Phonological Awareness with and without Articulation: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Phonological training with an articulatory component ( n=25) was compared to phonological awareness training without a specific speech-motor component ( n=20) for second- to fifth-grade children with reading disabilities. No significant differences were found between the two kinds of training on the various outcome measures, except that the nonarticulatory group was slightly superior on phoneme deletion and spelling production, suggesting some small-scale overall advantages for the training with more manipulation of sounds. An interaction on nonsense word reading may suggest that the lowest children on phonological awareness benefited more from the articulatory training, whereas reading disabled children with relatively higher initial skills in phonological awareness may have benefited more from the nonarticulatory training. However, further research with a larger sample is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.