Training in lingual awareness during production of isolated syllables of English

The purpose of this preliminary investigation was to determine the effects of training on lingual awareness during the production of isolated syllable s of English. GO subjects were selected for this investigation. They were p laced into two groups of 30 individuals each. Group one (Trained) consisted of individuals who had received training in articulation and phonetics (M age = 22.7) Group two (Untrained) consisted of individuals who had not rece ived training in articulation and phonetics (M age=18.8). The subjects in t he Trained group were majors in speech-language pa thology. The procedure i nvolved asking subjects to imitate the production of a syllable, then descr ibe where the tongue was located during that production. Following this req uest, subjects were given four multiple-choice questions to answer regardin g (a) tongue height (high to low), (b) tongue position (front to back), (c) contact with the teeth, and (d) contact with other structures within the o ral cavity. Mean scores ranged from 1.87 to 3.2 (on a scale of 4.0) for the group of Trained subjects versus 1.5 to 2.4 for the Untrained subjects. Th e Trained subjects had significantly higher rest scores on all phonemes (p < .05) with the exception of r and sh (p > .05). For both groups of subject s, the phonemes, r, sh, and l, were the most difficult to describe, while t he phoneme t was described most accurately.