Running head: ANNOTATIONS 1-4 1
Annotations 1-4
Mark Jones
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
EPSY 6303-01V
ANNOTATIONS 1-4 2
Annotation 1: Phonological Awareness: Training with articulation
For decades it is understood that it is possible to prevent reading difficulties by
structured phonological awareness training in pre-school. If students are started early with
phonological awareness before they begin school, there is a higher possibility of them being
successful readers and not developing reading difficulties. In this article, a study was done with
students in pre-school to see how training with articulation helped with phonological awareness.
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of phonological training with articulation on
phonological awareness and reading skills for children in preschool class.
Based on their pre-reading skills, the students were divided into two groups labeled as:
students at risk of developing reading difficulties and students not at risk of developing reading
difficulties. The study lasted throughout the pre-school year and in total was 2,700 minutes of
time spent on this training. Throughout this study students were tested individually on pre-
reading skills on four different occasions as listed: before the intervention started, mid-way
through the interventions, immediately after the interventions, and a follow up 6 months after the
study was complete. This training program with articulation contained a phonological, multi-
sensory method for teaching reading and it connected the visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses
and it helped build the relationship between phonemes and graphemes. There is evidence on this
study that training that is focused on phonological skills and orthographic units of language can
improve the reading skills of children with reading disabilities. Therefore, it is extremely
important for children to first be taught how to analyze letters and know what they are and then
be able to learn what letters make what sounds. It is essential for the students to be able to
understand the letters and sounds that the letters make, in order for them to blend them together
and begin to read. A strong foundation of phonemes and graphemes for students is key for them
ANNOTATIONS 1-4 3
to learn how to read. For example, if a student does not know the letters, it will be extremely
hard for them to know what sound goes with that letter. The effectiveness of an intervention
depends on the content, framework, and the systematic implementation of the intervention study.
In this study, the phonological method introduced speech sounds and letters in a particular order.
In this method, that articulation of speech sounds was represented by pictures of mouths, and in
response these students would copy the sounds and movements made by the pictures in front of a
