The causal role of phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge in learning to read: combining intervention studies with mediation analyses

Charles Hulme; Claudine Bowyer-Crane; Julia M Carroll; Fiona J Duff; Margaret J Snowling

doi:10.1177/0956797611435921

The causal role of phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge in learning to read: combining intervention studies with mediation analyses

Charles Hulme, Claudine Bowyer-Crane, Julia M Carroll, Fiona J Duff, Margaret J Snowling

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

There is good evidence that phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge are reliable longitudinal predictors of learning to read, though whether they have a causal effect remains uncertain. In this article, we present the results of a mediation analysis using data from a previous large-scale intervention study. We found that a phonology and reading intervention that taught letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness produced significant improvements in these two skills and in later word-level reading and spelling skills. Improvements in letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness at the end of the intervention fully mediated the improvements seen in children's word-level literacy skills 5 months after the intervention finished. Our findings support the conclusion that letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness are two causal influences on the development of children's early literacy skills.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	572-7
Number of pages	6
Journal	Psychological Science
Volume	23
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611435921
Publication status	Published - Jun 2012

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title = "The causal role of phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge in learning to read: combining intervention studies with mediation analyses",

abstract = "There is good evidence that phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge are reliable longitudinal predictors of learning to read, though whether they have a causal effect remains uncertain. In this article, we present the results of a mediation analysis using data from a previous large-scale intervention study. We found that a phonology and reading intervention that taught letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness produced significant improvements in these two skills and in later word-level reading and spelling skills. Improvements in letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness at the end of the intervention fully mediated the improvements seen in children's word-level literacy skills 5 months after the intervention finished. Our findings support the conclusion that letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness are two causal influences on the development of children's early literacy skills.",

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AU - Duff, Fiona J

AU - Snowling, Margaret J

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AB - There is good evidence that phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge are reliable longitudinal predictors of learning to read, though whether they have a causal effect remains uncertain. In this article, we present the results of a mediation analysis using data from a previous large-scale intervention study. We found that a phonology and reading intervention that taught letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness produced significant improvements in these two skills and in later word-level reading and spelling skills. Improvements in letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness at the end of the intervention fully mediated the improvements seen in children's word-level literacy skills 5 months after the intervention finished. Our findings support the conclusion that letter-sound knowledge and phoneme awareness are two causal influences on the development of children's early literacy skills.

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The causal role of phoneme awareness and letter-sound knowledge in learning to read: combining intervention studies with mediation analyses

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