Lakhasly

PA Assessment with Undergraduate College Students.Disability assessment is also important for examining PA competency among education majors/professionals and SLP majors/professionals (Carroll et al., 2012; Hall-Mills & Bourgeois, 2008; Hillenbrand, 2017; Moran & Fitch, 2001; Robinson et al., 2011; Sayeski et al., 2017; Spencer et al., 2011; Werfel, 2017; Westerveld & Barton, 2016).Of the few studies located that assessed some level of phonological processing and/or PA skill for undergraduate college-aged students with an unspecified major, both studies recruited a portion of their participants from undergraduate speech-language pathology courses but did not compare them with participants in the group from other majors (Henbest, et al., 2020; Katz & Moore, 2021).Hurford and colleagues (2016) compared the phonological awareness abilities of education majors with non-education majors utilizing a number of subtests from the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). These students have primarily been evaluated for learning disability, as college students with learning disabilities may have difficulty meeting the reading and writing demands in higher education (Del Tufo & Earle, 2020; Earle & Del Tufo, 2021; Wilson & Lesaux, 2001).Interestingly, it appears that adolescent and adult readers may have variable performance 2 Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders, Vol.9 [], Iss.

PA Assessment with Undergraduate College Students. While exploring PA skills of
undergraduate CSD students it is important to know context as to how students were compared.
There is limited evidence regarding the PA skills of undergraduate college students, and most
studies have focused on comparisons of those with and without identified disabilities. These
students have primarily been evaluated for learning disability, as college students with learning
disabilities may have difficulty meeting the reading and writing demands in higher education (Del
Tufo & Earle, 2020; Earle & Del Tufo, 2021; Wilson & Lesaux, 2001). Disability assessment is
also important for examining PA competency among education majors/professionals and SLP
majors/professionals (Carroll et al., 2012; Hall-Mills & Bourgeois, 2008; Hillenbrand, 2017;
Moran & Fitch, 2001; Robinson et al., 2011; Sayeski et al., 2017; Spencer et al., 2011; Werfel,
2017; Westerveld & Barton, 2016). Hurford and colleagues (2016) compared the phonological
awareness abilities of education majors with non-education majors utilizing a number of subtests
from the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). Although the pre-service
teachers outperformed the non-education majors, the results were not statistically significant and
were within the average range for the normative sample of the CTOPP (Hurford et al., 2016).
There is little published research on the PA skills of undergraduate college students that is not
centered on learning disabilities. Further, no studies have compared the PA skills of undergraduate
students in education and CSD majors with other undergraduates. Of the few studies located that
assessed some level of phonological processing and/or PA skill for undergraduate college-aged
students with an unspecified major, both studies recruited a portion of their participants from
undergraduate speech-language pathology courses but did not compare them with participants in
the group from other majors (Henbest, et al., 2020; Katz & Moore, 2021). Katz and Moore (2021)
examined phonological memory, a part of phonological processing, but did not directly assess
phonological awareness. Instead, the focus was on word learning and its relationship with acoustic
effects. Scarborough and colleagues (1998) studied grapheme to phoneme correspondence of
college students from teacher education courses who had already earned at least a bachelor’s
degree. Interestingly, it appears that adolescent and adult readers may have variable performance
2
Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders, Vol. 9 [], Iss. 1, Art. 9
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/tlcsd/vol9/iss1/9