Interaction among English PA, Spelling and Reading

Abstract

「音韻覺識」一般被認為是種後設意識，涉及辨認與操控聲音單位的能力。本研究旨在了解台灣中學生音韻覺識、拼字、閱讀之互動。120位台灣高中生參與此研究，研究工具包含：音韻覺識測驗、拼字測驗、閱讀能力測驗及一份有關閱讀問題、拼字問題、英文單字推測技巧、拼字技巧的問卷。研究結果發現，台灣中學生在音韻覺識、拼字、閱讀三方面，有密切關聯，尤其是在「音素覺識」層次。然而，異於文獻中「音韻覺識階層」(Goswami& Bryant, 1990)，台灣中學生在「押韻」測驗表現最好，「音節」測驗次之， 「音素」測驗最不理想。本文建議，目前中學英語教學應重視「音素覺識」之訓練，期有助於英文拼字、閱讀技巧之發展與進步。

Phonological awareness (PA) is generally defined as a type of metalinguistic awareness involving the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound units (Goswami & Bryant, 1990; Tunmer & Rohl, 1991). The purpose ofthis study was to understand the interaction among English PA, spelling and reading by having the subjects perform some experimental tasks: a syllable-counting task, a rhyming-sound task, a phoneme-counting task, a spelling-dictation task and a simulated GEPT Intermediate Reading Proficiency Test. The subjects included 120 Taiwanese senior high school students, all of whom were invited to complete these tasks as well as a questionnaire about their reading problerns, spelling problems, vocabulary-inferencing skills and spelling skills. It was found that there was a strong link between spelling ability, thereading proficiency and different levels of phonological awareness, especially the phonemic awareness. However, different from the PA hierarchy (Goswami & Bryant, 1990), Taiwanese senior high school students were best at the rhyming-sound task, followed by the syllable-counting task and the phonemic-counting task. It is thus suggested that special attention should be directed to the training of phonemic awareness, which is proven closely related to skilled spelling and reading.