Aprendizaje de la lectura y conocimiento fonológico: análisis evolutivo e implicaciones educativas

Resumen

El presente estudio pretende comprobar la importancia del Conocimiento Fonológico, en términos de Conocimiento Silábico y Fonémico, en el aprendizaje de la lectura, en términos de reconocimiento y comprensión de textos. Los sujetos de estudio son de primero, segundo y tercero de EGB, pertenecientes a colegios públicos y privados ubicados en distintas zonas de alfabetización de la provincia de Málaga, con niveles intelectuales normales y sin problemas orgánicos. El diseño elegido fue un secuencial-mixto que permitió comprobar cómo el Conocimiento Fonológico influye en los distintos momentos del aprendizaje de la lectura y, cómo esta influencia es diferente en cada momento, según cada componente de Conocimiento Fonológico, y en cada variable de reconocimiento y comprensión del lenguaje escrito. Así, se propone un entrenamiento anticipado en Conocimiento Fonológico que garantize, en gran medida, el éxito en el aprendizaje de la lectura y la prevención de sus dificultades.

Abstract

The present research work sought to study the importance of phonological awareness (syllabic and phonemic awareness), in learning to read through text recognition and comprehension. The subjects were from grades 1, 2, and 3 both from public and private school, located in different literacy areas of Malaga, with a normal IQ and without any organic problems. A mixed-sequence design was chosen to study, 1) how phonological awareness influences different aspects of learning to read; 2) in what way this influence differs in relation to individual phonological components and recognition and comprehension of written language. The results highlight the benefits of early training in phonological awareness for learning to read and prevent possible future difficulties.

Extended Summary

Different levels of linguistic analysis are involved in reading. These are related to the use that the subject makes of linguistic codes (phonological, semantic, and sintactic), which allow the subject to recognize and comprehend written language (e.g., Perfetti, 1985; Vellutino, 1987). The existing connection between levels of sublexical analysis, lexical access, and supralexical analysis characterize reading as an interactive process. In this study we attempt to address the issue of which mechanisms and skills must a beginner reader or a bad reader learn and use to become an expert reader.

The study focuses on the importance of phonological awareness and its components (syllabic and phonetic awareness) on learning to read, and their relation with text recognition and comprehension. First, it is necessary to underline the importance of the alphabet phase in reading (e.g., Fox and Routh, 1984; Morais, 1991). The alphabet phase involves learning and applying grapheme-phoneme transformation rules, which would allow us to read new words and pseudowords. Phonological awareness involves segmenting a word, assigning a phoneme to each grapheme, and assembling phonemes to pronounce the written word (Rueda, 1993). Second, to prevent difficulties in learning to read, it is useful to know when and how phonological awareness affects the learning process. It would then be possible to know when and what to teach a child who is learning to read.

Therefore, the aim of this research work has been to study: 1) in what way what is understood by phonological awareness (identification, counting, omission and addition of phonemes and syllables into words) influences different stages of learning to read; 2) how this influence differs according to the stage of the reading process, the nature of the reading variable (recognition and comprehension), and the components of phonological awareness involved.

A mixed-sequence design was chosen for the study. Subjects were 6 to 8 year olds, with normal IQ, and from different literacy areas in Malaga.

The results indicate that between 6–8 years of age, phonological awareness influences learning to read. This influence was found to be stronger in the seven year olds during the alphabet phase, than at the other two ages. Positive relations were also found between phonological awareness and the following dependent variables: reading accuracy, reading comprehension, and reading speed. Overall, the relation with reading accuracy was the strongest, then with comprehension, and finally with speed. In terms of age, at the beginning of learning to read (age 6 in this study), reading speed was found to be more strongly related to a child's phonological awareness, while this relation was stroger for reading accuracy and comprehension at the two later ages. Subjects' reading performance was also found to be influenced by their syllabic and phonemic awareness. The influence of the former was greater in six and eight year olds, and the latter in seven years olds.

To conclude, these results suggest that early training in phonological awareness, specifically in phonemic and syllabic awareness (identifying, counting, adding, and omitting phonemes and syllables in words) are beneficial for stimulating their development, correcting any potential difficulties, and in turn facilitating the process of learning to read.

Palabras clave:

• Aprendizaje de la lectura
• conocimiento fonológico
• enseñanza y aprendizaje

Keywords:

• Learning to read
• phonological awareness
• teaching and learning