The nature of phonological awareness: Converging evidence from four studies of preschool and early grade school children

Significant controversy exists about the nature of phonological awareness, a causal variable in reading acquisition. In 4 studies that included 202 5- to 6-year-old children studied longitudinally for 3 years, 123 2- to 5-year-old children, 38 4-year-old children studied longitudinally for 2 years, and 826 4- to 7-year-old children, the authors examined the relation of sensitivity to rhyme with other forms of phonological awareness. Rhyme sensitivity was indistinguishable from phonemic awareness, segmental awareness, and global phonological sensitivity in younger children. Rhyme sensitivity was distinguish-able, although highly correlated, with these phonological skills in older children. Rhyme sensitivity was highly predictive of these other phonological skills. Children’s sensitivity to different linguistic units seems best conceptualized as a single underlying ability. Phonological awareness plays a key role in literacy development (for reviews, see Adams, 1990; Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998). For example, children who are better at detecting rhymes or phonemes are quicker to learn to read, and this relation is present even after variability due to IQ, vocabulary, memory, and social class are statistically controlled (Bryant, MacLean, Bradley, & Crossland