Honors Thesis Archive
| Author | Audreyana Jagger |
|---|---|
| Title | The Effects of Phoneme Instruction on Pre-Literacy Skills and Phonemic Awareness in Preschool Children |
| Department | Psychology |
| Advisors | Mary Jo Zembar, Michael Anes, and Cathy Pederson |
| Year | 2013 |
| Honors | Departmental Honors |
| Full Text | View Thesis (379 KB) |
| Abstract | This study explored the differences between 3-4 year-old children who received different phoneme instruction and their phonemic awareness at the end of the study. The phoneme instruction was modeled after the early stages of the Sound Shapes ReadingTM program developed at Nightingale Montessori School (Schwab & Nightingale, n.d.). Sound/shapes instruction focuses on introducing the shape of the letter with the sound the letter makes. The Tactile Stimulation (TS) group received tactile stimulation by tracing the letters made out of sandpaper in tandem with the sound/shapes pairing. The second group, No Tactile Stimulation (NTS) group, received Sound Shapes ReadingTM instruction with no letter tracing and the third group received traditional curricula instruction offered by their preschool. The children were assessed on their pre-reading and phonemic awareness skills at pre-test. After eight weeks of instruction twice a week for approximately ten minutes each session, post-test data was collected. Between-group analysis at post-test showed that the NTS and TS groups scored significantly higher than the control group in the sound labeling task and total phonemic awareness composite score. The results also demonstrated significant improvement over time for the TS group in sequencing, sound labeling, first letter sound task and composite scores for total score and phonemic awareness. These results suggest tactile stimulation, in addition to pairing sounds with shapes, may aid in the development of early phonemic awareness. |
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