The metalinguistic awareness of phonologically disordered and normally developing children : a comparative study

Abstract

The rhyming and segmentation tasks were readministered twelve months after the first experiments. The subject groups showed equivalent development in both tasks and the patterns of significant correlations obtained in the initial experiments were repeated. The results are discussed in relation to models of phonological acquisition and word production. Particular emphasis is given to the child's ability to pay attention to acoustic cues as a possible requirement for successful performance on rhyming and segmentation tasks and in the acquisition of phonology. It is suggested that therapeutic intervention directed towards developing metalinguistic awareness is an appropriate therapeutic strategy for the remediation of phonologically disordered children. The association between metalinguistic awareness and phonological disorder found in this investigation suggest that it is an area worthy of more investigation and possible directions for further research are suggested.