Prediction of Reading Performance in Turkish-German Speaking Children: The Role of Phonological Awareness

Many studies have proved phonological awareness to be a significant predictor of reading competencies. Until now, however, it is unclear whether phonological awareness equally predicts reading competencies for Turkish-German-speaking children. In this longitudinal study phonological awareness, nonverbal intelligence, memory for sentences, language competencies, and decoding speed were assessed among 111 German-speaking and 112 Turkish-German-speaking children. Regression analyses revealed that phonological awareness contributed differently to the explanation of variance in decoding speed in German-speaking children and Turkish-German-speaking children. For monolingual German-speaking children, phonological awareness proved to be an essential predictor of decoding speed. For the decoding speed of German-Turkish-speaking children, however, phonological awareness was not similarly predictive. Adapted from the source document