Testing the concurrent and predictive relations among articulation accuracy, speech perception, and phoneme awareness.
The relations among articulation accuracy, speech perception, and phoneme awareness were examined in a sample of 97 typically developing children ages 48 to 66 months. Of these 97 children, 46 were assessed twice at ages 4 and 5 years. Children completed two tasks for each of the three skills, assessing these abilities for the target phoneme /r/ and the control phoneme /m/ in the word-initial position. Concurrent analyses revealed that phoneme-specific relations existed among articulation, awareness, and perception. Articulation accuracy of /r/ predicted speech perception and phoneme awareness for /r/ after controlling for age, vocabulary, letter-word knowledge, and speech perception or phoneme awareness for the control phoneme /m/. The longitudinal analyses confirmed the pattern of relations. The findings are consistent with a model whereby children's articulation accuracy affects preexisting differences in phonological representations and, consequently, affects how children perceive, discriminate, and manipulate speech sounds.
Sénéchal
Monique
M
Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ont., Canada, K1S 5B6. monique_senechal@carlton.ca
Ouellette
Gene
G
Young
Laura
L
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests; D013067:Speech Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis