Effect of different second languages as media of instruction on phonological awareness

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of different media of instruction on the development of phonological awareness of the first language. Subjects were 187 elementary school students from grades 1 to 3. They were native Cantonese speakers, and were divided into 3 groups according to the medium of instruction in school. Four aspects of phonological awareness: syllable, phoneme, rhyme and tone were investigated by means of 8 tasks. The results showed that Cantonese-English children performed best out of the three groups; while Cantonese-Mandarin and monolingual Cantonese children performed the same. There seemed to be a proficiency threshold in which a second language learnt, no matter an alphabetic or non-alphabetic language, could facilitate development of phonological awareness. Involvement of alphabetic representations in literacy instruction is important for the development of phonological awareness of the first language. In conclusion, the nature and intensity of instruction given affects phonological awareness abilities in school-aged children.