Levels of phonology related to reading and writing in middle childhood

Abstract

The relationships of different levels of phonological processing (sounds in heard and spoken words for whole words, syllables, phonemes, and rimes) to multi-leveled functional reading or writing systems were studied. Participants in this cross-sectional study were students in fourth- grade (n=119, mean age 116.5 months) and sixth- grade (n=105, mean age 139.7 months). Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC) modeling was used to analyze whether different levels of sound processing in heard and spoken words were correlated with each other and with multi-leveled reading or writing systems, and if so, which phonological skills explained unique variance in the reading or writing system. The models fit well at both grade levels for both reading and writing. All four phonological skills studied correlated significantly with each other and the latent factor for reading or writing. For reading, phonology for whole words and phonemes explained unique variance in fourth and sixth graders. For writing, at the fourth grade, only phonemes explained unique variance, but at the sixth grade level, syllables, phonemes, and rimes explained unique variance. Thus, the relationships between levels of phonology and reading were stable across grades 4 and 6, but developmental differences were observed in the relationships between levels of phonology and the leveled writing construct.

Do Cognitive Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses Differentially Predict Errors on Reading, Writing, and Spelling?

“…Research (e.g., Engen & Høien, 2002; Snowling & Nation, 1997) also suggests that phonological awareness contributes to reading comprehension. In a study looking at other aspects of reading (Del Campo, Buchanan, Abbott, & Berninger, 2015), phonological processing (phonology for whole words and phonemes) explained unique variance in fourth and sixth graders’ reading levels.…”

Is Reading Instruction Evidence-Based? Analyzing Teaching Practices Using T-Patterns

“…Findings on phonological awareness have shown that this is a key skill in the early years of a child's schooling. Many studies have confirmed that this skill is a good predictor of future reading performance (Porta et al, 2010; Suárez et al, 2013; Kjeldsen et al, 2014; Del Campo et al, 2015). Alphabetic knowledge refers to the knowledge of the rules for grapheme-phoneme (G-P) and phoneme-grapheme (P-G) conversion; fluency, which is described as the ability to read texts rapidly and accurately, using appropriate intonation within the reading context; vocabulary, i.e., learning the meaning and use of words in a given context; and comprehension, which refers to a child's ability to reason about, reflect on, and understand what they are reading (Jiménez et al, 2012).…”

What Do Phonological Processing Errors Tell About Students’ Skills in Reading, Writing, and Oral Language?

“…Between the two factors in phonological awareness, phonemic awareness correlated higher with reading comprehension ( r = .39) than did syllable awareness ( r = .06). Del Campo and colleagues (2015) showed that all sound-unit factors measured by phoneme, rime, syllable, and words were significantly interrelated; word and phoneme units explained unique variance of reading comprehension in both 119 fourth- and 105 sixth graders.…”

“…Assessing these tasks is not necessarily discrete. Additionally, grade-level differences were found in phonological units as a predictor of literacy (Del Campo, Buchanan, Abbott, & Berninger, 2015).…”