Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T23:55:06.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paths to phonemic awareness in Japanese: Evidence from a training study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2005

VINCENT GOETRY ,
SATSUKY URBAIN ,
JOSÉ MORAIS  and
RÉGINE KOLINSKY
VINCENT GOETRY
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles and Queen's University
SATSUKY URBAIN
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles
JOSÉ MORAIS
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles
RÉGINE KOLINSKY
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles and Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although phonemic awareness does not usually develop outside the acquisition of alphabetic reading, nonnegligible phoneme manipulation abilities have been reported in Japanese fourth graders who knew only the kana, nonalphabetic, writing system. The present contribution explored whether some characteristics of this system may facilitate phonemic awareness in Japanese children. In two distinct training studies, the pre- and posttest phonemic awareness abilities of three groups were compared, one trained with explicit reference to some organizational aspects of the kana matrix, one trained without such reference, and one control. Training was effective in both studies, especially when displaying explicit reference to the kana system. Some features of this system thus seem helpful in drawing Japanese children's attention to phonemic constituents.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , April 2005 , pp. 285 - 309
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adrián J. A., Alegria J., & Morais J. 1995. Metaphonological abilities of Spanish illiterate adults. International Journal of Psychology, 30, 329– 353.Google Scholar
Alegria J., & Morais J. 1991. Segmental analysis and reading acquisition. In L. Rieben & C. A. Perfetti (Eds.), Learning to read: Basic research and its implications. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bus A. G., & van IJzendoorn M. H. 1999. Phonological awareness and early reading: A meta-analysis of experimental training studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 403– 414.Google Scholar
Cary L. 1988. A análise explícita das unidades da fala nos adultos não-alphabetizados. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Lisbon.
Cheung H. 1999. Improving phonological awareness and word reading in a later learned alphabetic script. Cognition, 70, 1– 26.Google Scholar
Content A., Kolinsky R., Morais J., & Bertelson P. 1986. Phonetic segmentation in prereaders: Effect of corrective information. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 42, 49– 72.Google Scholar
Content A., Mousty P., & Radeau M. 1990. Brulex. Une base de données lexicales informatisées pour le français écrit et parlé. L'année Psychologique, 90, 551– 566.Google Scholar
Cutler A., & Otake T. 2002. Rhythmic categories in spoken-word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 46, 296– 322.Google Scholar
de Gelder B., Vroomen J., & Bertelson P. 1993. The effects of alphabetic reading competence on language representation in bilingual Chinese subjects. Psychological Research, 55, 315– 321.Google Scholar
Dunn L. M., & Dunn L. M. 1997. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Scale (3rd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Dunn L. M., Thiérault–Whalen C. M., & Dunn L. M. 1993. Echelle de Vocabulaire en Images Peabody. Toronto: Psycan.
Ehri L. C., Nunes S. R., Willows D. M., Schuster B. V., Yaghoub–Zadeh Z., & Shanahan T. 2001. Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel's meta-analysis. Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 250– 287.Google Scholar
Endo M. 1991. Nihonjin yoji no in no kanjusei to yoon hyokiho no shutoku [Phonological sensitivity and acquisition of yoon transcription of Japanese preschool children]. Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology, 39, 448– 454. (For this and all subsequent references in Japanese, see Miyoko Nakamura or second author's translation.)Google Scholar
Fujimura O. 1966. Kotoba no kagaku [Science of language]. Shizen, 21, 48– 53.Google Scholar
Goetry V. 2002. Etude longitudinale comparative du développement des compétences métaphono- logiques et orthographiques d'enfants bilingues scolarisés en langue seconde. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Hayes B. 1989. Compensatory lengthening in moraic phonology. Linguistic Inquiry, 20, 253– 306.Google Scholar
Hyman L. 1985. A theory of phonological weight. Dordrecht: Foris.
Inagaki K., Hatano G., & Otake T. 2000. The effect of kana literacy acquisition on the speech segmentation unit used by Japanese young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 75, 70– 91.Google Scholar
Kuroda S. Y. 1979. Generative grammatical studies in the Japanese language. New York: Garland.
Liberman I. Y., Shankweiler D., Fischer M. F., & Carter B. 1974. Explicit syllable and phoneme segmentation in the young child. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 18, 201– 212.Google Scholar
Lukatela K., Carello C., Shankweiler D., & Liberman I. Y. 1995. Phonological awareness in illiterates: Observations from Serbo-Croatian. Applied Psycholinguistics, 16, 463– 487.Google Scholar
Mann V. 1986. Phonological awareness: The role of reading experience. Cognition, 24, 65– 92.Google Scholar
Morais J., Bertelson P., Cary L., & Alegria J. 1986. Literacy training and speech segmentation. Cognition, 24, 45– 64.Google Scholar
Morais J., Cary L., Alegria J., & Bertelson P. 1979. Does awareness of speech as a sequence of phones arise spontaneously? Cognition, 7, 323– 331.Google Scholar
Morais J., Content A., Bertelson P., Cary L., & Kolinsky R. 1988. Is there a critical period for the acquisition of segmental analysis? Cognitive Neuropsychology, 5, 347– 352.Google Scholar
Morais J., & Kolinsky R. 2001. The literate mind and the universal human mind. In E. Dupoux (Ed.), Language, brain and cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jacques Mehler (pp. 463– 480). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Morais J., & Kolinsky R. 2003. The linguistic consequences of literacy. In P. Bryant & T. Nunes (Eds.), The handbook of literacy. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Morais J., Kolinsky R., Alegria J., & Scliar–Cabral L. 1998. Alphabetic literacy and psychological structures. Letras de Hoje, 33, 61– 79.Google Scholar
Muto T. 1987. Relationship between kana character reading and verbal game playing in Japanese young children. Paper presented at the 9th Biennial Meetings of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Tokyo.
Nakamura M., Kolinsky R., Spagnoletti C., & Morais J. 1998. Phonemic awareness in alphabetically literate Japanese adults: The influence of the first acquired writing system. Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive/Current Psychology of Cognition, 17, 417– 450.Google Scholar
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. 2000. Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction: Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
Read C., Zhang Y., Nie H., & Ding B. 1986. The ability to manipulate speech sounds depends on knowing alphabetic writing. Cognition, 24, 31– 44.Google Scholar
Scliar–Cabral L., Morais J., Nepomuceno L., & Kolinsky R. 1997. The awareness of phonemes: So close—so far away. International Journal of Psycholinguistics, 13, 211– 240.Google Scholar
Shibatani M. 1990. The languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spagnoletti C., Morais J., Alegria J., & Dominicy M. 1989. Metaphonological abilities of Japanese Children. Reading and Writing, 2, 221– 244.Google Scholar
Sugito M. 1989. Onsetsu ka haku ka [Syllable or mora?]: Choon, hatsuon, sokuon. In M. Sugito (Ed.), Koza nihongo to nihongo kyoiku: Dai 2-kan. Nihongo no onsei, on-in (jo) [Japanese language and its education: Vol. 2, Speech sounds and phonological issues of Japanese language] (pp. 154– 177). Tokyo: Meiji-shoin.
Zhurova L. Y. 1973. The development of analysis of words into their sounds by preschool children. In C. A. Ferguson & D. I. Slobin (Eds.), Studies of child language development (pp. 141– 154). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.