Abstract

ANDREAZZA-BALESTRIN, Carla; CIELO, Carla Aparecida  and  LAZZAROTTO, Cristiane. Relationship between performance in phonological awareness and gender: a study with preschool children. Rev. soc. bras. fonoaudiol. [online]. 2008, vol.13, n.2, pp. 154-160. ISSN 1982-0232.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-80342008000200009.

PURPOSE: To analyze the performance in phonological awareness tasks (PA), according to sex and writing hypothesis. METHODS: Forty-three preschool children - 19 male and 24 female - were submitted to a complete speech-language pathology screening, and carried out an evaluation of their writing level and their PA abilities. The data were statistically analyzed using Two-Way and One-Way ANOVA. RESULTS: As a result, there was a statistically significant relationship between PA and gender in subjects with syllabic-alphabetical and alphabetical writing levels. Awareness for words was more developed among male subjects, while female individuals had significantly better performances in syllabic segmentation tasks with three-syllable words, which evidenced their better abilities in dealing with syllabic analysis. CONCLUSIONS: It's concluded that the female subjects showed greater ability to analyze smaller units in longer words, which might suggest a possible relationship between the low rate of phonological deviations in female individuals and their better performance in PA.

Keywords : Language; Language disorders; Handwriting; Sex factors; Child, preschool.