Hearing or Seeing? What factors of reading acquisition lead to more detailed phonological processing? A training study with preschoolers.

阅读的孩子似乎比pre-readers使用更多的语音细节。问题出现了，阅读者的语音处理的哪些方面比阅读前的人更精细。当孩子们学习读和写的时候，他们不仅学习操纵声音，从而训练他们对单词的声音结构的知识。他们还学习音素和字素之间的对应关系。以往关于语音加工与识字习得关系的研究常常混淆语音意识和字母知识。本文提出的训练研究的核心目的是揭示这两个因素中的哪一个导致了读者与前读者相比语音表征的细化。本研究基于读者语音表征和字素表征之间存在双向联系的假设。据推测，这些双向链接是读者比前读者更详细地处理言语的基础。将对三组学龄前儿童进行测试。一组接受语音训练（仅语音训练）。另一组接受语音训练和字母知识训练（语音和正字法训练）。第三组将接受早期数学技能培训（对照组）。如果单靠语音训练就足以完善语音加工，那么与对照组相比，接受语音训练的两组都应该使用更多的语音细节。如果需要字素来完善语音加工，语音和正字法训练组应该使用更多的语音细节，而不是只使用语音训练组。语音细节的使用将通过在单词启动中记录的脑电位来测量。在一年级和二年级结束时的两次后续测试中，将测试(i)语音加工是否通过正式的阅读教学不断得到完善，以及（ii）后期的阅读能力是否仅由语音训练介导，还是早期获得的字素-音素联系有额外的好处。一方面，这些发现将有助于我们理解语音处理的架构及其与书面语言处理的联系。另一方面，这些发现将对德语儿童早期阅读和写作技能有效训练的辩论产生实际影响。

Reading children appear to use more phonological detail of the speech stream than pre-readers. The question emerges which aspects of speech processing are refined in readers compared to pre-readers. When children learn to read and write, they not only learn to manipulate sounds and thereby train their knowledge about the sound structure of words. They also learn the correspondence between phonemes and graphemes. Previous studies investigating the relation between phonological processing and literacy acquisition have often confounded phonological awareness and letter knowledge. The core aim of the proposed training study is to unravel which of these two factors leads to the refinement of phonological representations in readers compared to pre-readers. The study is based on the assumption of bidirectional links between speech sound representations and grapheme representations in readers. It is hypothesized that those bidirectional links are fundamental for the more detailed processing of speech in readers compared to pre-readers. Three groups of preschoolers will be tested. One group will receive phonological training (phonological only training). Another group will receive phonological training and letter knowledge training (phonological and orthographic training). A third group will receive a training of early math skills (control group). If phonological training alone is sufficient to refine phonological processing, both groups receiving phonological training should use more phonological detail compared to the control group. If graphemes are needed to refine phonological processing, the phonological and orthographic training group should use more phonological detail compared to the phonological only training group. Use of phonological detail will be measured by means of brain potentials recorded in word onset priming. In two follow-up tests at the end of first and second grade it will be tested whether (i) phonological processing is continuously refined through formal reading instruction, and (ii) whether later reading proficiency is mediated by phonological training alone or whether there is an additional benefit from earlier acquired grapheme-phoneme links. On the one hand, the findings will contribute to our understanding of the architecture of speech processing and its links to written language processing. On the other hand, the findings will have practical implications for the debate on efficient training of early reading and writing skills in German-speaking children.