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Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of an auditory perceptual training programme on children within a traditional articulation therapy framework. As part of this larger purpose, this study identified perceptual vowel outcomes for English Additional Language (EAL) learners, as well as a preliminary impact on these learners' articulation of English vowels, their receptive and expressive language abilities and their reading and spelling abilities. Method: Fourteen six- to seven-year-old EAL learners were randomly assigned to two conditions. Both the control and treatment groups were initially assessed with a repeated baseline assessment, and again after treatment eight months later. Auditory perceptual skills, specifically word discrimination (including vowel and consonant discrimination), phonological segmentation and blending, number memory and sentence memory, were measured by means of the Test of Auditory-Perceptual Skills Third Edition (TAPS-3). Children's growth in receptive language was also assessed using measures derived from the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language Third Edition (TACL-3). The number of vowel production errors on the Goldman-Fristoe Test for Articulation was measured before and after treatment. The control group received no treatment; the treatment group received auditory perceptual training (grapheme-phoneme coupling and vowel discrimination) which included production training and written exercises (phoneme-grapheme coupling). Results: The framework of teaching English vowels through traditional auditory perceptual and production training proved useful for phonological awareness of vowels, literacy teaching and articulation by the EAL learners. Conclusions: Results concluded that improved academic outcomes should be possible if the teaching of English vowels to EAL learners by EFL speech-language therapists is implemented. Improved auditory perception, articulator production and general language abilities culminate in improved academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of an auditory perceptual training programme on children within a traditional articulation therapy framework. As part of this larger purpose, this study identified perceptual vowel outcomes for English Additional Language (EAL) learners, as well as a preliminary impact on these learners' articulation of English vowels, their receptive and expressive language abilities and their reading and spelling abilities. Method: Fourteen six- to seven-year-old EAL learners were randomly assigned to two conditions. Both the control and treatment groups were initially assessed with a repeated baseline assessment, and again after treatment eight months later. Auditory perceptual skills, specifically word discrimination (including vowel and consonant discrimination), phonological segmentation and blending, number memory and sentence memory, were measured by means of the Test of Auditory-Perceptual Skills Third Edition (TAPS-3). Children's growth in receptive language was also assessed using measures derived from the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language Third Edition (TACL-3). The number of vowel production errors on the Goldman-Fristoe Test for Articulation was measured before and after treatment. The control group received no treatment; the treatment group received auditory perceptual training (grapheme-phoneme coupling and vowel discrimination) which included production training and written exercises (phonemegrapheme coupling). Results: The framework of teaching English vowels through traditional auditory perceptual and production training proved useful for phonological awareness of vowels, literacy teaching and articulation by the EAL learners. Conclusions: Results concluded that improved academic outcomes should be possible if the teaching of English vowels to EAL learners by EFL speech-language therapists is implemented. Improved auditory perception, articulator production and general language abilities culminate in improved academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to researchers in the field of literacy, young learners' reading ability in grade one is the best predictor of future reading achievements. Children who lag behind at the onset of learning to read, tend to stay behind. In an effort to prevent pre-schoolers from falling behind in reading once they enter school, the importance of pre-reading skills emerged. One of the most important pre-reading skills and one of the most reliant predictors of future reading success turned out to be phonological awareness. Children's ability to pay attention to sounds and the sound patterns of their home language and the ability to play around with and manipulate sounds, is called phonological awareness. This study investigates the phonological awareness skills of a group of pre-schoolers and the influence which phonological awareness skills in their home language of Afrikaans had on their reading achievements in grade one. Research regarding the impact of phonological awareness of English home language preschoolers' future reading success was conducted abroad and significance in this regard has been established for English home language pre-schoolers. The main hypothesis of the study therefore not only centred around the issue of establishing whether a positive and significant relation between a well developed phonological awareness level and reading success under South African circumstances exists, but also whether the significant relationship holds true for Afrikaans home language speakers. In doing so the necessity of explicit phonological awareness training to language groups in South Africa, other than English mother tongue groups, can be introduced and investigated. Information and insight gained from the study can be used to generalize and promote reading success at school level under South African circumstances. With an outcomes based educational system now firmly established within the South African schooling system, the possibility of individual adjustments and training to accommodate grade one learners according to their pre-reading skills in phonological awareness (in addressing predicted future reading imbalances before a backlog takes effect,) may contribute immensely towards the learners' future reading success. The study established that a significant relationship exists with regard to Afrikaans home language learners. General linear regression was conducted to describe the relationship, thus enabling the researchers to generalize previous research to include Afrikaans home language speakers in South Africa. Interesting additional research findings indicated that the school where the learners received their education improved the prediction of their future reading success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I present the findings of a study of the seemingly expanding phenomenon in Afrikaans of rounding of the ‘aa’ vowel, phonetically transcribed as [ɒ]. A mix between a qualitative and quantitative methodological approach was followed. The hypotheses are based on personal observation of this process, especially as viewed from a phonological perspective. The role of prominence (both word stress and sentence accent) is in the centre of these hypotheses. Prominent long underlying /ɑ/ vowels will most probably be rounded; even without such stress or accent the chances will be more than 50%, but the short underlyingly /ɑ/ will not be rounded. The method used for testing these hypotheses is the following: a strong ‘rounder’ of Afrikaans /ɑ/ was identified, and the readers were requested to record a number of carefully-constructed appropriate sentences. The relevant vowels of this speaker, a female student aged 21, were processed digitally. The most important acoustic features (duration, Formants 1 and 2) were extracted, and statistically analysed. The results clearly support the hypotheses posed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]