Are all phonemic awareness tests created equally? A comparison of the Yopp-Singer and the task of auditory analysis skills (TASS)

This study examined two screening instruments designed to measure phonemic awareness (Test of Auditory Analysis SkillsTAAS and Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation). Participants included 25 second-semester kindergarten children who were administered both instruments. The dependent measure (the STAR Reading Test) was administered in February of their First-Grade year. The investigation was designed to determine if these instruments are both evaluating the same skills and identify which was more effective in predicting success in reading near the end of First Grade. The childrenʹs scores from the Yopp-Singer and the TAAS were correlated (r=0.56, p<0.01) and so were the scores between the TAAS and STAR (r= 0.51, p<0.01). Comparison of scores between the Yopp and the STAR produced non-significant results (r=0.31). Although the TAAS produced a higher correlation with reading achievement than the Yopp-Singer, the difference between these two measures failed to reach significance (t=1.16). Implications of these findings, along with possible explanations of the results, are discussed.