Effects of explicit teacher-implemented phoneme awareness instruction in 4-year-olds.

Effects of explicit teacher-implemented phoneme awareness instruction in 4-year-olds. Clin Linguist Phon. 2014 Jul;28(7-8):493-507 Authors: Tyler AA, Osterhouse H, Wickham K, Mcnutt R, Shao Y Abstract Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine whether gains would be observed in an integrated group of 4-year-olds when phoneme awareness skills were explicitly taught by trained early childhood educators. In a quasi-experimental design with a delayed treatment approach, one classroom (N = 14) was randomly assigned to receive the instructional program in fall, while a second classroom (N = 10) served as a control and subsequently received the program in spring. Baseline assessment of speech and language skills indicated there were four participants with speech and/or language impairments. The teacher training involved an initial workshop and weekly hour-long mentoring meetings; the program was provided for 20 min a day, 4 d a week, for 10 weeks. Outcome measures of phoneme awareness and letter knowledge skills were obtained from non-standardized tasks administered pre-instruction and post-instruction, at mid-year and end-year points. When each classroom received the phoneme instruction, participants made gains in letter knowledge and phoneme level skills in comparison with group performance under regular instruction. These gains were statistically significant for phoneme blending and letter knowledge. Using an aggrega...
Source: Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Tags: Clin Linguist Phon Source Type: research