The test of phoneme identities: Predicting alphabetic insight in prealphabetic readers

To test the validity of the Test of Phoneme Identities (TPI), 97 kindergart ners were administered the TPI and two other tests of phoneme awareness, me asures of alphabet and nursery rhyme knowledge, and a measure of rudimentar y decoding ability The TPI proved reliable (alpha = .91) and comparable to the other phoneme awareness measures in predicting decoding ability in the full kindergarten sample. Thirty-four kindergartners identified as prealpha betic readers were taught to use the letters S and M as phonetic cues to di stinguish rhyming printed words, an indicator of alphabetic insight. The TP I was shown to be more effective than the nursery rhyme and alphabet measur es and the other phoneme awareness tests in predicting the number of lesson s required for a student to learn to distinguish phonetic cues.