Computer-Administrated Versus Paper-Based Assessment of School-Entry Phonological Awareness Ability

Abstract Purpose: Phonological awareness (PA) ability at school entry is a powerful predictor of early literacy success. Equipping classroom teachers with tools to accurately and efficiently monitor young children's PA development to help inform reading and writing instruction is critical for raising literacy achievement for all children. Computer-based assessment (CBA) is one conduit through which time-efficient monitoring of PA can be achieved within busy curricular environments. This study investigated whether computer-based administration of PA test content could generate equivalent results to paper-based administration with an examiner. Methods: Thirty-three children aged between 4 years, 10 months and 5 years, 0 months participated in the study. Twenty-one children presented with typical speech and language development and 12 children presented with moderate-severe speech delay. A crossover research design was used whereby participants were allocated to one of two experimental assessment conditions. Group A received a paper-based assessment of their PA skills whereas Group B received the same assessment content delivered by a computer program that could be self-administered. Two weeks later the participants were re-assessed using the opposite assessment modality. Results: Data analysis showed that: (a) CBA generated comparable scores to the paper-based counterpart for both children with typical spoken language development and children with moderate-severe speech delay, (b) CBA took 20% less time to administer, (c) there were no gender differences in performance between CBA and paper-based administrations, and (d) CBA scores showed strong evidence of reliability and concurrent validity with an existing paper-based phonological awareness measure. Implications: The findings indicate that CBA can generate comparable results and in a shorter time period when compared to more traditional paper-based methods of measuring PA ability. Potential implications of introducing CBA as a universal screening and monitoring tool on the literacy outcomes of school-aged children are discussed.