ABSTRACT
There is considerable evidence that there is a close association between phonological awareness and reading ability. One of the best correlates of later success at reading is preschool phonological awareness ability (e.g., Bradley & Bryant, 1983; Lundberg, Olofsson, & Wall, 1980, Share, Jorm, Maclean, & Matthews, 1984; Stanovich, Cunningham, & Cramer, 1984; Stuart & Coltheart, 1988). Phonological awareness is, therefore, seen as an important precursor of literacy skills. It is also proposed that some children are so deficient at acquiring phonological awareness skills that they have difficulty in becoming competent readers (Bradley & Bryant, 1978, 1983). Support for the idea that poor readers’ problems are phonological in nature comes from the fact that studies have found poor readers to have difficulty in using a phonological approach to reading (i.e., they have problems in reading nonwords), and that they have deficient phonological or phonemic awareness skills for reading level (e.g., Baddeley, Ellis, Miles, & Lewis, 1982; Bradley & Bryant, 1978; Holligan & Johnston, 1988, 1991; Olson, Wise, Conners, & Rack, 1990; Snowling, 1981).
