Bradley & Bryant (1983) - Phonological Awareness

what is phonological awareness

awareness of sound structure in words

what early skills were studied

rhyme and alliteration

what question did the study ask

is phonological awareness causal for reading

what methods were combined

longitudinal and training designs

who were the participants

pre-reading 4- and 5-year-olds

what was the oddity task

identifying which word sounded different

what did early performance show

phonological awareness develops before reading

what did the longitudinal data show

early sound skills predicted later reading

were IQ differences responsible

no — effects remained after controlling IQ

what did training involve

sound categorisation +- letter training

which group improved most

sound + letter training

was the effect specific to reading

yes — not maths

what criticism was raised

missing letter-only training group

what does the evidence support

a causal role for phonological awareness

educational impact

foundation for phonics-based instruction

why is this study a classic

demonstrated causality using training + longitudinal methods