Syllable-first rather than letter-first to improve phonemic awareness
Maria Vazeux1,2, Nadège Doignon-Camus3,4, Marie-Line Bosse5
1LISEC UR 2310, University of Strasbourg, University of Haute-Alsace, University of Lorraine, Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Nancy, France. maria.vazeux@etu.unistra.fr.
Scientific Reports
|December 18, 2020
Summary
Teaching prereaders letter-to-syllable correspondences significantly boosts phonemic awareness more than letter-to-phoneme instruction. This finding supports a new approach to early reading education.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Education
Background:
- The prevailing method for enhancing prereaders' phonemic awareness involves teaching letter-to-phoneme correspondences.
- The syllabic bridge hypothesis proposes that associating letters with phonological syllables may be more effective due to syllable saliency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effectiveness of letter-to-syllable versus letter-to-phoneme correspondences in developing phonemic awareness in prereaders.
- To investigate the impact of different spelling-to-sound teaching methods on early reading skills.
Main Methods:
- A learning program was administered to 222 French-speaking prereaders over five sessions.
- Participants were divided into two groups: one learning letter-to-syllable correspondences and the other letter-to-phoneme correspondences.
Main Results:
- The group taught letter-to-syllable correspondences demonstrated a significantly greater improvement in phonemic awareness compared to the letter-to-phoneme group.
- This suggests that a syllabic approach may be more beneficial for developing foundational reading skills.
Conclusions:
- Teaching letter-to-syllable correspondences is a highly effective strategy for enhancing phonemic awareness in prereaders.
- This approach offers a promising alternative for early reading instruction.
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