EFFECTS OF A PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS TRAIN ING ON THE ACQUISITION OF LITERACY

A training study based on the design of Lundberg, Frost & Petersen (19 88) was conducted to improve German Kindergarteners' phonological awar eness. A total of 371 Kindergarteners participated in the study. The t raining group (N = 205) participated in a metalinguistic program that lasted for about six months (15 minutes per day). The control group di d not receive any specific training but participated in the regular ki ndergarten program. Indicators of phonological awareness and other met alinguistic and cognitive variables were assessed both before and afte r the training. Further, a metalinguistic transfer test and a spelling test were given at the beginning and the end of first grade, respecti vely. The results confirmed those of the Danish study in that short- a nd long-term training effects were obtained. They also illustrate, how ever, that the quality of training had a significant effect on long-te rm maintenance.