USING VISUAL SUPPORT IN PRESCHOOL PHONEMIC SEGMENTATION TRAINING

In an earlier training study we found that the use of vissual support in phonemic segmentation training provided no additional value for poo r readers and spellers from schools for children with learning disabil ities, having problems segmenting speech (Kerstholt, van Bon & Schreud er 1994). Previous research (e.g., Hohn & Ehri 1983) suggests, however , that visual support - such as alphabet letters - does facilitate the segmentation teaching of preschoolers. Hence, it was expected that vi sual support would be beneficial in phonemic segmentation training onl y prior to formal reading and spelling instruction. The purpose of the present study was to test this expectation. One group of preschoolers was trained in phonemic segmentation with diagrams and alphabet lette rs as visual support, another group was trained without visual help. R esults show the preschoolers to improve their phonemic segmentation, r eading and spelling skill significantly. It made no difference, howeve r, whether the children were trained in phonemic segmentation with or without the help of visual. support. The findings of the present study and those of our earlier study indicate visual support to be useful i n phonemic segmentation training only under certain conditions. It is suggested that differences in orthographic properties of the languages involved may explain the difference between the Anglo-Saxon studies t hat did show an additional effect of letters and a number of Dutch stu dies that did not.