Phonemic analysis and synthesis as word attack skills: Revisited

Used the segmenting task developed by B. Fox and D. K. Routh to select 31 nonsegmenting kindergartners. Ss were randomly assigned to a control (11 Ss), a segmenting-training (10 Ss), or a segmenting- and blending-training (10 Ss) group. Results show that both types of training had an immediate effect in improving segmenting skills. On a subsequent reading analogy task (involving paired-associate learning of letterlike forms and words), the segmenting- and blending-training group approximated the performance of a comparison group of 10 kindergartners who could segment from the outset. The Ss in this training group also learned significantly better than those in the other training group or the control group. These findings and results of previous research support the view that phonemic awareness skills such as segmenting and blending are causally related to learning to read and are not just a by-product of reading instruction. (19 ref)