Abstract

PLACITELI, Daiana Aparecida  and  BARRERA, Sylvia Domingos. Phonological processing and reading difficulties in Brazilian Portuguese. Rev. psicopedag. [online]. 2023, vol.40, n.122, pp.168-180.  Epub June 24, 2024. ISSN 0103-8486.  https://doi.org/10.51207/2179-4057.20230015.

Research carried out, mostly in English, suggest that deficits in phonological processing (PP) skills are at the origin of reading difficulties. This study investigated the PP abilities of a group of Brazilian students with difficulties in learning to read, comparing them to the PP abilities of younger children, presenting an equivalent reading level, but without learning complaints. The study included 24 children of both sexes, students from the 1st to the 5th year of Elementary School, from public schools. Participants were assessed using tests of intelligence, word reading, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid serial naming. The results suggest deficits in phonological awareness, phonological memory, and letter naming skills in the group of students with reading difficulties, corroborating the hypothesis of a causal relationship between PP deficits and reading difficulties, even in more transparent languages, as is the case of the Brazilian Portuguese. Basic difficulties of phonological awareness were also observed in children with difficulties, including those at the level of syllables and rhymes, indicating that such metaphonological skills may be more important in languages with simpler syllabic structure and should be systematically developed from preschool years in order to minimize possible reading problems during literacy.

Keywords : Phonological Awareness; Phonological Memory; Rapid Serial Naming; Reading; Learning Difficulties; Dyslexia.

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