Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI: Phonological Awareness (PA)
What is PELI Phonological Awareness?
There are two parts to the Phonological Awareness (PA) subtest on the PELI, Part I, Word Parts, and Part II, First Sound, both of which are assessed through a simple game. The game consists of 14 picture cards (2 sample items, 2 practice items, and 10 test items) that the child places in a pocket on a page in the book. The items and the picture are related to the theme of the story.
Words for the PA subtest of the PELI were chosen that were relevant to the theme of the story and could be pictured. From the pool of words that met the criteria for each book, five words were selected for Part I, Word Parts. Three words are compound words (e.g., firewood) and two are two-syllable words (e.g., bucket). Five one-syllable words were selected for Part II, First Sound. Of the five single-syllable words, two begin with continuous sounds (i.e., sounds that can be held out like /m/ and /s/), two begin with stop sounds (e.g., /p/, /k/), and one begins with a blend (e.g., /tr/, /fl/).
While children may not be familiar with all of the words, the assessor names each word for the child during the PA subtest. It is not necessary to be familiar with a word to identify the first sound in the word. (If I were to verbally ask you to identify the first sound in the word zummer, you would likely be able to identify the first sound /z/, even if you do not know what a zummer is.)
In Part I, Word Parts, you will first model the task. Then you will show the child a picture and name it. You will ask the child to say the first part of the word. After responding, the child will place the picture in the pocket on the book page. The format of the game is the same for Part II, except that you will ask the child to say the first sound of the word.
In general, phonological awareness at the phoneme level is more strongly related to later reading success than are syllable and rhyme awareness (e.g., Hulme, Hatcher, Nation, Brown, Adams, & Stuart, 2002; Muter, Hulme, Snowling, & Stevenson, 2004; Savage & Carless, 2005). Evidence from early literacy research indicates that children who enter kindergarten able to identify initial sounds in words have increased probability of achieving early literacy goals in kindergarten (Cummings, Kaminski, Good, & O’Neil, 2011). Syllable detection also is assessed on the PELI because there is evidence to suggest that young children are able to detect larger parts of words, such as syllables, before they can detect individual sounds (Anthony & Francis, 2005; Anthony & Lonigan, 2004; Carroll, Snowling, Hulme, & Stevenson, 2003).
Overview
| Early Literacy Skill | Phonological Awareness |
| Format | The assessor asks the child to say the first part of two-syllable words and the first sound in single-syllable words. |
| Score | 1 point for each part of a two-syllable word
1 point for each part of single-syllable word, 2 points for each first sound |
| Prompts | Remember to tell me the first part of the word.
Remember to tell me the first sound in the word. |
| Discontinue | Optional for 3/4s: you may discontinue if the child gives no correct responses on the first five items. |
Scoring Rules and Tips
Part I. Word Parts
The child receives 1 point for each correct part of the word.
- Circle the sound(s) on the scoring sheet that correspond to what the child says.
- Circle the 0 if the child does not respond, or responds incorrectly.
Part II. First Sound
The child receives 2 points for saying the correct first phoneme and 1 point for saying the correct first sounds (i.e., consonant blend, consonant plus vowel, or consonant blend plus vowel).
- Circle the sound(s) on the scoring sheet that correspond to what the child says.
- Circle the 0 if the child does not respond, or responds incorrectly.
For more information, please reference the Acadience Reading Pre-K: PELI Assessment Manual which is available to users who have purchased the assessment.
