Relationship between spelling levels, phonological awareness, and letter knowledgeThis study aimed to investigate the relationship between spelling levels, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge. Sixty first grade children, mean age 6.09 years, participated in the study. They underwent letter-knowledge, phonological awareness, and spelling tests at the beginning and end of the school year. The Raven's Progressive Matrices test was applied only at the beginning of the school year. Results showed significant correlations between phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and spelling level. Most children progressed remarkably throughout the year. However, those who had better phonological awareness skills and letter-name knowledge at the beginning of the school year significantly improved their spelling skills at the end of the year. Therefore, phonological awareness instruction combined with letter-knowledge should be provided in pre-school to ensure the development of good spelling skills in the subsequent school years.
Keywords:
Literacy; Phonological awareness; Writing skills; Written language
