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A Closer Look at Phonology as a Predictor of Spoken Sentence Processing and Word Reading

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Abstract

The goal of this study was to tease apart the roles of phonological awareness (pA) and phonological short-term memory (pSTM) in sentence comprehension, sentence production, and word reading. Children 6- to 10-years of age (N \(=\) 377) completed standardized tests of pA (‘Elision’) and pSTM (‘Nonword Repetition’) from the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing. Concepts and Following Directions (CFD) and Formulated Sentences (FS) were taken from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition, as measures of sentence comprehension and production, respectively. Children also completed the Word Identification (Word Id) and Word Attack (Word Att) subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Third Edition. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for age and nonverbal IQ revealed that Elision was the only significant predictor of CFD and FS. While Elision was the strongest predictor of Word Id and Word Att, Nonword Repetition accounted for additional variance in both reading measures. These results emphasize the usefulness of breaking down phonological processing into multiple components and they also have implications language and reading disordered populations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board, principals, teachers, children, parents, and caregivers for their participation in this research. We would also like to thank Meaghan Higgins, Kelsey Morrison, Kathleen Oliver, Kenzie Kozera, Sarah Penney, and Jennifer Gallant for their help with data collection, scoring, and entering. Funding for this research was provided by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Discovery Grant awarded to Erin K. Robertson.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Road, Sydney, NS , B1P 6L2, Canada

    Suzanne Myers & Erin K. Robertson

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  1. Suzanne Myers
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Correspondence to Erin K. Robertson.

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Myers, S., K. Robertson, E. A Closer Look at Phonology as a Predictor of Spoken Sentence Processing and Word Reading. J Psycholinguist Res 44, 399–415 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9292-8

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