THE GROWTH OF CHILDREN'S KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SPOKEN WORDS∗

Abstract

Subjects for the study were 65 children whose ages ranged from 5.6 to 9.5 years. Tasks from the Downing‐Oliver (1973‐1974) study were used to explore children's knowledge of spoken words and the relationship between this knowledge and reading achievement. Five examples from each of eight classes of auditory stimuli were presented to the child who indicated whether or not each example heard was a spoken word. Results from the investigation led the researcher to the following conclusions: (1) the average child's knowledge of a spoken word improves with age; and (2) significant relationships exist between children's knowledge of spoken words and reading achievement.