A study examined the construct and predictive validity of phonemic awareness to determine the strength of the relationship between phonemic segmentation and auditory abstraction and to determine which of the two measures provided the best prediction of word recognition ability. Data were gathered from 65 first-grade children from 2 public elementary schools from lower to middle socioeconomic levels in 2 southern California school districts. Three tests were individually administered to each child: the Yopp-Singer Test of Phonemic Segmentation; the Beach-Singer Test of Auditory Abstraction; and the Gates-McKillop-Horowitz Reading Diagnostic Tests, Words: Untimed Subtest. Results revealed statistically significant correlations between word recognition and auditory abstraction and between word recognition and phonemic segmentation. The findings support the predictive validity of the construct of phonemic awareness for word recognition and decoding. Findings also indicate that phonemic segmentation and auditory abstraction are important abilities for a child to develop to be successful in word recognition. Further research into causal explanations of whether phonemic awareness develops prior to or as a result of formal reading instruction appears to be called for. (One figure and four tables of data are included; 14 references are attached.) (KEH)