Effectiveness of phonological awareness training on early reading abilities in language minority and low socio-economic status children

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of early phonological awareness training on later reading development in language minority and low SES children at risk for reading difficulties. There is substantial evidence for an involvement of phonological awareness in reading acquisition (Ehri, Nunes, Willows, Schuster, Yaghoubzadeh & Shanahan, 2001). The effects of phonological awareness training in language minority children, however, has not been extensively studied.
In a 2-year longitudinal study, 40 children were followed from the beginning of kindergarten (mean age in months = 63; SD = 4) to the end of first grade. In kindergarten, one group (N = 25) followed a phonological awareness training program (experimental group) and another group (N = 15) followed a vocabulary learning control program (control group). The two groups were matched for initial vocabulary, phonological and non-verbal intellectual abilities. At the end of kindergarten, the children’s phonological awareness abilities were assessed. Outcomes for the two groups did not differ significantly from each other. At the the end of first grade, the children’s reading decoding abilities were evaluated and results showed a significant benefit for the experimental group. These results show that an explicit phonological awareness training program enhances early reading skills in language minority and low SES children and, hence, could helpfully complement educational programs for this group.