HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal My Folders Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Spencer, E. J. Articles by Lee, M. W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Spencer, E. J. Articles by Lee, M. W. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Phonemic Awareness Skill of Speech-Language Pathologists and Other Educators

Marvin W. Lee
Tennessee State University, Nashville

Contact author: C. Melanie Schuele, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37232. E-mail: melanie.schuele{at}vanderbilt.edu.

Purpose: Educators rely on sufficient knowledge and skill to provide effective phonemic awareness instruction, an important component of early literacy instruction, particularly for children who experience difficulty learning to read. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the phonemic awareness skill of several groups of educators, including speech-language pathologists (SLPs; n = 160), kindergarten teachers (n = 109), first-grade teachers (n = 112), reading teachers (n = 100), and special education teachers (n = 60).

Method: Participants completed a paper–pencil measure of phonemic awareness skill that included 3 tasks. The measure was designed to assess sophisticated explicit phonemic awareness skill within a print context, representing an advanced skill level that has been deemed critical to teaching.

Results: SLPs demonstrated superior performance on the measure of phonemic awareness skill when compared to other educators (d = 1.54). The performance of reading and special education teachers was comparable to that of kindergarten and first-grade teachers. Orthographic knowledge had an adverse impact on the performance of all groups. However, SLPs were far more proficient than other educators at segmenting words that had a complex relationship between speech and print (e.g., box, use).

Clinical Implications: SLPs have relative expertise in phonemic awareness, yet their performance may not be proficient. Three recommendations are discussed: (a) Increase the phonemic awareness skill of all educators, (b) revise instructional materials to enhance educators' efforts to provide accurate and effective phonemic awareness instruction, and (c) include SLPs as members of the team responsible for phonemic awareness instruction and intervention.

KEY WORDS: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, speech-language pathologists, teachers

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Moats Still Wanted: Teachers With Knowledge of Language J Learn Disabil, September 1, 2009; 42(5): 387 - 391. [PDF]