Phonemic awareness of schoolers test assessment (PASTA): A pseudoword blending task for Italian pupils

Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to reflect on and process the sounds of spoken language and to conduct mental operations on the units that represent them, that is, phonemes. This study intended to examine the descriptive and psychometric properties of the phonemic awareness of schoolers test assessment (PASTA), a new tool that assesses one dimension of phonological awareness, namely the ability to blend pseudowords. A sample of 627 Italian 3rd-5th graders, 314 females and 313 males (M-age = 9.3 years, SD = 10.2 months, age range = 7.8-11.4 years) took part in the study. Participants completed a battery of tests assessing verbal intelligence and working memory, reading, writing, word, and pseudoword-blending skills. A satisfactory internal consistency of PASTA (Kudar-Richardson 20 = 0.81) was documented. Moreover, a series of Pearson's correlations revealed adequate concurrent validity of the new test. In addition, an ANOVA showed the positive main effect of education in the PASTA condition (F[2,621) = 11.083, p < .0001, eta(2)p = .03). As expected, 3rd-grade pupils were outperformed by children attending the 4th- and 5th grades. In conclusion, the PASTA is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of phonological processing in Italian 3rd to 5th graders of primary school.