It is now widely accepted that phonological language skills are a critical foundation for learning to read (decode). This longitudinal study investigated the predictive relationship between a range of key phonological language skills and early reading development in a sample of 191 children in their first year at school. The study also explored…

Two studies examined six-year-olds' use of analogy in spelling: between visible clue words and similar sounding target words and when clue words are not visible. Both studies found that equal numbers of analogies were made between words sharing a rime unit, a consonant-vowel, or a vowel but were not made when only common letters were shared. (KDFB)

Considers the prospects and need for a psychologically plausible connectionist model of the development of word recognition skills. Emphasizes the importance of phonological skills as precursors and facilitators of learning to read. Argues that it may be possible to develop a connectionist model which will be more consistent with evidence from…

This short-term longitudinal study examined performance of 5- and 6-year-olds in early stages of reading on three phonological awareness tasks. Findings indicated that measures of phoneme awareness were the best concurrent and longitudinal predictors of reading skill, with onset-rime skills making no additional predictive contribution once…

Notes that preceding commentaries raise several issues, including which variables need to be controlled to demonstrate a specific relationship between phoneme-level skills and reading ability and whether prereaders can perform phonemic awareness tasks. Maintains that none of the commentaries casts doubt on the basic conclusion that phonemic-level…

Two experiments examined the influence of phonological and semantic processes on 4- to 6-year olds' ability to learn to read words. Results indicated that children learned phonetic cues better than control cues and that learning was influenced by both the phonetic properties of the cue and the imageability of the words used. (Author/KB)

Presents data showing that the Rhyming Detection instructions do not have the effect claimed by Bryant (1998). Argues that Bryant's new measure reflects children's global sensitivity to sound similarities between different words and provides no convincing support for his conclusion. Concludes that their evidence supports the view that phonemic…

Gives children (ages 5+ to 9+) four tests of phonological skill to investigate relationships between these measures and their predictive relationship with reading and spelling ability. Finds performance at phonemic segmentation, rhyme sound categorization, and alliteration sound categorization improved with age, but all groups performed onset-rime…

Two experiments investigated mechanisms underlying analogical transfer in the clue-reading task. It was concluded that the extent to which beginning readers make orthographic analogies is overestimated and that theories emphasizing orthographic analogy as a mechanism driving early reading development need reexamination. (Author/KB)

Background: It is widely recognized that effective interventions for poor reading involve training in phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge, linked in the context of reading books. From the applied perspective, it is important to gather data on the effectiveness of different forms of implementation of literacy support within this framework.…

Two studies investigated whether knowledge of specific letter-sound correspondences is a necessary precursor of children's ability to isolate phonemes in speech. In both studies, Czech and English children reliably isolated phonemes for which they did not know the corresponding letter. These data refute the idea that phoneme manipulation ability…