Trio Research Abstract and Presentation: The Effects of Syllable-Awareness Skills on the

Word-Reading Performances of Students Reading in a Transparent Orthography

Gldenolu, B. (2016) The Effects of Syllable-Awareness on the Word-Reading
Performances of Students in a Transparent Orthography. The International Electronic
Journal of Elementary Education, 8(3). Retrieved from:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=8dfae0d5-93b640f1-b373-7051a64eb7a9%40sessionmgr104&hid=112
Literature Review: This research extends the 1998 studies of R, Gzel which concluded that
poor reading skills project onto every academic subject and make for poor scholarship. A 2014
study found that syllable awareness is the first step in understanding written languages and
serves as an indicator of reading skills (Gldenolu, Kargn & Miller,). The inability to decode
units of sound is the combination of two key problems for struggling readers (Gough & Tunmer,
1986; Tunmer, 2008; Tunmer & Greaney, 2010). Jackson & Coltheart (2001) found that without
phonetic decoding skills, students cannot add words to their mental lexicon in which words
represent meanings by sight. Phonological awareness develops most permanently and rapidly
during the first few years of elementary school and indicates reading success (Ehri, 2002; Frost,
1988; Paap & Noel, 1991; Perfetti, 1985; Samuels & Farstrup, 2006; Therrien, 2004; Torgesen,
1999).
Purpose of Research: The present study investigates the effects of syllable awareness on the
word-reading process of students reading in a highly transparent orthography (Turkish).
Researchers hoped to find that findings obtained from this study will provide important
contributions to an explanation of the difficulties that students experience in their worddecoding skills, as well as to the development of effective intervention programmes to prevent
these problems.
Independent Variable(s): The two groups for this study consisted of 50 second-grade students
with poor syllable awareness skills and 40 second-grade students with proficient syllableawareness skills. Both groups were tested for word-reading performance using the same two
computerized paradigms.
Dependant Variable(s): This study measured the word-reading performances of students
reading in a transparent orthography. Students were asked during the first computer paradigm to
look at a word and determine if it was syllabicated correctly. Half of the words in this test were
real and half were pseudo words. During the second paradigm, the students were given two
words and asked to determine whether they were the same. This test also used real and pseudo
words. Real words were paired with real words, and pseudo words with pseudo words, however,
one word was typed and the other was handwritten. Both tests measured students reaction time
to the words and errors made.
Research Results:

This study found that overall students with proficient syllable awareness skills
processed written words significantly faster and more accurate than students with
poor syllable awareness skills. They were also able to process and react to real
words faster that the students with poor syllable-awareness. Overall the study
concluded that syllable-awareness skills do have a positive effect on the processing
of words and word-decoding in transparent orthographies, as the students with
proficient syllable awareness performed better than the students with poor syllable
awareness.

Implications of the Research: