Phonological Awareness Abilities of Undergraduate College Students: A Comparison of Students in Related and Unrelated Majors

An observational study was conducted to evaluate the differences in the phonological awareness (PA) abilities of undergraduate college students in majors related versus unrelated to PA. In order to participate, students must not have had any formal PA or phonetics instruction at the college level. A total of 116 undergraduate students voluntarily participated in an PA assessment, with results analyzed based upon the following three categories: Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) major, education major, and other major. Using non-parametric statistical analysis, there were statistically significant differences in CSD majors, in multiple categories of PA skills, compared to both education majors and other majors prior to any instruction in PA or phonetics. Keywords: phonological awareness, phonetics, undergraduate college students, speech-language pathology, communication sciences and disorders