Phonemic awareness and reading ability: an investigation with young readers who are deaf

The study examined the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading ability in students who are deaf. The research questions were: (a) What is the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading ability in students who are deaf? (b) Does phonemic awareness facilitate the reading development of these students? Participants were 29 children of primary school age enrolled in a residential school for students who are deaf. The dependent variable, reading ability, was measured by a retelling task. The independent variables were age, language ability, and phonemic awareness. Language ability was determined through expert analysis of participant interviews. Phonemic awareness was measured with a word-to-word matching task. Descriptive techniques and multiple regression analysis were employed to analyze the data. Results indicated that reading ability was significantly correlated to language ability, but not to phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness did not contribute to any of the variance in reading ability. The study results call into question the role of phonemic awareness as a prerequisite for reading development.