Education Development Center

This article describes 2 points of view about the relationship between oral-language and literacy skills: The phonological sensitivity approach posits that vocabulary provides the basis for phonological sensitivity, which then is the key language ability supporting reading, and the comprehensive language approach (CLA) posits that varied language skills interact with literacy knowledge and continue to play a vital role in subsequent reading achievement. The study included 533 Head Start preschool-aged children (M 4 years 9 months) in 2 locations and examined receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, and print knowledge. Partial correlational and regression analyses found results consistent with the CLA approach and evidence of a core deficit in phonological sensitivity, interpreted in a manner consistent with the CLA perspective. Although substantial recent research addresses the relationship between oral language and literacy skills (e.g., for reviews, see Biemiller, 1999; Catts, Fey, Zhang, & Tomblin, 1999; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998), researchers have worked from different assumptions about the nature of that relationship. One point of view, which we call the phonological sensitivity approach (PSA)