Assessing decoding from an onset-rime perspective

This study investigated decoding assessment from an onset-rime perspective, and consistent with an interactive model of cognitive constructs underlyin g silent reading comprehension. Participants were 128 first and second grad ers in a public elementary school. Two kinds of decoding items were examine d: one-syllable words and nonwords, each comprised of a high- to moderate-u tility onset and a high-utility rime. Data were analyzed mainly with stepwi se multiple regression and conditional probability analyses. The principal finding was that the construct validity of decoding items varied depending on whether they were words or nonwords. Tests of knowledge of onsets and ri mes accounted for 14% more variance in real-word test than nonword rest sco res. The superior construct validity of words over nonwords as decoding ite ms seemed to occur because decoding nonwords requires an additional ability that decoding real words does not.