Sublexical unit type and the syllabic complexity influence in a phonological awareness task

Abstract

Phonological awareness is a central issue in reading acquisition research because it plays a central role during this process. The aim of this paper is to examine the development of phonological awareness skills for recognizing different sublexical units in initial readers (1st grade) and trained readers (3rd grade). This research also aims to establish if the position of the unit is relevant for recognizing units and if the complexity of the syllabic structure and the presence of a consonant or a vocalic phoneme have an impact on children performance. The data obtained in this research will allow us to establish if the phonological awareness skills are strengthened during the reading learning process.
The study involved 63 children from 1st grade and 3rd grade. Children were assessed with the purpose of determining their ability to say if a pair of words is sharing the initial or ending sublexical unit. Results show differences in performance between evaluated groups and bring into question the influence of the syllable structure and the type of phoneme in the recognition and matching of the targets reported in other papers.