and methodsThe PPT-M test included three subtests: phonological awareness, phonological working memory, and phonological retrieval. For the awareness and memory tasks, the stimulus was words and non-words, whereas rapid automatised naming (RAN) of digits and letters was used to assess the retrieval task. Data was collected from 40 young adults aged 18 to 25 years. We recorded accuracy and time taken to complete the tasks.ResultsResults of item analysis suggest that the developed tool has good reliability. No significant gender effect was observed. A stimulus effect was observed for the phonological processing test.ConclusionsThe Phonological Processing Test in Marathi (PPT-M) has good internal consistency and reliability. Words and non-words are processed differently and the time required to respond to both varies. There were no gender differences. In the phonological awareness test, blending and segmentation tasks required more time to complete and had reduced accuracy.

Pre-skills of reading and writing in children with developmental language disorder and children with typical language development

<p>Introduction. In addition to the development of spoken language, typical intellectual abilities, preservation of the senses of hearing and sight, phonological awareness and the ability of graphomotor expression are necessary for mastering the skills of reading and writing. With this in mind, the aim of this research is to determine the level of phonological awareness and the ability of graphomotor expression in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and children with typical language development (TLD). Methods. The sample consisted of 46 children aged five to seven years, who were divided into two groups based on the status of speech and language abilities. The first group consisted of 23 children with DLD, and the second of 23 children with TLD. The FONT test was used to assess phonological awareness, and the Prediction Test for Dysgraphia was used to assess graphomotor abilities. Results. The results of the research show that children with DLD performed poorly on phonological awareness tasks compared to TLD children. Age proved to be a significant factor in differences in the development of phonological awareness. Achievements on the Prediction Test for Dysgraphia show that children with DLD have almost twice the weaker ability of graphomotor expression compared to TLD children. Furthermore, the research results show that there are significant differences in the level of development of graphomotor skills between children of different ages. Also, no significant difference in achievements on the Prediction Test for Dysgraphia or on the FONT test has been found in relation to gender. Conclusion. Children with developmental language disorder had significantly lower achievements on the phonological awareness test and the Prediction Test for Dysgraphia compared to children with typical language development.</p>

Effects of an explicit rime-based phonics method on the phonological awareness outcomes of Ethiopian EFL children

The present study aimed to assess whether a training-based intervention using an explicit rime-based phonics method improves the phonological awareness outcomes of EFL children in Ethiopia. The participants were two sections of 3rd grade children (N = 70) from two public primary schools in Hawassa, Ethiopia. A quasi-experimental research design was used in which a section of the children (N = 35) were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the other section of the children (N = 35) to the control group. The experimental group was explicitly exposed to a training-based beginning reading intervention using an explicit rime-based phonics method. The control group stayed in their regular classroom with their regular beginning reading lessons with the conventional way. The phonological awareness test (PAT) was used to measure phonological awareness outcomes in the two groups before and after the intervention. The findings showed that the experimental group achieved significant improvement on the phonological awareness at post- test and that the magnitude of the intervention’s effect was very large for all sub-subtests and the total phonological awareness. The findings also indicated that brief and direct beginning reading instruction with an explicit rime-based phonics method helps children in a non-English language context with a first language (L1) significantly different from English to rapidly improve their phonological awareness performances. The findings further suggested that just knowledge of letters alone is not a sufficient condition for phonological awareness to develop.

Hearing type influences preschoolers’ phoneme-level phonological awareness

Children who are deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) have lower performance on test of phonological awareness, particularly phoneme-level tasks, than children with normal hearing. These performance deficits have been seen both in children who use cochlear implants (CIs) and children who use hearing aids (HAs), but few studies have explicitly compared the effect of hearing type on phonological awareness. Forty-one preschoolers who were D/HH and 36 preschoolers with normal hearing participated. Participating children were between 3- and 4-years-old. Of the D/HH children, 14 CI were users and 27 were HA users. All children completed the phonological awareness test of the Test of Preschool Early Literacy, which assesses sound blending and elision, and the sound blending test of the Tests of Early Cognitive and Academic Development. Data are raw scores. There was a clear effect of hearing type. Children who used CIs had the lowest performance (TOPEL M = 8.62, ECAD M = 2.62), followed by children who use HAs (TOPEL M = 10.76, ECAD M = 4.92), with children with normal having the best performance (TOPEL M = 15.56, ECAD M = 8.03). Children who use CIs have more difficulty with phoneme-level tasks than children who use HAs, which likely has implications for their future language and literacy development.

Phonological Awareness Assessment Test (PACOF) for Pre-school Children: Evidence of Validity and Reliability

Phonological awareness problems have been identified as predictors of learning difficulties with reading and writing in alphabetic languages. The objective of this study is to present an analysis of the psychometric properties of the Phonological Awareness Assessment Test (PACOF), a computer-based test for assessing syllable, phoneme, and intra-syllable awareness in pre-schoolers. Two studies were conducted to collect: (1) evidence of concurrent validity and reliability (N = 30) and (2) evidence of predictive validity (N = 52). Significant correlations between the scores in PACOF and a different test of phonological awareness were found. Regarding reliability, test-retest results indicated a high stability in the scores over time. Concerning predictive validity, the results revealed that scores on the PACOF and on each of its three sub-scales obtained at the end of preschool predict future reading and writing performance. These findings suggest that the test is a reliable and valid measure to assess phonological awareness in pre-schoolers.

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

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.

BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism: Suggested Genetic Involvement in Some Children with Learning Disorder

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an essential role in neuronal survival, especially in areas responsible for memory and learning. The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism has been described as a cognitive modifier in people with neuropsychiatric disorders. BDNF levels have been found to be low in children with learning disorder (LD). However, Val66Met polymorphism has not been studied before in such children. The aim was to investigate the presence of BDNF val66Met polymorphism in a group of children with specific LD and to verify its impact on their cognitive abilities. The participants in this cross-sectional study (N = 111) were divided into two groups: one for children with LD and the other for neurotypical (NT) ones. Children with LD (N = 72) were diagnosed according to the DSM-5 criteria. Their abilities were evaluated using Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale, dyslexia assessment test, Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, and phonological awareness test. Genotyping of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism was performed for all participants. The frequency of the Met allele was 26% among children with LD (6 children had homozygous, 26 had heterozygous genotype). The percentage of participants with deficits in reading, writing, and phonemic segmentation was higher in Met allele carriers when compared to non-Met allele carriers in LD group. The frequency of Met allele among NT children was 3.85% (0 homozygous, 3 children had heterozygous genotype) (p = 0.00001). The high frequency of Val66Met polymorphism among children with LD introduces the BDNF gene as a genetic modifier of learning performance in some children who manifest specific learning disorder (developmental dyslexia).

The Effect of Embedding Phonological Awareness Training on Adult EFL Learners’ Phonological Awareness Skill

<p style="text-align:justify">Phonological awareness relates closely to listening and speaking skills. It also has an important role in learning to read in an alphabetic writing system. In the context of learning a new language, it is essential to figure out an appropriate strategy in accelerating the phonological awareness skill. The present study aims at investigating the effect of embedding phonological awareness training in adult English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ phonological awareness skill. It involved 63 EFL students who were divided into two groups: Experimental and control. The data were taken by using a phonological awareness test and analyzed by using independent samples t-test. The overall comparison showed that the experimental group who received an embedded phonological awareness training for 4.5 hours (45 minutes of six meetings) surpassed the control group who joined a regular vocabulary class without phonological awareness training (p = .017). Thus, phonological awareness training effectively accelerates adult EFL learners’ phonological awareness skills.</p>