Training in phonemic segmentation: The effects of visual support

Two experimental studies examined the effects of different types of phonemic segmentation training on phonemic segmentation, reading and spelling. Children with learning disabilities, who were weak in phonemic segmentation, were trained with the use of diagrams and alphabet letters, with alphabet letters only, or with no visual support at all (the control condition). For this purpose three computer-assisted training programs were developed. In the first experiment, 48 children were assigned to one of the three programs. The training period lasted five weeks. Although in each training program the children improved their phonemic segmentation skill, there were no significant differences among the three training programs. This result may have been influenced by the different types of feedback that were provided in the three training programs. In a second experiment, therefore, these differences in feedback were eliminated and 49 different children were trained with the same three programs. The results of this experiment, however, were the same as those of the first experiment. The finding that visual support had no beneficial effects could therefore not be attributed to differences in explicit feedback. It was concluded that with these children, in contrast to preschoolers, phonemic segmentation training using visual support does not have any advantage over auditory training alone. The results of this study indicate that preschoolers and children with reading and spelling problems cannot be treated in the same way. It underlines the importance of further examination of the problems that poor readers and poor spellers encounter in grasping the structure of spoken language.     

Using visual support in preschool phonemic segmentation training

In an earlier training study we found that the use of visual support in phonemic segmentation training provided no additional value for poor readers and spellers from schools for children with learning disabilities, having problems segmenting speech (Kerstholt, van Bon & Schreuder 1994). Previous research (e.g., Hohn & Ehri 1983) suggests, however, that visual support – such as alphabet letters – does facilitate the segmentation teaching of preschoolers. Hence, it was expected that visual support would be beneficial in phonemic segmentation training only prior to formal reading and spelling instruction. The purpose of the present study was to test this expectation. One group of preschoolers was trained in phonemic segmentation with diagrams and alphabet letters as visual support, another group was trained without visual help. Results show the preschoolers to improve their phonemic segmentation, reading and spelling skill significantly. It made no difference, however, whether the children were trained in phonemic segmentation with or without the help of visual support. The findings of the present study and those of our earlier study indicate visual support to be useful in phonemic segmentation training only under certain conditions. It is suggested that differences in orthographic properties of the languages involved may explain the difference between the Anglo-Saxon studies that did show an additional effect of letters and a number of Dutch studies that did not.     

A reading-level match study of phonemic processes underlying reading disabilities in a transparent orthography

The current study examined the relationship in Spanish (i.e., a transparent orthography) between different levels of phonological awareness and reading disabilities. In addition, the strategies used by the children when they resolved phoneme segmentation and reversal tasks were analyzed. A sample of 133 subjects were selected and organized in three different groups: (1) A group of 45 reading-disabled children, (2) A comparison group of 44 normal readers matched in age with the reading disabled, and (3) A reading level match group of 44 younger normal readers at the same reading level as the reading disabled. Three phonological awareness tasks were used to measure levels of intrasyllabic and phonemic awareness. The reading disabled group was equivalent to the younger reading level-matched control group in the odd-word-out task. However, there were differences in the phonemic tasks (e.g., phoneme segmentation and reversal) because the reading disabled group performed more poorly than the younger children. Overall, the children matched in age with the reading disabled group were superior in all phonological awareness tasks. There were differences between the groups when the strategies used by the children were analyzed.     

An investigation into teaching phonemic awareness through shared reading and writing

This study examined teaching phonemic awareness by embedding sound talk within meaningful literacy experiences of shared reading and writing. Small groups of 5 and 6-year-old children were seen three times a week for seven weeks. Four phonemic awareness tasks – first and last sound identification, sound segmentation and deletion – were targeted in each session, with scaffolding fitting task difficulty and individual child ability. Results showed that such naturalistic instruction lead to gains in phonemic awareness compared to a no-treatment control group for both the treatment group as a whole and for a subgroup of children with lower literacy levels. Treatment-specific improvement was evident in three of the four phonemic awareness tasks: first sound identification, last sound identification, and sound segmentation. Additional observations of language and literacy benefits for this emergent literacy approach were also identified.     

Remedial interventions for children with reading disabilities: speech perception--an effective component in phonological training?

The effects of two types of phonological training in children with reading disabilities (RD) were examined. One of the programs (SP/LPA) trained children in speech discrimination, letter-sound correspondence, and phonemic awareness. The other program (LPA) trained children only in letter-sound correspondence and phonemic awareness. The effects of these programs were compared with a control group. Thirty-five children with RD were trained in small groups five times a week for 4 weeks. The results indicated that both experimental groups improved in phonemic awareness compared to the control group but that only the SP/LPA group scored higher than the control group in reading.     

Predicting the future achievement of second graders with reading disabilities: Contributions of phonemic awareness, verbal memory, rapid naming, and IQ

Concurrent and prospective correlations among reading, spelling, phonemic awareness, verbal memory, rapid serial naming, and IQ were examined in a longitudinal sample that was studied at Grade 2 and Grade 8. Substantial temporal stability of individual differences in all of these skills was seen over the six-year period between assessments. The strongest predictors of future reading and spelling outcomes were different for normally achieving second graders than for those who had been designated as having reading disabilities. For the former, Grade 2 literacy scores were the best predictors of later achievement. For the children with reading disabilities, however, prediction of most future reading and spelling skills was substantially improved by the inclusion of the cognitive-linguistic measures, particularly rapid naming.     

An evaluation of two approaches for teaching phonemic awareness to children in Head Start

Several research studies linking early phonemic awareness to the prevention of later reading difficulties strongly suggest that phoneme segmentation and blending, rather than rhyming and alliteration abilities, are the key aspects of phonemic awareness that are related to the prevention of difficulties. Yet there is a persistent belief among many educators that instruction in rhyming and alliteration are adequate to develop phonemic awareness and developmentally more appropriate than segmentation and blending activities. Using quasi-experimental methods, I evaluated two approaches for teaching phonemic awareness to 4- and 5-year-old children in four Head Start classrooms. The first approach focused on rhymes, alliteration, and story activities. The second approach focused on phoneme segmentation and blending in the context of sounding out actual words. Results showed that children taught using the second approach produced significantly greater gains in phonemic awareness and letter–sound knowledge, compared to children using the first approach. Both approaches were more effective when teachers had previously taught attention skills to their children.     

Phonemic segmentation and blending skills of kindergarten children: Implications for beginning reading acquisition

This study explored the abilities of kindergarten children in segmenting and blending phonemic components of words and the relationship of these abilities to beginning reading acquisition measured by the word recognition subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and to auditory discrimination defined by performance on the Wepman Test of Auditory Discrimination. Random assignment of 103 kindergarten children to six experimental groups was used to evaluate phonemic segmentation and blending skills and to one control group to assess the relationship of these skills to auditory discrimination. Each experimental group received training in one of three types of word division (either C-V-C, CV-C or C-VC) for phonemic segmentation and blending in one of two task sequences (either blending first or segmentation first). Results indicate that segmentation is significantly more difficult than blending and that C-V-C is the most difficult of the three types of word division for both segmentation and blending. There were no significant differential effects of the training and control procedures on a pretest and posttest of the Wepman. Follow-up with the WRAT 1 year later indicated that C-V-C segmentation is a highly useful predictor of beginning reading acquisition. Implications for teaching of reading and for the interpretation of Wepman results are included.     

The effects of blending and spelling training on the decoding skills of young poor readers

Blending and spelling training were compared in this experiment to determine which intervention would improve the decoding skills of two first-grade boys with learning disabilities who were in the phonetic cue stage of reading. Additionally, the two boys received pre- and posttest administrations of a phonemic segmentation task. Although neither intervention proved superior, the children met the learning criterion for both interventions and demonstrated both maintenance and generalization of their skills. They also improved their phonemic skills, even though independent training in this area was not provided. It appeared that the equivalence of the interventions may have been due to the intensive instructional setting and use of systematic error analysis procedures.     

Differences in reading development among Danish beginning-readers with high versus low phonemic awareness on entering grade one

This longitudinal study explored the relation betweenpreschool phoneme awareness and initial reading development. Distinctions were made between formal and functional letter knowledge and between foundation and subsequent phases of reading development. 44 children with at least average language comprehension were followed from the beginning of grade 1(7 years) until the end of grade 2. They were divided intotwo groups: one group of 21 children with high phonemic awareness (HPA) and 23 children with low phonemic awareness (LPA) on entering grade 1. The results showed persistent group differences in favour of the HPA children regarding letter-knowledge and word reading. The results confirmed a significant impact of functional letter knowledge on the length of the foundation period and on later reading development. Length of foundation period was shown to have a significant impact on reading development at the end of grades 1 and 2. It is argued that phonemic awareness is an indispensable catalystin the development of initial word processing ability.     

The utility of Chinese tone processing skill in detecting children with English reading disabilities

The utility of Chinese tone processing skill in detecting children with English reading difficulties was examined through differences in a Chinese tone experimental task between a group of native English‐speaking children with reading disabilities (RD) and a comparison group of children with normal reading development (NRD). General auditory processing, English phonemic processing and English reading skills were also tested. We found differences between groups in Chinese tone processing skill, as well as general auditory processing and English phonemic skills. The RD group was significantly poorer than NRD on tasks of Chinese tone, phonemic and frequency modulated (FM) tone processing. Another finding was a different pattern of relationship between RD and NRD groups in Chinese tone, phonemic and FM tone processing as predictors of reading skills. For children with RD, FM tone processing was a significant predictor of pseudoword reading; for NRD, phonemic and Chinese tone processing skills predicted real word reading. These findings contribute to improved understanding of the roles of general auditory processing and phonological processing skills in RD, with implications for assessment and intervention with children who have English reading difficulties.     

Promoting phonemic analysis ability among kindergartners

Two longitudinal studies following the design used by Lundberg et al's (1988) aimed at examining the effects of different metaphonological training programs on phonemic analysis ability acquisition among kindergartners (mean age: 5 years 5 months in both studies). In Study 1, two training programs involving either rhymes, syllables and phonemes, or rhymes and syllables only, were administered to different groups. Progress in phonemic analysis ability was exclusively observed in the group whose training included phonemes. An untrained control group displayed no progress in metaphonological ability. In Study 2, two training programs involving either phonemes or syllables were administered to different groups. A third group was trained on non-linguistic visual analysis. Specific effects of training on phonemic analysis ability were disclosed again. While a phoneme-to-supraphoneme generalization was found among the group trained with phonemes, the reverse did not happen among the group trained with syllables. These results support the idea that processes involved in syllabic analysis of speech or in rhyme manipulation cannot be applied to its phonemic structure. In addition, training with non-linguistic visual analysis did not entail any progress in metaphonological ability, thus providing evidence that phonological awareness cannot be promoted by analysis abilities acquired in another domain.     

The impact of invented spelling on phonemic awareness

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a training programme, designed to make preschool-age children's invented spelling evolve, on their phonemic awareness. The participants were 90 children who were divided into 3 experimental and 3 control groups based on the nature of their invented spelling. Children's phonemic skills were evaluated in a pre-test and a post-test. In between the experimental groups underwent the training program. The experimental groups achieved greater progress in the phonemic tests than the control groups. The training's impact on those tests differed depending on the level of the children's invented spelling.     

Efficacy of Fast ForWord training on facilitating acquisition of reading skills by children with reading difficulties—A longitudinal study

We explored the effects of Fast ForWord (FFW) training on reading and spoken language skills in children with difficulties in phonemic awareness and word identification. Gains were examined both immediately after treatment and over a period of two years. In the short term, children who received FFW training were compared to children who received Orton Gillingham (OG) training. The FFW group was also compared to a matched longitudinal control group (LC); all participants in the FFW and LC groups received similar multisensory structured language instruction over two academic years. The FFW and OG groups made similar gains in phonemic awareness. However, the children who received FFW training did not show significant gains in word identification or word attack whereas the children who received OG training made significant gains in word attack. Immediately after treatment, the FFW group showed significant gains in speaking and syntax, but these gains were not maintained over two years. The FFW group did not differ significantly from the LC group in any areas over the two years. Children in both groups made significant progress in phonemic awareness and reading.     

Learning of a formation principle for the secondary phonemic function of a syllabic orthography

It has been observed in Japanese children learning to read that there is an early and rapid shift from exclusive reading of hiragana as syllabograms to the dual-use convention in which some hiragana also represent phonemic elements. Such rapid initial learning appears contrary to the standard theories of reading acquisition that require instruction in nonlexical procedures for learning phonemic elements of an orthography. However, the alternative Knowledge Sources theory implies that the shift would be achievable from lexical input by which the learner acquires an implicit formation principle for this secondary phonemic function of hiragana. In two training experiments (Studies 1 & 2), this hypothesis was examined in transfer tests with 5-year-old Japanese and with 14-year-old English-speaking beginner learners of Japanese. As predicted, relative to phonological controls, very limited lexical training of exemplar hiragana words transferred to phonemic use of other (previously unknown and untrained) hiragana in untrained words, but not in isolation from these words. In Study 3, at both beginning and adult reading levels, novel hiragana symbol combinations were created to represent individual phoneme elements in ways that do not exist in conventional hiragana orthography but are exemplars for induction of a potential generalized formation principle of the secondary phonemic function of the system. At all reading levels there was evidence of use of this generalized formation principle, a result not explained by the standard theories but implied by the alternative theory, which offers a potential universal feature of learning to read.     

The development of first graders' reading skill as a function of pre-school motivational orientation and phonemic awareness

This study examined the development of reading skill during the first school year. The predictors were pre-school motivational orientations, coping tendencies, knowledge of the alphabet and phonemic awareness. From 151 pre-school children (6 years of age) rated by pre-school teachers on motivational orientations, 32 non-readers were allocated according to their dominating motivational disposition to one of the following extreme groups: task orientation, social dependence, ego-defensive, and multiple non-task-oriented. Each group included 8 children. The subjects' phonemic awareness and knowledge of the alphabet were assessed. Coping strategies were observed in pre-school during a play-like construction task comprising three induced pressure episodes. At the end of the first grade the children were assessed on word reading skill and again on motivational orientation. Both group comparisons and idiographic analyses were made. Results indicated that pre-school phonemic awareness was associated with first grade word reading skill. Rated task orientation in pre-school enhanced significantly the prediction of fluent word reading. Task-oriented children showed significantly better word reading skill than ego-defensive or multiple non-task-oriented children. Ego-defensive and multiple non-task-oriented subjects showed significantly less task oriented, and more ego-defensive, coping behaviour under pressure than task-oriented subjects. This finding suggests greater vulnerability of ego-defensive and multiple non-task-oriented children which may contribute to diverging reading careers. Idiographic analyses indicated parallel developmental changes in reading skill, motivational orientations and coping patterns confirming the role of motivation in the formation of an individual's reading career.     

Predictors of reading skills for kindergartners and first grade students in Spanish: a longitudinal study

This study investigated predictors of word reading and reading comprehension skills using longitudinal data from Spanish-speaking kindergartners (N?=?163) and first grade students (N?=?305) from high SES families in Chile. Individual differences in letter-naming fluency and phonemic segmentation fluency, but not vocabulary, were positive predictors of word reading, over time, for kindergartners. Furthermore, kindergartners with higher letter-naming fluency and phonemic segmentation fluency had a faster rate of change in word reading over time. For first graders?? reading comprehension, word reading, nonsense word fluency, and vocabulary were positively and uniquely related. However, the rate of change in the reading comprehension outcome differed over time by children??s level of vocabulary, nonsense word fluency, and word reading. These results suggest that code-related skills are important for word reading, but vocabulary might not have a direct, unique relation with word reading in a transparent orthography. In addition, phonological decoding fluency appears to contribute to reading comprehension even over and above word reading accuracy in Spanish.     

General auditory processing, Chinese tone processing, English phonemic processing and English reading skill: a comparison between Chinese-English and Korean-English bilingual children

In the present study, we investigated the relationship between general auditory processing, Chinese tone processing, English phonemic processing and English reading skill in a group of Chinese-English bilingual children with a tonal L1 and Korean-English counterparts with a non-tonal L1. We found that general auditory processing contributed to variance in English word reading skill for Chinese children after controlling for Chinese tone and English phoneme deletion skill. English phonemic processing, on the other hand, explained a significant amount of unique variance in English reading for Korean children after controlling for general auditory and Chinese tone skill. These findings suggest that Chinese children relied more on general auditory processing in reading English, whereas Korean children relied more on phonemic skill in reading English. These findings are discussed in terms of the impact of cross-language differences in bilingual reading acquisition.     

On the interaction between phonological awareness and reading acquisition: It’s a two-way Street

We have investigated the reciprocal influence of reading acquisition and phonemic awareness. Using a between-grades quasi-experimental design, we have found that learning to read is the most important factor that accounts for the drastic improvement of phonemic segmentation skills during the first year of schooling. On the other hand, we found that improving phonemic skills in kindergarten facilitated reading acquisition in children at risk for developing reading disorders. We suggest that, for most children, exposure to the alphabet automatically triggers phonemic awareness, which is a necessary condition for efficient acquisition of reading. However, the emergence of phonemic awareness requires a previously developed sensitivity to phonology, which in some children may be absent. The present data suggest that, if phonological skills are absent, they may be developed in preschoolers by explicit training, thereby preventing failure in reading acquisition.