A multisensory program for teaching English phonological awareness skills to Japanese children

Abstract

In the present study, a series of activities was designed in an attempt to improve English phonological learning skills of Japanese children. The activities included analyzing English words into phonemes and blending phonemes into English words using letters, pictures, and actions representing phonemes. The following conditions were compared : (a) Phonological Training I, in which thirty-five 5- to 6-year-olds participated in the activities ; (b) Sound Experience, in which twenty-six 4- to 6-year-olds listened to DVDs of English sounds ; (c) Phonological Training II, in which twenty-two 4- to 6-year-olds listened to the DVDs and then participated in the activities ; and (d) Control, in which 69 children (mean age 6 years 8 months) engaged in no activity related to the program. The children in both of the Phonological Training groups were better at repeating 1-syllable English words out loud than were the children in the Control condition. The children in the Phonological Training II group were better at recognizing phonemes of English words and made more correct responses on English non-word repetition tasks than the children in the other 3 conditions.