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Literacy
72
ACQ
Volume 11, Number 2 2009
ACQ
uiring knowledge in speech, language and hearing
Gail Gillon (top)
and Brigid McNeill
This article
has been
peer-
reviewed
Keywords
assessment
intervention
phonological
awareness
of the most significant scientific findings in education of the
20th century (Stanovich, 2000). Phonological awareness
is a powerful predictor of early reading development and
a deficit in this domain is considered a causative factor in
severe and persistent reading disorders such as dyslexia.
Speech pathologists’ expertise in normal and disordered
phonology places them in a unique position within the
educational team in addressing children’s phonological
awareness development. They are able to assess children’s
phonological awareness abilities, identify children at high
risk for persistent reading failure, and facilitate children’s
phonological awareness skills to enhance both reading and
spelling development. This article provides an overview
of research evidence related to effective practices in
phonological awareness assessment and intervention for
children with speech and language impairment.
Assessment
Phonological awareness development should be routinely
evaluated within a comprehensive assessment battery for
children with speech and language impairment (Boudreau
& Hedberg, 1999). Measures of phonological awareness
ability, together with letter name knowledge, are powerful
predictors of early reading success (Hogan, Catts, &
Little, 2005; Lonigan, Burgess, & Anthony, 2000). The
phonological awareness performance of preschool children
can predict early reading and spelling development more
accurately than variables such as intelligence scores, age,
and socioeconomic status (Bryant, MacLean, Bradley, &
Crossland, 1990). The ability to use phonological information
in the reading process (such as measured by non-word
reading tasks and word decoding ability) become more
powerful predictors of later reading success as children
mature (Hogan et al., 2005).
The phonological awareness tasks administered in the
assessment battery should reflect the hierarchy of difficulty
of phonological awareness established in the literature
(Gillon, 2004). More challenging tasks that require awareness
at the phoneme level (e.g., phoneme segmentation) are
appropriate for children 5 years and older. Early developing
tasks of phoneme identity and rhyme would be appropriate
to administer to children aged 4 and 5 years (Lonigan et al.,
2000). In addition, tasks to assess phonological memory and
rapid naming ability (retrieval of phonological information) are
important to include in the phonological evaluation (Lovett,
Steinbach, & Frijters, 2000; Wolf, Bowers, & Biddle, 2000),
particularly for older children and when identifying children
with dyslexia.
Understanding the importance of phonological
awareness development to reading and
spelling performance has led to a rapid
increase in phonological awareness
interventions. Such practices are particularly
important for children with speech and
language impairment as these children are at
increased risk for persistent literacy
difficulties. There is, however, a wide range of
assessment and intervention practices under
the umbrella of “phonological awareness”.
Emerging research has demonstrated that
differing types of phonological awareness
interventions are likely to produce varying
levels of success in enhancing reading or
spelling ability. This article summarizes the
literature regarding phonological awareness
assessment and intervention for children with
speech and language impairment and
provides a research-based checklist to guide
practitioners in supporting literacy
development for children at risk.
E
xciting initiatives to raise reading achievement in all
children are being implemented at an international
level. Many governments are committing significant
resources to national literacy strategies and to research that
advances our understanding of reading development and
reading pedagogy. Yet despite our current best efforts, there
are clearly identified groups of children throughout the
developed world who continue to underachieve in written
language acquisition. Children from minority ethnic groups,
indigenous populations, lower socioeconomic backgrounds,
and children with spoken language difficulties in their native
language continue to demonstrate poor reading achievement
in comparison to majority populations. It is critical, therefore,
that we continue to work within an evidence based framework
to ensure our instructional methods and interventions are
effective in enhancing reading development for all learners.
One area of reading research that has attracted much
attention in recent years is phonological awareness (i.e.,
an individual’s awareness of the sound structure of spoken
words). Understanding the critical role of phonological
awareness in reading acquisition has been described as one
Phonological
awareness
Effective practices in assessment and intervention
Gail Gillon and Brigid McNeill