Phoneme manipulation not onset‐rime manipulation ability is a unique predictor of early reading

Abstract

Results support the existence of a route from phoneme manipulation, but not an additional direct route from explicit onset-rime manipulation at 5, to reading at 7. Practically, findings show that professionals can augment baseline and pupil background data with phoneme manipulation screening in the early identification of learning needs.

Rimes are not necessarily favored by prereaders: Evidence from meta- and epilinguistic phonological tasks

“…Evidence consistent with this pattern is evident in the common unit task in readers in our study, where codas and onsets were strongly favored over the larger head and rime units. However, our data also show that even in prereaders, small unit performance outstrips explicit rime identification skill, consistent with other recent studies (e.g., Cassady & Smith, 2004;Geudens & Sandra, 2003;Hulme et al, 2002;Savage & Carless, 2005a). Furthermore, a specific facility with initial and final consonant identification has been reported frequently (e.g., Stuart & Coltheart, 1988;Walton & Walton, 2002).…”

Reading-Related Skills in Earlier- and Later-Schooled Children

“…For example, rime awareness does not necessarily precede phoneme awareness (PA), particularly on explicit phonological awareness tasks (Duncan, Seymour, & Hill, 1997;Geudens & Sandra, 2003). Furthermore, phoneme awareness seems to be more important than rime awareness in the prediction of literacy development (Hulme, et al, 2002;MacMillan, 2002;Savage & Carless, 2005). These results suggest that a focus on phoneme awareness may be particularly crucial for this study.…”

Using Technology to Assist Children Learning to Read and Write

“…ABRACADABRA is also based on the research on emerging reading skills in English conducted by a member of the CSLP, Dr. Robert Savage. For example, Savage and Carless (2005) report that there are consistent data across a host of longitudinal and intervention studies showing the theoretical and practical importance of awareness of small speech sounds (phonemes) as an early foundation for developing eff ective reading skills. Phonemic activities are accordingly incorporated in screening tasks for "at-risk" poor readers and in early ABRACADABRA reading intervention activities.…”