Investigation of Phonological Awareness ORCID: 0000-0003 ...

Early Phonological Awareness Interventions,

International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education (INT-JECSE), 12(1) 2020, 277-288. doi: 10.9756/INT-JECSE/V12I1.2010010

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Balikci, O. S. (2020). Investigation of phonological awareness interventions in early childhood. International Journal of Early Childhood Special Education, 12(1), 277-288. doi: 10.9756/INT-JECSE/V12I1.2010010

Review Article-Received:13.05.2020 Accepted: 18.05.2020

Ozge Sultan Balikci 1 ORCID: 0000-0003-4632-1275

Investigation of

Phonological Awareness Interventions in Early Childhood

Abstract

Phonological awareness is one of the most important skills in learning to read. However, phonological awareness skills are also among the predictors of reading success in the future. In addition, interventions applied to phonological awareness skills in early childhood support the development of reading skills. Also it is shown that the phonological awareness trainings are most effective when applied before starting reading education and show their effect very clearly in this period. In this study, it is aimed to examine intervention studies on phonological awareness skills in early childhood. For this purpose, 20 articles in which intervention programs for phonological awareness skills were applied were examined. The results obtained from the research findings show that there is an improvement in the pho-nological awareness skills of the children who are applied phonological awareness inter-ventions. In addition, suggestions for further research were made in line with the findings obtained from the research. Keywords: early childhood, phonological awareness, reading, intervention

1Ph.D., Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Education Faculty, Special Education Department, Eskisehir, TURKEY. e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

How the children learn to read and why they have difficulty has attracted the at-tention of researchers in the last thirty years. Nevertheless, it is mentioned that developing, disseminating and applying reading teaching methods to help acquire sufficient reading skills is one of the chal-lenges that are clearly defined and intimi-dating and blinding the eyes of both re-searchers and practitioners (Torgesen, Alexander, Wagner, Rashotte, Voeller, & Conway, 2001) Among the subtypes of reading difficulties encountered are re-ported to arise from phonological aware-ness skills, word naming and vocabulary skills (Fletcher, Foorman, Boudousquie,

Barnes, Schatschneider, & Francis, 2002).

Early literacy skills are defined as knowledge skills and attitudes that are es-sential in teaching early reading stages to pre-school reading education for infants, young children and preschool children (Ir-win, Moore, Tornatore & Fowler, 2012). It is stated that early literacy skills are pre-dictors of reading comprehension, analy-sis and writing skills for school-age chil-dren (Anthony, 2007). It is envisaged that learning early literacy skills and alphabet knowledge early can help children be ready for formal education and fully reveal their potential. The ability to succeed by meeting the requirements in the normal classroom curriculum is called child read-iness. Children who do not start school



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ready enough can often have difficulty catching their peers who start school more readily than them (Carlton & Winsler, 1999).

Early literacy skills include letter knowledge, phonological awareness knowledge, rhyming skills, vocabulary skills, writing skills, verbal language skills, and comprehension skills to read aloud stories. Lonigan and Whitehurst (1998) state that verbal language, phonological awareness and writing knowledge are the most important components of early liter-acy skills.

One of the pre-reading skills that should be done before starting school is to have an understanding of the phonological awareness and the sound structure of the language (Fielding-Barnsley & Hay, 2012). Among the phonological awareness skills there are classification according to ry-hme, counting phonemes, separating sounds, making sounds, Phonological awareness skills can be applied in a vari-ety of word structures, including words, syllables, and structures such as the first and last sounds in a syllable (Taylor, 2008). In a meta-analysis study on the transfer of phonological awareness skill to reading skill, it is stated that phonological awareness training facilitates the process of learning to read. It is shown that the pho-nological awareness trainings are most ef-fective when applied before starting read-ing education and show their effect very clearly in this period. Children with both normal development and special educa-tion needs can benefit equally from phono-logical awareness interventions (Ehri, Nunes, Willows, Schuster, Yaghiub-Zadeh , & Shanahan, 2001).

The development of early literacy skills of children starts from infancy as early as they are in the mother's womb and continues until preschool. Early literacy skills contribute to the development of reading and writing skills in preschool and primary schools (Missall, McConnell, & Cadigan, 2006).

Phonological awareness is among the variables that can predict the acquisi-tion of reading skill. Interventions on pho-nological awareness positively affect the early literacy skills (Shanahan & Lonigan, 2010). However, knowing and practicing experimental studies on phonological awareness skills in early childhood can

prevent academic failures in the future and later periods of children.

There are no compilation studies for experimental interventions applied to phonological awareness in early child-hood. In this study, it is aimed to review ar-ticle studies on phonological awareness interventions performed in early childhood. EbscoHost, ProQuest Central, Springer LINK Contemporary, SAGE, ScienceDi-rect, SCOPUS and Ulakbim National Da-tabases were published for this research. In the category, 20 studies were compiled and interpreted. In the study, suggestions for application and advanced research were made.

Method In this study, which aims to review the studies on experimental studies in early childhood aimed at phonological aware-ness skills. EbscoHost, ProQuest Central, Springer LINK, SAGE, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS and Ulakbim National Data-bases were scanned using the keywords "phonological awareness", "early child-hood", "preschool" and "kindergarten". While determining the articles examined in the research, the following criteria were taken into consideration: (a) covering the years between 1994 and 2020; (b) the in-dividuals who participated in the study were in the preschool period, (c) the study conducted to improve their phonological awareness skills was experimental, (d) be-ing an accessible article (e) the article was published in a refereed journal.

As a result of the screening study for the experimental interventions applied for phonological awareness in early child-hood, 18 articles were reached. The arti-cles reached as a result of the screening were examined one by one. The infor-mation about the intervention program ap-plied for the phonological awareness skills included in each study, the purpose of the study, the inheritors involved in the study and the method were given. In addition, the samples studied and the features of the sample important for the purpose of the study were explained. Studies empha-sized to have similar or common charac-teristics were examined comparatively and brief information was given about the find-ings of the research. After examining the



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article studies, tables containing infor-mation about the studies were created.

Findings and Comment As a result of the screening study for the experimental interventions applied for pho-nological awareness in early childhood, 20 articles were reached. By reviewing the ar-ticle studies reached, the purpose of the research, the method used in the re-search, the characteristics of the partici-pants in the research, the data collection tools and findings used in the research are tabulated below (see Table 1).

Shamir et al. (2008) aimed to investi-gate the effectiveness of the educational electronic book activity by comparing the book with the reading of the book by the children and adult. 110 children aged 5-7 years of age who were at risk of learning disabilities and exhibiting developmental delays participated in this study. 42 of 110 children were randomly assigned to the group receiving electronic book activities, 34 to the group in which the same story was read by an adult, and 34 to the group attending the daily preschool program. In order to determine the early literacy skills of the children involved in the study, the Hebrew version of the vocabulary aware-ness test and written context test prepared by the researchers were used. In the find-ings obtained by using ANOVA analysis, it was observed that the word and phonetic awareness of children who performed electronic book reading activity differed significantly from the group in which the adult was reading and the control group.

In another study, Brennan and Irreson (1997) aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the metalinguistic phonetic awareness program by comparing it with the pre-school reading and writing program. 38 children, whose ages ranged from 4 years 10 months to 6 years old, participated in the study. 12 of them were randomly

assigned randomly to the experimental group, 12 of whom were metalisticistic phonetic groups, 14 to the control group, which received preschool programs called Preschool Reading and Writing, and 12 to the control group attending the normal pre-school program. The scores obtained from the experimental and control groups' logo-graphic reading test, vowel-vowel / conso-nant-vowel-consonant reading test, and metafonological high frequency word list tests were compared with ANOVA analy-sis. As a result, the experimental group, who received the metalinguistic phonetic awareness program, made significant ad-vances in the phonetic awareness tests that received the other literacy program and the control group.

Bolduc and Lefebvre (2012) aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of four different groups on their phonetic development and music development skills using the song set containing ten children's songs. 100 children, 51 girls and 49 boys, who re-ceived preschool education between the ages of 4-6, participated in the study. 22 of the children were devoted to music only, 26 to language only, 28 to both music and language, and 24 to normal education. In the first group, which received only music activities, children's songs with melodies, phonetic awareness activities together with children's songs were presented to the second group, the activities applied to the first and second groups together with the third group, and only passive listening was applied to the fourth group. Phonetic Awareness Test, Meaningless Syllable Test, New Test for Language Evaluation, Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test and Wilkcoxon Test analyzes were made using the Kaufman Evaluation Scale. As a result of the research, it was seen that children who received language and music activi-ties had a significant effect on the develop-ment of their phonetic and musical devel-opment skills.



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Tablo 1. List of intervention studies and their details

Source Purpose of the research Method Participants Data Collection Tools Results

Shamir, Korat and

Fellah, 2012

To investigate the effectiveness of educa-

tional electronic book activity by compar-

ing it with reading by itself and by adults

Quantitative Children with 110 de-

velopmental delays

ranging in age from 5-

7

Vocabulary test, Phonological

awareness test and written con-

text test

The vocabulary and phonological awareness of the chil-

dren doing electronic book reading activities differed sig-

nificantly from the group in which the adult was reading

and the control group.

Brennan and Ireson,

1997

To evaluate the effectiveness of the met-

alinguistic phonological awareness pro-

gram by comparing it with the preschool

reading and writing program.

Quantitative 38 children between

the ages of 4-6

Logographic reading test, Vowel-

vowel / consonant-vowel-conso-

nant reading test, metaphonolog-

ical high frequency word list test

The experimental group, who received the metalinguistic

phonological awareness program, made significant im-

provement in the phonological awareness tests that re-

ceived the other literacy program and the control group.

Bolduc and Lefebvre,

2012

To investigate the effectiveness of chil-

dren's songs on phonological develop-

ment and music development

Quantitative 100 children between

4-6 years of age re-

ceiving preschool edu-

cation

Phonological Awareness Test,

Meaningless Syllable Test, New

Test for Language Assessment,

Kaufman Assessment Scale

It has been observed that there is a significant effect on

the development of phonological and musical develop-

ment skills of the children who receive education includ-

ing language and music activities.

Ukrainetz, Nuslp,

Wilkerson and Bed-

des, 2011

To determine the effectiveness of teach-

ing advanced phonemes combining and

separation activities without syllables and

syllables

Quantitative

39 children between 4-

5 years of age with nor-

mal development

Early Language Development

Test, Clay Syllable Recognition

Scan, Phonological Awareness

Test

The group of phonemes and multiple phonemes activi-

ties, which consisted of syllables, made significant pro-

gress in combining and separating

Justice, Kaderavek,

Bowles and Grimm,

2005

To evaluate the validity and results of the

phonological awareness intervention ap-

plied by families for young children with

specific language impairment

Quantitative 22 children with spe-

cific language disor-

ders with an average

age of 5 years and 2

months

Early Language Development

Test,

Goldman-Fristoe Phonological

Test, Kaufman Brief Intelligence

Test

It was observed that the phonological awareness activi-

ties presented under the family guidance were effective

in the phonological awareness performances of children

with specific language disorders.

Lefebvre, Trudeau

and Sutton,

2011

To compare the effectiveness of interac-

tive book reading intervention with low-in-

come preschool children on language and

early literacy skills

Quantitative

45 children in the pre-

school period between

the ages of 2-4

Preschool Word Written. Material

Test, Receiving Language Scale,

The Preschool Phonological

Awareness Test

It was observed that interactive book reading intervention

increased the phonological awareness scores

Mclntosh, Crosbie,

Holm, Dodd and

Thomas, 2007

To determine the effectiveness of inter-

vention developed by language and

speech therapists and applied by teach-

ers on language and phonological aware-

ness skills of preschool children

Quantitative

169 children in pre-

school

Quick Test of English, Basic and

Preschool phonological Aware-

ness Inventory

It was observed that the phonological awareness inter-

vention was effective.

van Bysterveldt, Gil-

lon and Moran, 2006

To investigate the effectiveness of the

phonological awareness intervention in

children with Down syndrome, 4 years old

Quantitative

4-year-old child with 7

Down syndrome at-

tending the early inter-

vention center

Clinical Evaluation of Language

Skills,

Peabody Picture Vocabulary

Test, Goldman Fristoe Phono-

logical Test

It has been shown that the phonological awareness pro-

gram is significantly effective in the phonological aware-

ness and letter information of children with Down syn-

drome.

Chen, 2014

To investigate the effectiveness of the

awareness training program in Chinese

children with hearing loss and disability

Quantitative

19 children with hear-

ing loss, with an aver-

age age of 5 years and

3 months

Phonological awareness test

Significant progress was observed in the phonological

awareness of children who received awareness training.

Linardakis, Trouli and

Chlapana, 2014

To investigate how intervention of devel-

opment of rhythm skills affects awareness

of preschool children

Quantitative

55 children with an av-

erage age of 67

months

Stamback’s Scale

It has been observed that rhyme development interven-

tion has a significant effect on children's awareness inter-

vention



281

Source Purpose of the research Method Participants Data Collection Tools Results

Lonigan, Driscoll,

Phillips, Cantor, An-

thony and Goldstein,

2003

To evaluate the use of computer aided

awareness education in the education of

awareness skills of children at risk of

reading difficulties

Quantitative

45 children between

44-64 months of age

Expressive vocabulary test, Lan-

guage skills clinical assessment,

Woodcock reading test, Phono-

logical awareness tests

It has been found that there are improvements in the

awareness skills of children who have been given com-

puter-assisted awareness training.

Noe, Spencer, Kruse

and Goldstein

2014

To investigate the effectiveness of early

literacy intervention in phonological

awareness of low-income preschool chil-

dren

Quantitative

7 children between 52-

60 months of age

Preschool Early Literacy Test, In-

dividual Rhyme Development

Test, Word Fluency Test

Early literacy intervention was found to be effective in

phonological awareness of low-income preschool chil-

dren.

Segers and

Verhoeven, 2004

To determine the effectiveness of children

with specific language disorders (cSLD)

on their phonological awareness through

computer

Quantitative

24 children with spe-

cific language disor-

ders in preschool pe-

riod


Color Progress Matrix

The phonological awareness intervention offered via

computer was found to be beneficial in the phonological

awareness skills of cSLD.

Munro, Lee and

Baker, 2008

To determine the effectiveness of the

mixed language intervention approach

targeting vocabulary and phonological

awareness skills

Quantitative

17 children aged 4 to 8

months to 6 years to 5

months with specific

language disorders

Symbol Test for Kids, Face Im-

age Naming Test, Preschool and

Basic Phonological Awareness

Inventory, Visual-motor Integra-

tion Test

It was observed that the mixed language intervention ap-

proach targeting vocabulary and phonological awareness

skills significantly improved children's phonological

awareness, speaking language and oral expression

skills.

Maslanka, and Jo-

seph, 2002

To determine the effect of sound boxes

and sound classification phonological

awareness education methods on the

phonological awareness performances of

preschool children

Quantitative

20 children aged 3 to 4

months and 5 to 4

months

Phonological Awareness Test

It was found that children who received awareness train-

ing in sound boxes performed better in separating and

combining activities of awareness skills.

Skibbe, Behnke, and

Justice,

2004

It was aimed to determine how mothers

help children to perform their duties and

the relationship between mother's help

and the child's phonological awareness

competencies.

Quantitative

Average age 4 years 4

months 5 children and

5 mothers with speech

problems

Goldman-Fristoe Test Phonolog-

ical Awareness Measurement

It was observed that mothers preferred responsive inter-

vention to improve their phonological awareness, they

could help their children, and mother help varied during

the sessions.

Elmonayer,

2013

To examine the effect of reading interac-

tive books on the development of aware-

ness skills of children in kindergarten

Quantitative

67 children aged 5-6 5-

12

Arabic Awareness Inventory

It has been found that children with interactive reading

education exhibit higher levels of phonological aware-

ness skills

Katherine van Byster-

veldt, Gillon and Fos-

ter-Cohen, 2010

To investigate the effectiveness of

speech and phonological awareness

mixed intervention program on speech,

phonology and phonological awareness

Quantitative

10 children between

the ages of 4-5 in pre-

school period with

down syndrome

Peabody Picture Vocabulary

Test, Preschool Language

Scale, Hodson Phonological Pat-

terns Evaluation Scale

Speech and phonological awareness mixed intervention

was observed to be effective in improving speech skills.

Callcott, Hammond

and Hill, 2015

It is aimed to investigate the synergistic

effect of practicing certain movements

through daily movements and songs with

awareness and explicit teaching of pho-

nemes.

Quantitative 91 preschool children

ages 4-5


Developmental Spelling Test,

Multidimensional Success Test-

RV: Spelling subtest, Motion

ABC-2

It has shown that students who take the combined inter-

vention involving phonological awareness and movement

training are the only group that perform significantly better

than the control group in phonological awareness, sylla-

ble creation and spelling.

Parpucu and Dinç,

2017

To examine the effects of the Colorful

World Sounds Program on awareness

skills of preschool children

Quantitative

43 kindergarten stu-

dents between 60-72

months

Phonological Awareness Scale

in Early Childhood

The World of Colorful Sounds Program has been found

to be effective in developing pre-school children's phono-

logical awareness skills



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In their study Ukrainetz, Nuslp, Wilkerson and Beddes (2012) aimed to de-termine the effectiveness of teaching pho-nemes combining and separation activities without syllables and with syllables. Partic-ipants of the study consisted of 39 children between 4-5 years of age who showed normal development. ANOVA, Mann-Whit-ney U-test and t-test analyzes were used. The children in the study were evaluated with the Early Language Development Test, Clay Syllable Recognition Screening, and Phonetic Awareness Test. Of the par-ticipants, 15 were placed in the phonetic group consisting of syllables, 12 in the ac-tivity group consisting of phonemes with children, and 12 only in the first phoneme group. According to the results obtained from the research, the phonetic and multi-ple phonetic activities, which consist of syl-lables, showed significant progress in uni-fying and separating the group.

In another study, Justice et al. (2005) aimed to evaluate the validity and results of parents' phonetic awareness interven-tion for young children with specific lan-guage disorders. Twenty-two children with specific language disorders, the average age of which was 5 years and 2 months, were the participants of the study. Early Language Development Test, Goldman-Fristoe Phonetic Test, and Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test were applied to the chil-dren participating in the research. The par-ticipants were randomly selected and grouped as an experimental group of 11 and a control group. The program, in which 10 stories, one for each week, were ap-plied by the family to the experimental group at the end of the story, with pho-neme repetition and vocabulary activities for the control group continued for 10 weeks. As a result of the research, it was observed that the phonetic awareness ac-tivities presented under the guidance of the family in the experimental group were effective on the phonetic awareness per-formances of children with specific lan-guage disorders.

Lefebvre, Trudeau and Sutton (2010) aimed to compare the effectiveness of two interactive book reading interventions with low-income preschool children on lan-guage and early literacy skills. In the study, 45 children participated in the preschool period between the ages of 2-4. Preschool Word Written Material Test, Receptive

Language Scale, The Preschool Phono-logical Awareness Test were applied to children. Following the interactive book reading activities carried out for 20 weeks, using 5 story books for 10 weeks, the pre-test and post-test were completed. The in-teractive book reading intervention applied includes interactive book reading, word enhancement, written reference and pho-netic awareness-raising methods. As a re-sult of the study, it was seen that interac-tive book reading intervention increased the phonetic awareness scores.

In another study conducted by Mcln-tosh, Crosbie, Holm, Dodd and Thomas (2007), it was aimed to determine the ef-fectiveness of the intervention developed by speech and language therapists and applied by teachers on language and pho-netic awareness skills of preschool chil-dren. 169 children in pre-school period participated in the study. Preschool chil-dren included in the study were adminis-tered Quick Test of English, Basic and Pre-school Phonetic Awareness Inventory. The speech and language therapist ana-lyzed the content and words of the pro-gram and determined three languages and four phonetic awareness activities. The program, which includes activities pre-pared by the language and speech thera-pist, was implemented daily for 10 weeks. When the results of the research were ex-amined, it was observed that the phonetic awareness intervention was effective.

van Bysterveldt, Gillon and Moran (2006) aimed to investigate the efficacy of phonetic awareness intervention in 4-year-old children with Down syndrome in. 4-year-old children with 7 Down syndrome attending the early intervention center par-ticipated in the study. Before and after the phonetic awareness intervention of the re-search, phonetic Awareness and Letter In-formation activities were applied. The re-sults of the study showed that the phonetic awareness program was significantly ef-fective in the phonetic awareness and let-ter information of children with Down syn-drome.

In another study, it was aimed to in-vestigate the efficacy of the phonetic awareness training program in Chen (2014) in young children with hearing loss and disability. 19 children with hearing loss, the average age of which was 5 years and 3 months, were included in the study.



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In the first 10 weeks of the 16-week inter-vention, children were taught five sound symbol symbols, and during the remaining six weeks, activities that increased aware-ness of the Chinese language and struc-ture of children from easy to difficult were applied. When the results of pretest and posttest applications were examined, it was seen that there was a significant im-provement in the phonetic awareness of the children who received phonetic aware-ness training.

Linardakis, Trouli and Chlapana (2014) aimed to investigate how the devel-opment of rhythm skills affects phonetic awareness of preschool children in 55 chil-dren with an average age of 66.73 months participated in the study. The intensive program including rhyme and movement activities prepared by the researchers lasted 4 weeks. As a result of the research, it has been observed that the rhyme devel-opment intervention applied has a signifi-cant effect on children's phonetic aware-ness intervention.

In another study, Lonigan, Driscoll, Phillips, Cantor, Anthony and Goldstein (2003) aimed to evaluate the use of com-puter-assisted phonological awareness training in the education of the phonologi-cal awareness skills of children at risk of reading difficulties. The study included 45 children, with an average age of 44-64 months. In the study, which included 22 children in the experimental group and 23 children in the control group, computer-as-sisted phonological awareness activities were presented to the experiment group for 8 weeks. According to the results of the research, it was found that there were im-provements in the phonetic awareness skills of children who received computer-assisted phonetic awareness training ap-plied to children.

In another study, Noe et al. (2014) aimed to investigate the effectiveness of early literacy intervention in their phonetic awareness in low-income preschool chil-dren. Seven children, aged between 52-60 months, participated in the study. When the results of the research, which lasted about 15 minutes, which were applied by practitioners for 3-4 weeks 3-4 days a week, were examined, it was seen that early literacy intervention was effective in phonetic awareness of low-income pre-school children.

In another study, Segers and Verhoeven, (2004) aimed to determine the effect of children with specific language disorders in phonological awareness and speaking skills through computer. 24 pre-school children with specific language dis-orders participated in the study. Twelve of the children in the study were in the exper-imental and 12 in the control group, while the experimental group received phonetic awareness training through a 3.5-hour computer, while the control group played a word game on the computer. As a result, it was found that the phonological aware-ness intervention presented through the computer is beneficial in the phonological awareness skills of children with specific language disorders.

Munro, Lee and Baker (2008) aimed to determine the accuracy of the mixed language intervention approach aimed at vocabulary and phonological awareness skills. The study included 17 children with specific language disorders ranging in age from 4 to 8 months to 6 to 5 months. The children participating in the study contin-ued for one hour sessions focusing on phonological awareness skills and seman-tic features for 6 weeks. After each ses-sion, the family continued to work by read-ing a story at home, with the story activity that they should read at home and the writ-ten version of what they should do. When the pre-test and post-test after the inter-vention were compared, it was observed that the children who received mixed lan-guage intervention aimed at vocabulary and phonological awareness skills in chil-dren improved significantly in their phono-logical awareness, speaking language and verbal expression.

In another study conducted, Maslanka and Joseph (2002) aimed to de-termine the effect of voice boxes and voice classification phonetic awareness educa-tion methods on phonetic awareness per-formances of preschool children. In the re-search, the sound classification method, which supports the development of pho-netic awareness in the field of reading and includes the presentation of sound boxes used in comprehension education pro-grams and picture cards representing words to children, was applied. The study included 20 children, aged between 3 and 4 months and between 5 and 4 months. As a result of the research, when the pretest



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and posttests applied to the children were compared, it was seen that the children who received the phonetic awareness training method performed better in divid-ing and combining the phonetic awareness skills.

Skibbe, Behnke and Justice, (2004) aimed to determine how mothers help chil-dren to fulfill their duties, the determination of the mother's help applied, the relation-ship between the mother's help and the phonetic awareness competencies of the child. The study included 5 children and 5 mothers with an average age of 4 years and 4 months. In the study, 12-week book reading intervention was applied to chil-dren with spoken language problems as a home based book reading activity 4 days a week. During the application, nine story books were read and 4 questions were asked. There were also 9 structured teach-ing questions focusing on phonological awareness of the book reading activity. As a result of coding and inductive analysis, after the natural teaching intervention ap-proach, which offers suggestions to help families in writing and verbally, the re-search showed that mothers can provide help to their children with natural teaching intervention, prefer responsive interven-tion to improve their phonological aware-ness, and mother assistance varies in the sessions.

In another study, Elmonayer (2013) aimed to examine the effect of interactive reading in on the development of Arabic phonetic awareness skills of children in Egyptian kindergarten. Among the partici-pants of the study, 67 children aged 5-6 years were included. Of the children par-ticipating in the study, 35 children were di-vided into experimental groups and 32 children into control groups. Interactive book reading activity was applied to the children in the experimental group. Arabic Phonetic Awareness Inventory It was found that children in the experimental group who received interactive reading ed-ucation showed higher levels of phonetic awareness.

van Bysterveldt et al. (2010) aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the speech and phonological awareness mixed inter-vention program on speech, phonology and phonological awareness. The partici-pants of the study consisted of 10 children between the ages of 4-5 in the preschool

period with down syndrome. The children in the study were given 20 hours of family-based home programs, language and speech therapies sessions at the centers, and 'Computer Learning' sessions for 18 weeks. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Preschool Language Scale, Hodson Pho-netic Patterns Evaluation Scale were ap-plied to the participants. As a result of this study, which includes the level of initiation, intervention and results, it was observed that it was effective in phonological aware-ness and speech skills.

Parpucu and Dinç (2017) aimed to ex-amine the effects of the Colorful World Sounds Program on the phonological awareness skills of preschool children. In the study, 43 kindergarten students, 24 of whom are experimental and 19 of which are control groups, have participated in the study between 60-72 months. In the study, “General Demographic Form” and “Early Childhood Phonological Awareness Scale (PASECP)” were used as assessment tools. The Colorful Sounds World Program was applied to the children in the experi-mental group by the researcher for eight weeks, three days a week and one hour a day. The results of the study showed that there was a significant difference between the total phonological awareness scores of the experimental and control groups. Based on the results, it is said that the Col-orful World Sounds Program is effective in developing phonological awareness skills of preschool children. Conclusion and Recommendations In this study, 20 studies on experimental studies conducted in early childhood for phonological awareness skills were exam-ined. The age range of children involved in the research varies between 3 years, 4 months and 7 years. In the researches, 719 children in preschool period were in-cluded. 45 of the children participating in the research have the risk of reading diffi-culties. In studies conducted, 39% of the studies conducted showed that children with special needs and 61% were children with normal development (Figure 1).

When the participants in the experi-mental interventions applied to phonologi-cal awareness in early childhood are ex-amined, 237 of the participants are



285

children with special needs; 110 children with developmental delays, 68 children with specific language disorders, 7 chil-dren with down syndrome, 19 children with hearing loss. It is stated that children with normal development, in which interven-tions aimed at developing their phonetic awareness skills are applied, may encoun-ter difficulties in reading in the future school periods and that learning disability is one of the predictors of preschool pe-riod. It can be said that phonological awareness interventions in the early pe-riod are directed towards risk groups.

When the experimental interventions applied to phonological awareness in early childhood are examined, it is seen that in-teractive books are frequently used.

Interactive reading activities as a phonetic awareness intervention were implemented not only in school settings but also in home settings by families. Also there is the edu-cational electronic book activity among the activities aimed at increasing the phono-logical awareness (see Figure 2).

It has been observed that technology is also included in the intervention pro-grams for phonetic awareness. It was seen that educational electronic book activities and computer aided phonological aware-ness programs were used as technology-based phonetic awareness training. Tech-nology was used by preparing books in electronic form for their phonetic aware-ness via computer.

Figure 1. Participants to whom phonological awareness interventions are applied

Figure 2. Distribution of methods used in intervention

Children with special needs

32%

Children with normal

development68%

05

1015202530354045

Shared bookreading

Technologybased

interventions

Language basedinterventions

Early literacybased

interventions

Art basedinterventions



286

When the experimental interventions applied to phonological awareness in early childhood are examined, there are pro-grams that focus on language skills. Met-alinguistic phonological interventions, de-velopment intervention of rhyme skills, skills of combining and separating pho-nemes, interventions developed by lan-guage and speech therapists were ob-served. The phonetic awareness training program was generally implemented by the teacher in the classroom. It is also ob-served that sound boxes and sound clas-sification phonological awareness training methods and mixed language intervention approach are also used.

Different activities were also included in the intervention programs for phonetic awareness. It was observed that phono-logical awareness interventions were also used by using children's songs. The devel-opment of phonological awareness skills was also included using early literacy inter-vention. In this research, which aims to re-view the article studies on phonological awareness interventions in early child-hood, it was observed that the intervention methods applied were effective in develop-ing children's phonological awareness skills.

Knowing and practicing experimental studies on phonetic awareness skills in early childhood can prevent children with academic failures in later school and later periods. This review study is envisaged to be useful and guiding for experts and prac-titioners for the studies conducted to de-velop phonological awareness skills, which are among the prerequisite skills of reading skills.

The fact that children encounter prob-lems in the field of phonological aware-ness may be the forerunners that these children may encounter learning difficulties in the future. Children with special needs can be identified in the early period and their early education needs can be re-duced or prevented through early interven-tion studies. Since phonetic awareness skills are very important in academic skill areas in the future, studies on this skill can be increased. Preschool teachers and special education teachers involved in early childhood education can be informed about the importance of phonological awareness skills. Programs for increasing the phonological awareness skills can be

prepared for the implementation of pre-school teachers and special education teachers. In early childhood, interventions can be prepared for phonological aware-ness skills that can make it easier for chil-dren with different special needs diagno-ses to learn to read and write. However, interactive story reading activity can be ap-plied with activities that focus on develop-ing children's phonological awareness skills. In addition, family participation can be achieved by using home-based interac-tive book reading activities and applica-tions that focus on improving phonological awareness skills.

There is no compilation study for ex-perimental interventions applied to phono-logical awareness in early childhood. In this study, it is aimed to review article stud-ies on phonological awareness interven-tions in early childhood. It is anticipated that this study will be useful in terms of early diagnosis and intervention by identi-fying children at risk of having special needs early. It is anticipated that the study of intervention studies on phonetic aware-ness in early childhood will be a guide for the field experts and practitioners and re-searchers as a prevention study. References Bolduc, J. & Lefebvre, P. (2012). Using

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