The Influences of Syllable Structure and Reading Ability on the Development of Phoneme Awareness: A Longitudinal, Cross-Linguistic Study

Abstract

Effects of syllable structure and of alphabetic reading skills on the development of phoneme awareness were investigated in a longitudinal study. Awareness of phonemes in syllable onsets and codas was examined in first graders speaking Czech (n = 45) and German (n = 33). Czech children showed higher awareness of phonemes in onsets than in codas, whereas the reverse was true for German children. The patterns of behavioral data largely reflected distributional differences in corpus data between these languages. The effects were present among prereaders and persisted to the end of Grade 1. In sum, children's experience with the syllable structure of their native language plays an important role in shaping phoneme awareness from early in development and predates influences of alphabetic reading skills.

Notes

^aReliability estimate = .95.

^bReliability estimates not available.

^cReliability estimates not calculated due to ceiling effects.

^dReliability estimate = .99.

^eReliability estimate = .97.

^aCzech sample α = .94, German sample α = .94.

^bCzech sample α = .67, German sample α = .52.

^cCzech sample α = .93, German sample α = .74.

^aCzech n = 45, German n = 33.

^bCzech n = 23, German n = 17.

^cEffect size (Cohen's d) for within-groups contrasts.

^aOnset₀ represents empty-onset syllables, #VC(CC).

^bCoda₀ represents empty-coda syllables, C(CC)V#.