Phonemic awareness is one of the predictors for future performance in reading and

1. The impact of phonemic awareness instruction on Taiwanese learners’ spelling development Yu-Cian Chen Department of English Language, Literature and Linguistics Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan Results Method • Phonemic awareness is one of • the predictors for future • performance in reading and • spelling (Gillon, 2003). • Phonemic awareness • instruction implemented in • language teaching in order to • develop students’ knowledge of • the spelling system in English. • To examine the effectiveness of • phonemic awareness • instruction on Taiwanese • students’ spelling development. • Phonemic awareness is the • ability to segment oral speech • into its component speech • sounds, or phonemes (Walpole • & McKenna, 2004). • Learning to blend phonemes • with letters helps children read • words, and learning to segment • sounds with letters helps them • spell words(Armbruster, et al., • 2003). Introduction • Figure 4.1 pretest and posttest • The ability to segment words into • phonemes was improved • (M=15.75 and 19.58); the • result of blending tasks between • pretest and posttest was similar • (M=28.08 and 27.92). • With the progress in phoneme • segmentation tasks (M=15.75 and • 19.58), the result showed growth • in spelling development (M=5.33 • and 6.92). • There was a strong possibility that • students have developed explicit • awareness of words’ phonological • structure; hence, they were able • to relate the sounds and letters • when taking spelling test. • For EFL learners, it takes time for • them to make connection • between phoneme and grapheme • when spelling. • Participants • 12 elementary school students in • the third-grade classroom • Phonemic awareness instruction • Three weeks instruction on • segmentation and blending tasks • Assessing Phonemic Awareness • Phoneme segmentation task • involves pronouncing individual • phonemes in words (e.g., The • word cat is said /c//a/t/) • Phoneme blending skill was • measured by the sound-blending • task (e.g., The word /b//i//g/ is • said big) • Spelling test • The test was constructed using • words presented in the lessons, • including CVC words (e.g., dog, • bed, lid), and words with • digraphs (e.g., chick, lunch, fish). • Interview • Students pointed out difficulties • when receiving phonemic • awareness instruction. • To what extent does phonemic • awareness instruction improve • phoneme segmentation and • blending among EFL learners? • To what extent does phonemic • awareness instruction promote • spelling development of EFL • learners? • What are possible difficulties • encountered by EFL learners • when they are provided with • phonemic awareness • instruction? Pretest and Posttest This study Purpose Rationale Research questions Conclusion • Phonemic awareness instruction • taught children to manipulate • phonemes by using the letters of • the alphabet. Children segment • the phonemes of a word to invent • spelling and they assign letters to • represent its sounds.