Investigating relationship between phonological errors and reading ability

Abstract

There is increasing attention given to improving Singapore’s education system by identifying weaker students in their early years and implementing interventions to support their learning. This study aims to help students’ reading ability by focusing on phonological awareness and standardizing ways to categorise phonological errors. Phonological awareness has been found to be the best predictor of reading development, and students with good phonological awareness are expected to develop good reading ability. The current thesis examines phonological awareness in lower primary children by sampling two neighbourhood schools in Singapore. There are two main research questions. The first examines the importance of phonological awareness and if the current educational measures are sensitive in measuring phonological awareness. The second study examines errors made in the phonological test which are strong indicators of children’s reading ability. Results from the first study found a strong correlation between phonological awareness and language achievement scores. However, there is a stronger relationship between vocabulary and language achievement scores. The second study found consistent results with past literature that the error categories are strong predictors of reading abilities. Taken together, these findings suggest that phonological awareness is not as strongly emphasized in early primary school years, and the components used to measure early language acquisition at the start of primary school may reflect general language ability but may not be sensitive enough to capture students who do not develop phonological awareness fully in the second or third year. In addition, the use of phonological error analysis of children’s mistakes may be helpful to support the learner to read. The implications of these results for learning to read in Singapore’s lower primary children are discussed.