This study examined differences between adults and children and between normal and poor readers in the use of phonemic coding strategies for storing words in working memory. In the first experiment, adults, 11-year-olds, and 8-year-olds (categorized as normal or poor readers) recalled eight-item strings of rhyming and nonrhyming words. A developmental decrease in errors was observed for adults, 11-year-olds, and normal-reading 8-year-olds that reflected an improvement in the phonemic coding of items in working memory, but no difference was found between normal- and poor-reading 8-year-olds in the use of phonemic coding strategies. A second experiment with shorter lists and more children supported the latter finding. The results were interpreted as demonstrating that the ability to access syllable-internal phonemic structure is a necessary precursor to the development of phonemic coding strategies for working memory, but that the use of that structure for storing words in working memory is a skill that develops independently and later than the ability to access phonemic structure.