Relationship between phonological awareness and spelling proficiency in first-grade students

• Main Authors: Nasibe Soltaninejad, Fateme Soltaninejad, Fahime Ashtab, Mehdi Mohammadi
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2014-12-01
• Series: Audiology
• Subjects: Phonological awareness; spelling score; first-grade students
• Online Access: http://aud.tums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-50-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1

Background and Aim: Phonological awareness (consisting of phoneme, syllable and intra-syllable awareness) is an important part of receptive and expressive language; it facilitates reading and writing skills through phonological re-coding. Multiple studies in several languages have studied the relationship between phonological awareness and dictation. This research is based on a study of the relationship between phonological skill and spelling score in first-grade Persian students.Methods: Four hundred first-grade students participated in the study, including 209 girls and 191 boys. A phonological awareness test was individually administered for each student and then a spelling exam was administered in groups. The correlation between the two tests was studied using a simple regression model. The comparison of mean scores of girls and boys was evaluated employing an independent t-test.Results: A correlation coefficient of 0.82 was obtained between phonological awareness and spelling proficiency (p<0.001). Phonological skill sub-tests also showed a significant correlation with spelling proficiency (highest for phoneme awareness r=0.34 and lowest for rhyme awareness r=0.12). The mean scores of girls and boys differed significantly (p<0.05).Conclusion: There is a strong positive association between phonological awareness and spelling proficiency. Therefore, if phonological skill is improved, spelling score can be enhanced.