How does orthographic knowledge influence performance on phonological awareness tasks?

Abstract

Three experiments explored the nature of orthographic influences on performance on phonological awareness tasks. Experiment 1 demonstrated that adults find it easier to perform phoneme deletions on items where there is a direct correspondence between letters and target sounds (e.g., take the /r[se text]/ from struggle) than where there is not (e.g., take the /w[see text]/ from squabble). Analogous results were found in a phoneme reversal task. Spelling production ability tended to correlate more strongly with performance on the former type of item than on the latter, suggesting that elevated performance on phonological awareness tasks is associated with the use of orthographic information. E..