There is a need for information regarding the relationship of phonological awareness to reading and spelling in the multilingual learner in South Africa. The speech-language therapist has a role to play as part of the collaborative team assessing and treating the learner with reading and spelling difficulties. The aim of the study was to examine the relationships that exist between phonological awareness, written spelling and oral reading abilities in four groups of school-aged learners. A quantitative research design was employed in the form of a descriptive survey. Twenty test subjects were selected randomly from Grade 2 classes at an English-medium inclusive school in Pretoria, South Africa. Their class teachers on their final school report of the year had rated the learners as having good or poor literacy ability. They were organized into four research groups which differed with respect to their home language (English or English as Additional Language) and with respect to their literacy ability as judged by their teachers (Good or Poor literacy ability). A questionnaire was designed to ascertain parental perspectives pertaining to the learners’ case history and literacy development. A test battery composed of the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation (Goldman&Fristoe, 1986), the Phonological Assessment Battery (Frederickson, Reason&Frith, 1997), the ESSI Reading and the ESSI Spelling Test (Esterhuyse&Beukes, 1997), and the TOLD-P: 2 (Newcomer&Hammill, 1991), as well as a Class Spelling List and a Reading Comprehension Task developed by the researcher, was administered to all test subjects. Findings of subjects’ performance in this study supported international findings regarding the strong relationship between phonological awareness ability and performance on reading and spelling measures. In addition, multilingual learners in this study were found to have delays in language development that negatively impacted on their literacy rating. The language development of the English-speakers with poor literacy ability in this study also negatively affected their reading and spelling performance. The test battery used in this study, with the exception of the Reading Comprehension Task, proved useful in differentiating subjects with good and poor literacy abilities and appears to be applicable for use in the South African situation. The results provide useful insights for the assessment and treatment of these learners. Furthermore, relevant research topics in the field of literacy development in an inclusive education setting were presented. / Dissertation (M (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / unrestricted

Rationale: The importance of well developed phonological awareness and the effect of poor phonological awareness skills on reading and spelling have long been recognised. However, a dearth of research exists regarding populations in multi-cultural, multi-lingual contexts both nationally and internationally. This issue is of particular importance in the South African context where many Black learners in the school setting have no other choice than English as the Language of Learning and Teaching (ELoLT). Aim: The purpose of the study was to explore the effect of a multi-cultural, multi-lingual context on the English phonological awareness skills of a group of Black Grade 4 learners in a primary school setting in South Africa. Method: An exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was implemented, which incorporated both quantitative and qualitative paradigms. An assessment battery consisting of formal and informal assessments was used to determine levels of development. The researcher endeavoured to find statistical correlations between the participants' phonological awareness skills on the one hand, and their phonological abilities, their expressive and receptive language abilities, and their reading and spelling abilities in ELoLT on the other. Participants: Fifteen Black Grade 4 learners, each with a Black language as mother tongue, who attended a mainstream school where English was the language of learning and teaching (ELoLT), participated in the study. The participants' ages ranged between 9 years 11 months, and 10 years 11 months. Results: The participants’ phonological abilities in English as LoLT showed that 47% of the participants produced the target consonants with a consonant approximation, and vowel approximations were produced by all of the participants in single words. All fifteen the participants’ expressive and receptive language abilities in English as their LoLT, were on a below-average level and their expressive language abilities were more advanced than their receptive language abilities. All the participants evidenced problems in terms of their phonological awareness skills. Based on the results obtained for reading decoding abilities, only one third of the participants could be considered to be readers of an average standard. The reading comprehension abilities of all the participants were on a lower level than those of first language speakers of Standard South African English. Furthermore, the participants’ spelling abilities in English as LoLT were not age-appropriate. Even though no significant correlation could be determined between the participants’ reading comprehension and phonological awareness skills (due to the fact that memory probably played a role in their reading comprehension), it was statistically determined that their poor phonological awareness skills could be associated with their below-average phonological, receptive and expressive language, reading decoding, and spelling abilities. Conclusions: The results of this research have implications for the role of speech-language therapists in terms of collaboration, prevention, assessment, and intervention where the development of these learners' phonological awareness skills is concerned. Clinical implications focus on the dissemination of information, therapy planning, and EAL learner support. The need for further research in this field is emphasised. / Dissertation (M (Communication Pathology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology / M (Communication Pathology) / Unrestricted

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers initiate their reading instruction for students in the early years and what method(s) they use and why. This has been investigated through a qualitative interview study in which five teachers participated. The result showed that all five participating teachers mix methods in their teaching to adapt the teaching and bring in as many students as possible. In addition, they all agreed that high-frequency letters, some vowels and some consonants, had to be initiated in order for students to start building small short words early. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur lärare inleder sin läsundervisning för elever i de tidiga åren och vilken/vilka metod(er) de då använder sig av och varför. Detta har undersökts genom en kvalitativ intervjustudie där fem lärare har deltagit. Resultatet visade att samtliga fem deltagande lärare blandar metoder i sin läsundervisning för att anpassa undervisningen och få med så många elever som möjligt. De var alla dessutom överens om att man måste inleda med högfrekventa bokstäver, några vokaler och några konsonanter, för att eleverna tidigt ska kunna börja bygga små korta ord.

Syftet med denna studie är att synliggöra verksamma pedagogers kunskaper kring vilka insatser som gynnar lässvaga elever i syfte att stärka deras chanser att nå en hållbar läsutveckling.  Studien utgår ifrån en kvalitativ metod med i huvudsak personliga intervjuer bestående av fem lärare och specialpedagoger. Fenomenografi har använts för att bearbeta insamlad data, där respondenternas uppfattningar har varit centrala. Resultatet har diskuterats mot tidigare forskning samt utifrån en sociokulturell och kognitivistisk syn på lärande. Studiens resultat presenteras i rubriker som har formats utifrån studiens frågeställningar: ”Vilka insatser sätter pedagoger in för elever som har svårigheter med läsinlärningen i de tidigare årskurserna?”, ”Vilka varningstecken bör en pedagog vara uppmärksam på vad gäller läsinlärningen?” och ”Vilka läsinlärningsmetoder används för att tillgodose elever med bristande läsförmåga?”. I studiens resultat framhävs vikten av tidiga insatser för elever som har någon form av läsproblematik, såväl som vikten av att anpassa undervisningen efter elevens behov och kunskaper. Resultatet visar även, i enighet med tidigare forskning, betydelsen av att använda olika metoder i läsinlärningen, för att alla elever skall ges möjlighet att nå en hållbar läsutveckling. / The purpose of this study is to make the knowledge of active educators visible, about the efforts that benefit pupils with low readiness to strengthen their chances of achieving sustainable reading development. The study is based on qualitative method with mainly personal interviews of five teachers and special educators. Phenomenography has been used to process the collected data, where respondents' perceptions have been central. The results have been discussed against previous research and on the basis of sociocultural and cognitivist views on learning. The study's results are presented in headings that have been formed based on the study's questions, “What efforts do pedagogues put in for pupils who have difficulties with reading learning in previous grades?”, “What warning signs should an educator be aware of in terms of reading learning?” and “What reading learning methods are used to accommodate pupils with reading difficulties?” The study's results emphasize the importance of early intervention for students who have some form of reading problems, as well as the importance of adapting the teaching to the pupil’s needs and knowledge. The respondents also highlight, in agreement with previous research, the importance of using different methods in reading learning, to give all pupils the opportunity to achieve sustainable reading development.

Le contrôle moteur a traditionnellement été étudié séparément des autres processus cognitifs qui sous-tendent la parole, dans la lignée de théories de la cognition présentant le cerveau comme un ensemble de modules relativement indépendants (Fodor & Pylyshyn, 2007). Cependant les recherches autour de la cognition incarnée (Varela, Thompson, & Rosch, 1991) et située (Barsalou, 2008), ainsi que des systèmes dynamiques (Smith & Thelen, 2003), menées ces trois dernières décennies soulignent que la cognition ne peut pas être considérée séparément d’un corps et de son environnement. Ce cadre constitue une source d’inspiration pour cette thèse et une motivation pour étudier les processus sensorimoteurs de la parole en lien avec les autres processus cognitifs.La parole peut-être décomposée en séquence d’unités linguistiques structurées sous forme d’une hiérarchie. Nous soutenons que ces unités sont ancrées dans des représentations sensorimotrices, associant une structure linguistique avec des informations perceptives et motrices. Ces unités correspondent-elles à des mots ? Des syllabes ? Des phonèmes ? Pour sonder les représentations assurant l’articulation de la parole, nous proposons d’utiliser un paradigme d’apprentissage auditorimoteur basé sur la perturbation du retour auditif (Caudrelier & Rochet-Capellan, accepté). Ce paradigme permet de modifier chez un locuteur des représentations sensorimotrices spécifiques, les représentations qui sous-tendent la production d’un item d’entrainement, par exemple un mot. Nous faisons ainsi l’hypothèse que si cette modification affecte la prononciation d’un autre mot, cela veut dire que la production de ce mot s’appuie sur une partie de ces représentations. Ainsi, l’observation du transfert d’apprentissage permet de révéler la structure de représentations qui assurent la production de parole.Une première étude chez l’adulte montre que le transfert d’apprentissage auditorimoteur a lieu à la fois aux niveaux du phonème, de la syllabe et du mot (Caudrelier, Schwartz, Perrier, Gerber, & Rochet-Capellan, 2018). Ces observations suggèrent que ces unités co-contribuent à l’articulation de la parole chez l’adulte. Les résultats sont mis en perspective par rapport aux théories et modèles de production de parole. Une 2ème expérience suggère que la modalité de présentation du stimulus (un mot à lire ou une image à dénommer) peut influencer le transfert d’apprentissage auditorimoteur (Caudrelier, Perrier, Schwartz, & Rochet-Capellan, 2018). Une 3ème étude chez des enfants de 4-5 ans et de 7-8 ans montre que les représentations du phonème émergent avant l’acquisition de la lecture (Caudrelier et al., en révision). De plus, un lien entre adaptation à la perturbation auditive et conscience phonologique est mis en évidence dans les deux groupes d’âge. Le potentiel caractère prédictif ou causal de ce lien est discuté.En conclusion, cette thèse exploite un outil original et productif pour explorer les représentations de la parole et étudier leur développement. Ce travail pourrait avoir des implications cliniques, pour la rééducation de la parole, et pour la dyslexie développementale. Il met en évidence des liens entre les niveaux sensorimoteurs, linguistiques et contextuels qui questionnent la nature des représentations qui sous-tendent la parole. / Speech motor control has traditionally been studied apart from other cognitive processes underlying speech production, since first cognitive theories presented the brain as a set of relatively independent modules (Fodor & Pylyshyn, 2007), taken apart from the body. However developments in embodied cognition (Varela, Thompson, & Rosch, 1991), grounded cognition (Barsalou, 2008) and dynamic systems (Smith & Thelen, 2003) occurred in the last three decades underline that cognition cannot be considered separately from a body and its environment. These frameworks constitute an inspiration for this thesis and a motivation to study motor control and sensorimotor processes in relation to other cognitive processes. Whether linguistic structures are grounded in sensorimotor processes will be an underlying question.A spoken message can be decomposed into sequences of linguistic units hierarchically structured. We argue that these speech units are grounded in sensorimotor representations, associating linguistic structures with auditory and motor information. Do these units correspond to words? Syllables? Phonemes? To probe the building blocks of speech production, we propose to use a paradigm of auditory-motor learning based on auditory feedback perturbation (Caudrelier & Rochet-Capellan, in press). This paradigm actually enables to change specific internal sensorimotor representations in speakers. Adaptation induces updating sensorimotor representations underlying the production of the training item. We assume that if this change affects the pronunciation of another word, it means that this word uses some of these updated representations. Thus, transfer patterns may reveal the structure of representations at stake.A first study in adults shows that transfer of auditory-motor learning occurs at word, syllable, and phoneme levels in parallel (Caudrelier, Schwartz, Perrier, Gerber, & Rochet-Capellan, 2018). These observations suggest that all these units may co-contribute to the organization of speech articulation in adult speakers. Experimental results are discussed in the light of existing theories and models of speech production. A second experiment suggests that whether a speaker reads a word aloud or names a picture may have an influence on the transfer of auditory-motor learning (Caudrelier, Perrier, Schwartz, & Rochet-Capellan, 2018). A third study in 4- to 5-year-old and 7- to 8 year-old children investigates whether phoneme sensorimotor representations may emerge during reading acquisition, or prior to it (Caudrelier et al., in revision). The observed transfer patterns suggest that phoneme representations emerge before reading acquisition, as a consequence of speech experience. Moreover, we found a relationship between adaptation to auditory perturbation and phonological awareness scores in both age groups. This suggests a link between sensorimotor representations and more explicit phonological representations. The potential causal or predictive nature of this link is discussed.Overall, this work exploits an original and fruitful tool to probe speech representations and study their development. It may have clinical implications with regards to speech rehabilitation, as well as developmental dyslexia. It also highlights connections between speech sensorimotor level and higher linguistic and contextual levels that further question the nature of speech representations.

Examensarbetet bygger på tidigare forskning som visat att två egenskaper hos ord, hög/låg fonotaktisk sannolikhet och hög/låg grannskapstäthet, kan påverka ordinlärning hos vuxna och barn. I examens­arbetet upprepas ett ordexperiment som tidigare genomförts i USA och Neder­länderna. Syftet var att, genom en experimentell design, undersöka påverkan av fonotaktisk sannolikhet och grannskapstäthet på ordinlärningen hos 21 elever i åk 3 med typisk språk­ut­veckling. Sambandet mellan elevernas ordinlärning och vokabulär, fonologisk medvetenhet och/eller verbalt arbetsminne undersöktes också. Varje elev genomförde ett ordexperiment i en sagokontext med inlärning av 16 nonord som representerar svenska substantiv. De verbalt och visuellt förmedlade orden har skapats utifrån den svenska fonotaxen. Eleven mötte orden upprepade gånger och skulle genom sagans olika episoder lära in och reproducera dessa. Denna studies resultat är i linje med tidigare resultat från USA och Nederländerna. Eleverna genom­förde också ett test av ordförrådets bredd, PPVT-IV, fonologisk medvetenhet och verbalt arbets­minne, NEPSY-II.  Statistisk analys (ANOVA) visade att repetition förbättrade inlärning­en. En korrelationsanalys visade ett starkt positivt samband mellan antalet inlärda ord och fonologisk medvetenhet. Då det fanns en effekt av hög/låg fonotaktisk sannolikhet i interaktion med hög/ låg grannskapstäthet hos elever med typisk språkutveckling, kan det i vidare forskning vara av intresse att undersöka om denna effekt även gäller för elever med språkstörning och/eller dyslexi. / This student thesis is based on former research which claims that certain characteristics of words, high/low phonotactic probability and high/low neighbourhood density, may affect word learning in adults and children. In this thesis a word experiment, formerly used in the USA and the Netherlands, was replicated. The aim was through experimental design, examine the impact of phonotactic probability and neighbourhood density on word learning in 21 pupils in grade 3 with typical language development. Correlations between pupils’ word learning and vocabulary, phonological awareness and/or verbal short-term memory were also examined. Each pupil performed a word experiment through a story context where 16 pseudo words representing Swedish nouns were learned. The verbally and visually presented words have been created using Swedish phonotactics. The student encountered the words repeatedly and was tasked to during the different episodes learn and produce the words. The result of this study is in line with former studies in the USA and the Netherlands. The pupils also performed tests of vocabulary, PPVT-IV, phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory, NEPSY-II. Statistical analyses (ANOVA) suggested that repeated training improves learning. Correlation analysis indicated a strong positive correlation between number of words learned and phonological awareness. Since there was an effect of high/low phonotactic probability combined with high/low neighbourhood density in pupils with typical language development, future research may examine this effect in pupils with developmental language disorder and/or dyslexia.

Fonologisk medvetenhet krävs för en framgångsrik läsinlärning. Samtidigt digitaliseras skolan och digitala redskap blir allt vanligare. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om och hur digitala läromedel kan fungera som medierande verktyg för utveckling av läsinlärningen och mer specifikt av den fonologiska medvetenheten hos elever. Syftet uppfylls genom följande frågeställningar: Hur svarar digitala läromedel upp mot vad forskningen menar är framgångsfaktorer vid utveckling av elevens fonologiska medvetenhet? Behöver digitala läromedel kompletteras med annan undervisning och inom vilka områden behöver de i så fall kompletteras för att utveckla elevens fonologiska medvetenhet? Genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys med en sociokulturell syn samlades data från fyra digitala läromedel in, kategoriserades och ett resultat togs fram. Samtliga analyserade läromedel innefattar övningar som tränar den fonologiska medvetenheten. Läromedlen svarar också upp mot flertalet av framgångsfaktorerna i fonologisk medvetenhetsträning, exempelvis genom en explicit undervisning. Dock är inget av de analyserade läromedlen utformade för att ge en komplett undervisning i fonologisk medvetenhet. Resultat pekar således mot att de analyserade läromedlen kan vara ett redskap som till viss del förändrar lärarens roll, men som inte ersätter läraren. / To successfully learn to read phonological awareness is required. At the same time, schools are being digitized and digital tools are becoming more common. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how digital learning materials can act as a mediation tool for the development of reading skills and more specifically of the phonological awareness of students. The aim is fulfilled by the following issues: How do digital learning materials respond to what research believes are success factors in the development of the student's phonological awareness? Do digital learning materials need to be complemented by other teaching form and in what areas do they need to be supplemented to develop the student’s phonological awareness? Through a qualitative content analysis with a sociocultural view, data from four digital learning materials was collected, categorized and a result was produced. All analyzed learning materials include exercises that train the phonological awareness. The learning materials also correspond to the majority of the success factors in phonological awareness training, for example through explicit teaching. However, none of the analyzed learning materials are designed to provide a complete teaching of phonological awareness. The result points out that the analyzed learning materials can be a tool and to some extent change the role of the teacher, but not replace the teacher.

Ordförrådet är en central del i språkförståelsen. Forskning visar att svårigheter inom detta område kan leda till sämre förutsättningar att utvecklas kunskapsmässigt i skolan. Därför är det betydelsefullt att speciallärarens arbete är evidensbaserat för att främja och utveckla ordförrådet hos eleverna. Ordinlärning är ett komplext område med många ingående delar. Två variabler som har undersökts i internationell forskning för att få kunskap om ordinlärningsprocessen är fonotaktisk sannolikhet och grannordstäthet. Att brister i fonologisk medvetenhet försvårar ordinlärning har också uppmärksammats. I vårt arbete utfördes ett ordinlärningsexperiment och tre språkliga/kognitiva tester med 16 elever i årskurs 1 med typisk utveckling. I experimentet varierades ords fonotaktiska sannolikhet och grannordstäthet i syfte att undersöka vilken roll dessa variabler hade vid ordinlärning. Eleverna fick lyssna på två olika berättelser där 16 non-ord presenterades. Målet var att försöka lära sig dessa ord. Vi undersökte också, genom ett test i fonologisk medvetenhet, hur sambandet såg ut mellan ordinlärning och fonologisk medvetenhet. I studien uppnås inte ett signifikant resultat för variablernas påverkan vid ordinlärning. Däremot kan en ordinlärningsprogression säkerställas allteftersom exponeringarna för non-orden ökar. Korrelation mellan ordinlärning och fonologisk medvetenhet påvisas inte. Studiens resultat beror på att golveffekter uppnås i samband med experimentet. Eleverna lär sig få ord, vilket beror på att testet är för svårt. Framtida forskning bör vid liknande experiment med aktuell åldersgrupp beakta och överväga ett större urval, öka antalet exponeringar av målorden i testsituationen samt ändra rättningsförfarandet

The diploma thesis deals with the issue of phonological abilities of children with dyslalia in preschool age. The main goal of the thesis lies therefore in the analysis of the phonological abilities of the stated target group. Based on the main goal, partial objectives and research questions were defined. A method of qualitative research strategy - a case study was used to fulfil the objectives of the thesis. To gather the data, test methods and analysis of the available documents were used. To create a comprehensive picture of the monitored children, the methods mentioned above were supplemented with an interview with a clinical speech therapist. The thesis is divided into two parts, the theoretical part and the empirical part. The theoretical part consists of three chapters. The first chapter deals with the definition of key terms such as communication, communication skills, as well as the development of speech, language and communication. In this chapter, attention is paid also to a preschool child. The second chapter describes the issue of phonological abilities, which are presented in the context of the phonetic- phonological language level. The last chapter looks into the issue of dyslalia. The empirical part is then devoted to the description of the whole process of the research survey....

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