Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
HACETTEPE UNIVERSITESI EGITIM FAKULTESI DERGISI-HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, cilt.36, sa.3, ss.527-543, 2021 (ESCI)
Some skills and cognitive competencies children own in the preschool period form the basis for reading and writing and affect the achievement in the process of learning to read. One of these competencies is phonological processing skills. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the predictive power of phonological processing skills (phonological awareness, rapid naming and phonological memory) measured in the fall and spring semesters of kindergarten for the beginning reading achievement in Turkish-speaking children. The participants of the study consisted of 392 children aged between 56.74 and 70.75 months (Mean=66.24, SD = 3.64) who were selected by random sampling from 45 schools representing the lower, middle and upper socioeconomic levels in Ankara. Assessments were made in the fall (K1) and spring (K2) of kindergarten and at the end of fall semester of first grade (F1). Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether phonological processing skills predicted reading achievement. Results showed that the phonological awareness, rapid naming, and phonological memory performances of children increased over time and their contribution to reading differentiated by time. In addition, it was found that the phonological awareness in K1 predicted the reading achievement in Fl through rapid naming and phonological memory, while the rapid naming and phonological memory in K2 predicted the reading achievement in Fl through phonological awareness. Results revealed important developmental findings regarding the early predictors of reading in Turkish-speaking children.