Relations between phonological processing abilities and word-level reading skills were examined in a longitudinal correlational study of 216 children. Phonological processing abilities, word-level reading skills, and vocabulary were assessed annually from kindergarten through 4th grade, as the children developed from beginning to skilled readers. Individual differences in phonological awareness were related to subsequent individual differences in word-level reading for every time period examined. Individual differences in serial naming and vocabulary were related to subsequent individual differences in word-level reading initially, but these relations faded with development. Individual differences in letter-name knowledge were related to subsequent individual differences in phonological awareness and serial naming, but there were no relations between individual differences in wordlevel reading and any subsequent phonological processing ability.Phonological processing refers to using the phonological or sound structure of oral language when one processes oral and written language (Jorm & Share, 1983; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987). Spoken words represent combinations of basic sounds or phonemes. In English, for example, there are roughly 30 to 45 basic phonemes, depending on the classification system that is used. Of the nearly infinite number of possible combinations of phonemes, only a relatively small number actually occur, and most combinations of phonemes occur in multiple words. Thus, bat and cat each contain 3 phonemes, the latter 2 of which are shared. This fact is represented by their spellings, which have different initial letters and identical medial and final letters because the spellings in alphabetic orthographies such as English represent sound as well as meaning.Developmental and individual differences in phonological processing abilities appear to be related to the acquisition of reading skills, although the direction, magnitudes, and underlying mechanisms responsible for such relations have yet to be

Although research has identified oral language, print knowledge, and phonological sensitivity as important emergent literacy skills for the development of reading, few studies have examined the relations between these aspects of emergent literacy or between these skills during preschool and during later reading. This study examined the joint and unique predictive significance of emergent literacy skills for both later emergent literacy skills and reading in two samples of preschoolers. Ninety-six children (mean age = 41 months, SD = 9.41) were followed from early to late preschool, and 97 children (mean age = 60 months, SD = 5.41) were followed from late preschool to kindergarten or first grade. Structural equation modeling revealed significant developmental continuity of these skills, particularly for letter knowledge and phonological sensitivity from late preschool to early grade school, both of which were the only unique predictors of decoding.

Beziehungen häuslicher Schreib-und Leseumgebung (HLE) zur Entwicklung lesebezogener Fähigkeiten: Eine einjährige LangzeitstudieDie häusliche Schreib-und Leseumgebung (HLE = Home Literacy Environment) ist ein wichtiger Faktor bei der Gestaltung einer Anzahl entwicklungsbedingter und erzieherischer Folgeergebnisse; dennoch bleiben viele Fragen in Bezug auf ihre Konzeptualisierung und Relationen zu verschiedenen Auswirkungen unbeantwortet. Diese Studie untersucht die Relationen von sechs verschiedenen Konzeptualisierungen der HLE zur gesprochenen Sprache, phonologischen Sensitivität und früher Schreib-und Leseentwicklungen in einem Langzeitbeispiel mit 115 Vorschülern. Mehrfachregression und Korrelationsanalysen zeigten, dass jede der HLE Konzeptualisierungen mit den untersuchten Ergebnissen übereinstimmte. Jedoch variierte das Ausmaß der Beziehungen beträchtlich quer durch die Ergebnisse und sobald andere Entwicklungseinflüsse in Rechnung gezogen wurden. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, daß zukünftige Untersuchungen der HLE und deren Rolle in der Entwicklung von Sprache und Schreib-bzw. Lesefertigkeiten die Umstände in Rechnung ziehen müssen, in der die häusliche Umgebung konzeptualisiert ist.

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This study examined phonological sensitivity in 238 children from middle-to upper-income families and 118 children from lower-income families across different levels of linguistic complexity. Children ranged in age from 2 to 5 years. Overall, the results indicated that as children increased in age, phonological sensitivity both increased in absolute terms and became more stable. Significant social class differences in growth of phonological sensitivity were also obtained. Phonological sensitivity at different levels of linguistic complexity (e.g., syllables, phonemes) was substantially interrelated at each age and predicted word reading ability in older children independently of language skills and letter knowledge. These results indicate that phonological sensitivity can be assessed in young preschool children and that lower levels of phonological sensitivity may serve as developmental precursors to higher levels of phonological sensitivity.

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S This study investigated the order of acquisition of phonological sensitivity skills among preschool and kindergarten children. Phonological sensitivity was examined in terms of four levels of linguistic complexity (words, syllables, onsets and rimes, phonemes) across four levels of task complexity (blending detection, elision detection, blending, and elision). Participants were 947 two‐ to five‐year‐old children from diverse backgrounds. Hierarchical loglinear analyses evidenced a quasi‐parallel pattern of development that corresponded to a hierarchical model of word structure and a working memory model of task complexity. Findings support a developmental conceptualization of phonological sensitivity. Findings are discussed in relation to their implications for improving assessment, early literacy instruction, and prevention of reading difficulties.

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