PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS SKILLS IN CHILDREN - EXAMINING PERFORMANCE ACROSS TASKS AND AGES

This study examined the performances of 171 children in kindergarten t hrough second grade on 11 tasks of phonological awareness. The purpose was to assess phonological awareness skill acquisition across age and type of task. Results provided support for an ordering of tasks by di fficulty, or age of mastery, as follows: rhyme, alliteration, blending , segmentation, manipulation. Performance on all of the tasks demonstr ated rapid growth in 6-year-old children (first grade), and most tasks were mastered (90% correct) by the age of 7 years. The study also sup ports previous work indicating certain variables (i.e., age, verbal ab ility, letter-sound knowledge, reading skill) that are significantly r elated to performance on the phonological measures. Knowing the age at which students typically master these tasks and the order in which th ey acquire these skills should enhance our ability to assess both norm al and delayed phonological awareness performance and help to inform i nstructional practices.