Development and Application of Nonsense Syllable Repetition Test for Evaluating Phonological Retrieval and Sequencing Abilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a nonsense Syllable Repetition Test (nSRT) with validity and reliability, and to verify its usefulness. This study also intended to establish a scoring system that classifies and evaluates the retrieval ability and the sequencing ability of subjects. Methods: The final items were derived by exploratory factor analysis. A Cronbach' s alpha internal consistency analysis and word similarity survey were conducted, and average syllable frequency was calculated on nSRT items. Then, four, five, and six year old children were examined using the nSRT, and the differences in their performance were analyzed according to phonological processing types (phonological retrieval and phonological sequencing) and number of syllables of items. Results: The final items consisted of seven words in each of the 3, 4, and 5 nonsense syllables groups. The internal consistency of all items was very high (= .914), and all items showed low word similarity and high mean syllable frequency. As the children's age increased, their test performance improved significantly; and the higher the number of syllables, the more difficult the test was. This study also found that among the phonological processing tasks, it was significantly more difficult to sequence items than to retrieve items. Conclusion: This study is significant in that it develops a new nSRT with validity and reliability and establishes the retrieval and sequencing score system.