Abstract
The development of phonological awareness (PA), the ability to reflect on the sound structure of words independent of their meaning, has been extensively explored in English-speaking children. However, this is not the case for other languages. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive PA test battery for German-speaking preschool children, considering psycholinguistic, linguistic, and cognitive aspects and to carry out analyses of its psychometric properties. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 55 children (CA 4;0-6;11 years) were collected. Preliminary findings confirm validity and reliability of the test battery, and support previous findings that PA develops from larger to smaller linguistic units. Phoneme-level tasks were consistently associated with letter knowledge. The new instrument is a promising tool for basic research (e.g. cross-linguistic comparisons of PA development) as well as for clinical and educational practice (e.g. planning speech and language therapy or literacy-oriented intervention).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Pages (from-to) | 404-430 |
| Number of pages | 27 |
| ISSN | 0269-9206 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Research Areas and Centers
- Health Sciences
DFG Research Classification Scheme
- 206-08 Cognitive and Systemic Human Neuroscience
- 205-20 Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine
