Is Phoneme Awareness important for learning to read in Alphasyllabaries? A scoping review of literature
Creators: name: Mr. Intiaz
name: Dr.Shivani Tiwari
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Education

description: Is Phoneme Awareness important for learning to read in Alphasyllabaries? A scoping review of literature Unlike spoken language, learning to read is an acquired skill that depends on multiple cognitive factors. A successful development of reading necessitates learning to map the symbols of orthography to the sounds in the given language. Learning to read varies with the writing system. The writing system is the visual representation of a language using a specific script and rules. Accordingly, the writing system in the world has been divided into 3 broad categories (Coltheart, 1984). The alphabetic writing system maps letters to the sound system of the language (phoneme), logographic (morphosyllabic) where the written characters map to the level of an individual morpheme(s), e.g., Chinese writing systems (Perfetti, Liu, &amp; Tan, 2005), and the syllabic writing system, where syllabograms map at the syllable level. A further syllabic writing system was divided into those without phonetic representation in the syllable (Japanese kana) and with phonetic representation in the syllable (Indic languages), which was later termed as alphasyllabary by Wright (1996). The essential ingredients of reading in any writing system, involve phonological processing, orthographic processing along broader oral language skills, such as vocabulary and morphosyntax(Nation &amp;Snowling,2004). The factors influencing reading in a given language include1)the availability of different phonological units,2)transparency of symbol to sound mapping,3)the granularity of the orthography,i.e., mapping at the level of phoneme (small unit e.g., English), or the level of a syllable or large unit (e.g., Japanese kana). Phonological awareness is an important element of reading development, which refers to the ability to perceive, analyze and shape each segment of speech sound system (Ziegler &amp;Goswami,2005). This ability is essential for the mapping of symbol to sound of the language system, wherein mapping can be at the level of a syllable, onset, rhyme, or phoneme, depending upon the writing system (Ziegler &amp;Goswami,2005). Goswami and Bryant (1990)reported the development of phonological awareness skills across the European languages(which follow an alphabetic writing system with varied consistency), in terms of syllable awareness(age 3 to 4 years), as well as onset-rime awareness(age 4 to 5 years). The phoneme awareness, however, develops only when reading and writing is explicitly taught, irrespective of age. This protracted development of phoneme awareness might be because phoneme is the smallest unit of spoken language, and its development depends on the transparency or the consistency of the orthography to phonology mapping in the writing system. In alphabetic languages with a consistent symbol to sound mapping(like German), phoneme awareness is acquired earlier than in inconsistent orthographies(English; de Jong&amp; van der Leij, 2003). While in non-alphabetic writing systems, like Chinese (an essentially morpho-syllabic language)involving the symbols or logograms to map on to morphemes and syllables, there is only limited evidence for phoneme awareness in the reading development(Nag &amp;Snowling,2001)This is because every syllable in Chinese writing system map to a single character (MacBride-Chang&amp;Zhong,2003). The Indic writing system or the alphasyllabary involves mapping symbols or Akshara to syllables well as phonemes. The Akshara is explained as an integral part of learning to read in alphasyllabic languages(Arachchillage, 2018). The role of phoneme awareness in reading alphasyllabaries has long been a matter of debate, given its essentially consistent nature. While a few studies claim that, there is no influence of phoneme awareness in reading alphasyllabaries, others do not support this stand. A recent study showed no role of phoneme awareness in reading Sinhala until grade 4 when the Akshara knowledge was controlled (Wijaythilake, Parrila, Inoue, &amp; Nag, 2019). Along similar lines, another study showed phoneme awareness plays a crucial role in word decoding at the end of elementary school (Nakumura &amp; Joshi, 2017). A few other studies, however, suggest that phoneme awareness could reliably act as a reading predictor differentially good from poor readers (Wijaythilake &amp; Parrila, 2013). Such inconsistent findings, thus, raise the need for a review of the literature regarding the specific role of phoneme awareness in learning to read alphasyllabaries. The proposed study thus aims to decipher the role of phoneme awareness in reading alphasyllabic language, using a review of available research. Since Akshara knowledge is the primary factor influencing reading acquisition in alphasyllabaries, we hypothesize that phoneme awareness is expected to develop along with Akshara knowledge through earlier grades. In other words, phoneme awareness skill develops due to the mastery in Akshara knowledge.