The phonological awareness scale of early childhood period (PASECP) development and psychometric features

Abstract

This study has two main aims. The first aim of the study is to develop a scale for determining early childhood period phonological awareness skills, and to put forward the validity-reliability of this scale. The second aim is to determine the norm values of this scale developed for the Marmara Region. For this reason, the research has been carried out with a general screening model. The validity and reliability of the items developed, consisting of seventy eight items, are tested with the study group which is comprised of 60-72 months old children. In the norm study of the research, the target population is composed of children at 60-72 months age range residing within the cities of Istanbul, Bursa, Balikesir, Kocaeli and Canakkale located in the Marmara Region, and receiving education in pre-school institutions in the school year from 2011 to 2012. In addition, 27 children who do not receive pre-school education are selected to determine the structural validity of the scale developed. Thus, the number of samples reaches 733. Factor loads of the seventy eight items containing within the 8 factors determined prior to the research in the sub-factor they take place are between the range of .30-.84. Test-retest coefficients of the scale vary between .975 and .433. Internal consistency coefficients of the total grades of the scale is between .9611 (Cronbach alpha) and .8474 (Guttman). As a result, it is accepted that the psychometric feature of the scale is sufficient. As a result of the norm analyses of the research, it is put forward that phonological awareness skill tends to correlate with the increasing socio-economic status of parents.