Phonological awareness of Maltese infants

Abstract

A forced-choice rhyme recognition test was used to assess the Phonological judgements made by a number of Maltese Year Two children in the English Language. The number and position of phonemes shared by the rhyming and non rhyming response choices were systematically varied. The investigation focused upon rhyming awareness and the factors. which affect difficulty of rhyme recognition. Results showed that there are different levels of rhyming ability. The variables which affect performance, and may permit the development of training procedures that would improve the performance of our infants at an early stage of their reading of English as a Foreign Language, were also identified. Formal similarity of the stimulus word and non-rhyming choice proved to be a major factor determining the difficulty of rhyming items. The potential implications for improving reading skills are discussed, and these are related to comparative work in other countries.