Rhyme and Alliteration Sensitivity and Relevant Experiences among Preschoolers from Diverse Backgrounds

Abstract

There exists a well-established positive relation between phonological awareness and learning to read. Experiences with linguistic routines like nursery rhymes may provide one route through which children gain phonological awareness. The phonological awareness and home experiences of 59 prekindergartners from different sociocultural groups were examined. Performance differences favoring middle-income children over their low-income counterparts were obtained on tasks assessing rhyme and alliteration sensitivity and nursery-rhyme knowledge. Middle-income children also engaged more frequently than low-income children in word games and book interactions at home. The only significant difference among children of the same income level was that African-American low-income children displayed lower levels of nursery-rhyme knowledge than European-American low-income children. Two demographic variables, maternal education and ethnicity, made significant contributions to rhyme sensitivity. Among the experiential variables, the strongest correlates of rhyme sensitivity were nursery-rhyme knowledge and frequency of engagement in word games and book interactions. The results suggest that children's rhyme sensitivity may be influenced by engagement in word games and book interactions that foster knowledge of linguistic routines containing rhyme.