ONSET AND RIME AWARENESS AND ANALOGIES IN READING

THIS STUDY was designed to determine which phonological tasks were most closely related to the ability to make analogies between the spelling patterns in words in reading (using a word like beak as a basis for reading bean and peak). Our hypothesis was that children's performance in phonological tasks based on the onset-rime division should be related to their ability to make analogies between the spelling patterns in words (e.g., beak-peak, beak-bean). Forty-four children performed a series of different phonological tasks and were also tested for their ability to make analogies between the beginnings (beak-bean) and the ends (beak-peak) of words. It was found that different aspects of phonological awareness were related to these different kinds of analogies. In particular, onset-rime awareness was related to end analogies, whereas beginning analogies seemed related to higher level phonological skills. It is concluded that the awareness of onset-rime units is specifically connected to the ability to make connections between sequences of letters that reflect rimes.