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Reading and Writing

, Volume 30, Issue 4, pp 719–737 | Cite as

Exploring English and Spanish rhyme awareness and beginning sound segmentation skills in prekindergarten Spanish-speaking English Learners

  • Laura B. Raynolds
  • Angela López-Velásquez
  • Laura E. Olivo Valentín
Article
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Abstract

Twenty-five 4- and 5-year-old Spanish-speaking English Learners (ELs) were tested in order to compare their English and Spanish performance in two phonological awareness skills: Rhyme awareness (RA) and beginning sound segmentation (BSS). The children had received formal instruction of phonological awareness, with an emphasis on RA and BSS for 1 year and in English only, using the Opening the World of Learning curriculum (Schickedanz & Dickinson, 2005). The results showed that the children scored higher on the English BSS than on the English RA tests (p < .001), even though RA is generally considered to be an earlier developing skill than BSS among English-monolingual children. No significant difference was found between the English BSS and Spanish BSS tests despite the fact that the children had received English-only instruction in these phonological awareness skills for 1 year. The results are discussed in terms of the possible impact of the similarities and differences between the Spanish and English linguistic structures on the learning and cross-linguistic transfer of phonological awareness skills in young Spanish-speaking ELs.

Keywords

Spanish-speaking English Learners Prekindergarten Phonological awareness Rhyme awareness Beginning sound segmentation English-only instruction 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Laura B. Raynolds
    • 1
  • Angela López-Velásquez
    • 1
  • Laura E. Olivo Valentín
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Special Education and ReadingSouthern Connecticut State UniversityNew HavenUSA

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