title: Phoneme awareness is a key component of alphabetic literacy skills in consistent and inconsistent orthographies: evidence from Czech and English children.
abstract: Two studies investigated the importance of phoneme awareness relative to other predictors in the development of reading and spelling among children learning a consistent orthography (Czech) and an inconsistent orthography (English). In Study 1, structural equation models revealed that Czech (n=107) and English (n=71) data were fitted well by the same predictors of reading and spelling. Phoneme awareness was a unique predictor in all models. In Study 2, Czech (n=40) and English (n=27) children with dyslexia showed similar deficits on phoneme awareness relative to their age- and spelling-matched control peers. Phoneme awareness appears to be a core component skill of alphabetic literacy, which is equally important for learners of consistent and inconsistent orthographies.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK. m.caravolas@liv.ac.uk
authors.forename: Markéta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caravolas
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Volín
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hulme
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D018153:Czech Republic; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007802:Language; D008403:Mass Screening; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading; D014888:Wechsler Scales; D014956:Writing