Not all Phonemes are Created Equal: The Effects of Linguistic Manipulations on Phonological Awareness Tasks

Abstract

The effects of varying linguistic manipulations on the difficulty level of phonological awareness tasks were examined. Participants included 32 kindergarten and 35 first-grade students who were administered two alternate forms of five different phonological awareness tasks (Rhyme-Providing, Sound-Providing, Blending, Segmentation, and Initial Deletion). Items within the tasks were selected and ordered using the following linguistic manipulations: continuant vs. noncontinuant sounds, number of phonemes within a word, and number of phonemes within an initial consonant cluster. Results suggested that significant differences in item difficulty varied depending on the type of task. However, four out of five tasks had some combination of manipulations that was easier or more difficult than others. Implications for creating new or evaluating existing measures of phonological awareness are discussed.