Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of phonological awareness and the relationship between phonological awareness and reading ability in Japanese children. The subjects were 123 preschool children and 98 school children (grades one through three) who were considered to have normal mental, language, auditory, and visual abilities. They were given four phonological awareness and reading tasks. The results were analyzed in terms of correct response rate, score, and reaction time. Based on a 70% achievement criteria for each task, the following points were concluded: 1) phonological awareness tasks were accomplished at different age levels, 2) deletion tasks for three-mora-words and reversal tasks for four-mora-words were achieved by the end of the pre-school period, and 3) deletion tasks for six-mora-words, reversal tasks for four-mora-words, and vowel identification tasks were achieved soon after formal instruction in reading and writing of hiragana. Statistically, a strong correlation was found between deletion ability and reading comprehension ability, as well as between reversal ability and reading comprehension ability. How phonological awareness skills of deletion and reversal tasks facilitate reading are also discussed.
