The Development of Phonological Awareness in Vietnamese Children

Vietnamese is widely spoken by over 90 million people in Vietnam and around the world. The proposed project will be the first to study phonological awareness (PA) and reading outcomes in Vietnamese-speaking children. Phonological awareness is the ability to explicitly and/or implicitly manipulate small meaningful units of speech. Many studies with English-speaking children have found PA to be a strong predictor of reading ability. The proposed project aims to measure the growth of PA skills in Vietnamese-speaking children from kindergarten through second grade, and to identify relationships between PA skills and reading outcomes. Results from the analyses will contribute to the existing knowledge base about PA. In the future, the findings will help to identify Vietnamese-learning children who are at risk for reading difficulties and inform effective instructional strategies. Finally, the applicant will develop research skills relevant to clinical practice in her future career as a speech-language pathologist.

Faculty Supervisor:

Glenda Mason

Student:

Partner:

San Diego State University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: