Training in lingual awareness during production of isolated syllables of English

The purpose of this preliminary investigation was to determine the effects of training on lingual awareness during the production of isolated syllables of English. 60 subjects were selected for this investigation. They were placed into two groups of 30 individuals each. Group one (Trained) consisted of individuals who had received training in articulation and phonetics (M age=22.7) Group two (Untrained) consisted of individuals who had not received training in articulation and phonetics (M age= 18.8). The subjects in the Trained group were majors in speech-language pathology. The procedure involved asking subjects to imitate the production of a syllable, then describe where the tongue was located during that production. Following this request, subjects were given four multiple-choice questions to answer regarding (a) tongue height (high to low), (b) tongue position (front to back), (c) contact with the teeth, and (d) contact with other structures within the oral cavity. Mean scores ranged from 1.87 to 3.2 (on a scale of 4.0) for the group of Trained subjects versus 1.5 to 2.4 for the Untrained subjects. The Trained subjects had significantly higher test scores on all phonemes (p<.05) with the exception of r and sh (p>.05). For both groups of subjects, the phonemes, r, sh, and l, were the most difficult to describe, while the phoneme t was described most accurately.