ABSTRACT
In their hallmark study of the development of metaphonological abilities in young children, I. Y. Liberman, O. Shankweiler, F. William Fischer, and B. Carter underscored that all languages have a dual structure, segments with and without meaning. Despite the great body of experimental data on the subject, the nature of the interrelationship between the alphabet, its teaching, and phonological awareness has yet to be precisely defined and remains a source of theoretical controversy. The relationship between learning written language and tests of phonological awareness was evaluated in kindergarten children who were then followed through their first months of elementary school. Early in the school year kindergartners and first graders were subjected to a battery of five metaphonological tests: rhyme choice, same initial consonant, first syllable deletion, first consonant deletion and phoneme blending, and the performance of the two groups compared.
