The Research
Study 1
Abstract:
The Phoneme Perception Task (PPT): A Measure of Phoneme Perception in Orally Read Sentences
Analysis of scores on the Phoneme Perception Task (PPT), a new measure of perception of phonemes in sentences, revealed an overall 75% accuracy of classification of students' group membership (56 students who never received special education services in grades 2 through 5 (non LD group) and 40 students of corresponding age, attending a school for students with learning disabilities (LD group). Concurrent validity was determined using the SCAN: A Screening Test for Auditory Processing Disorders (r =.39) (Keith 1986) and the Test of Written Language-2 (TOWL-2) Spontaneous Writing Quotient (Hammill & Larsen, 1988) ( r =.48). Interjudge reliability (.97) indicated strong observer agreement. Internal consistency (alpha = .74) was considered to be reduced by specific items that need revision prior to further study.
(Assessment for Effective Intervention (originally, Diagnostique), Vol. 23, No. 3, 123-139 (1998). DOI: 10.1177/073724779802300301. Diagnostique’s Copyright: 1998 by Council for Educational Diagnostic Services.)
Access via http://aei.sagepub.com/content/23/3.toc.
Subjects:
In a public school in suburban Chicago, 56 students from grades 2 through 5 (14 second-, 15 third-, 14 fourth-, and 13 fifth-graders) that had never been identified for special education services were selected at random from 83 children whose parents had, upon request, previously supplied permission to participate. These students generally came from lower to upper middle socioeconomic status (SES) and were predominantly white. An additional 40 students were selected from students attending a school for students with learning disabilities (LD) and who were receiving intensive language therapy to support deficits in linguistic skills including reading difficulties. These students were from middle to upper SES and were predominately white. The students with LD were selected by their birth date to correspond to those from the subjects without LD in grades 2 through 5 (i.e., four groups of 10 for each comparable grade level). In total, this study included 60 males and 36 females ranging in age from 92 to 139 months (7 years, 8 months to 11 years, 7 months). A battery of tests was administered to each student, taking approximately one hour.
Materials:
The Phoneme Perception Task (PPT), a 20-minute task, included five sentences per targeted phoneme, with a total of ten phonemes, /t, d, s, z, r, l, m, n, i,(long i) and I (short i/. The entire test (including directions and demonstrations) was pre-recorded in a sound studio. Words for all sentences were chosen from a pool of nouns, verbs and modifiers, judged to be appropriate for kindergarten and first grade students (Barrett, Huisingh, Jorgensen, & Zachman, 1983). Each sentence contained 8 - 9 syllables, presented at a rate of approximately one syllable per second. Sentences were played through headphones and were amplified by a stereo cassette player.
Of Interest:
The increase in the means as the grade level increased suggested that this measure taps the developmental nature of the processing of phonemes. As indicated in A Consumer’s Guide To Tests in Print, Second Edition (Hammill, et al., 1992), evidence of age relationship usually is demonstrated if the mean raw scores become larger as age increases. It is interesting to note that the difference between PPT scores becomes greater as a function of grade levels. (i.e., between second and third grades is 2.57 points, between third and fourth grades, 4.39 points, and between the fourth and fifth grades, 6.99).
Study 2
Abstract:
A Validation Study of a Phoneme Processing Test, The PPT, with Second Grade Students
A preliminary study of the Phoneme Perception Task (PPT), a task that measures awareness of specified phonemes in sentences (Jerger, 1999), led to this study with 112 second grade students, randomly selected from 5 schools in a large metropolitan suburban public school district. This test was revised, based on the findings of Study I.
Internal consistency/reliability (alpha = .83) of the revised Phoneme Processing Test (PPT-R) met criterion (Salvia and Ysseldyke,1991). Item analysis met criterion for the phoneme subtests (Anastasi, 1988). Correlation (r = 0.60) with Test of Phonological Awareness (Torgesen & Bryant, 1994) exceeded criterion (Hammill & Larsen, 1988) as did four reading measures, plus with a teachers’ rating of writing ability.
(Dissertation for Doctor of Philosophy, George Mason University, Summer, 1997. Copyright #TS-656-799, March, 25, 1998. Specific details can be obtained from the author upon request.)
Rationale:
Research evidence strongly indicates dyslexia represents a disorder of language, and more specifically an impairment in phonological processing ability (Brady and Shankweiler, 1991; Lundberg, Frost, & Petersen, 1988; Mann, Cowin, & Schoenheimer, 1989). Therefore, the issues of processing phonemes at the rate and in the context of speech should be addressed. It would be useful to identify the student who does not clearly perceive and process specific phonemes in the speech of those around them. Remediation could then focus on those phonemes. As a test of phoneme awareness, the revised Phoneme Perception Test (PPT-R) differs from currently available tests in that it: (1) measures the perception to phonemes at the sentence level (i.e., a level that approximates the rate and context of conversational speech) and (2) targets specific phonemes. A preliminary study (Jerger, 1999) compared the performance of a two groups of students (with and without identified learning disabilities) on the PPT.
Subjects:
In the present study, 112 second-grade students were administered the PPT-R, along with a battery of other measures, including two of phoneme awareness, four of reading skill, and two of writing ability to investigate the statistical reliability and validity of the PPT-R.
Of Interest:
Part/whole, within-test and between-test correlations indicated that the PPT-R is both reliable and valid for this population.