Developing Assessment Tool and Teaching Program forLearning Hiragana Letters

本研究旨在阐明正常学龄前儿童正确识别日语音素符号--“平假名”字母及其读音和书写的发展过程。这项研究还旨在为学习更有效地阅读平假名字母的儿童开发语言和语言迟钝的教育项目。首先，对90名正常4~6岁儿童进行了双音节单词测验(Tezuka，1987)的测试。然后，发展阶段被确定为(A)识别一个单词作为一个整体(B)理解声母音节和韵母音节之间的差异，(C)识别每个字母在给定单词中的起始位置的正确发音(Sakaguchi，Sakihara，Iitaka，1993)。这些结果与天野之弥(1970年)的S的报告一致，即正常儿童在阅读之前首先识别给定单词中的音节数量并能发音。随后对一组有阅读困难的失语症患者进行了Tezuka测试，事实证明该测试是一种有效的评估和教学平假名阅读的工具(Goto，Suzuki，Iitaka，1994)。根据上述发现，Horiuchi正在开发一个计算机辅助程序，供残障人士阅读平假名。此外，现在正在进行一个治疗程序，教一名弱智儿童(CA 8：6，VA 4：1)通过使用带有熟悉的双音节和三音节单词的音节游戏来识别与正确发音有关的日语平假名字母。不仅在阅读平假名字母方面有了改进，而且在发音方面也有了改进。

The present study aimed to clarify the developmental process of normal pre-schoolers in correctly identifying Japanese phonemic symbols, "hiragana" letters with their "sounds" in reading and writing. The study also aimed to develop educational programs for children with deayd speech and language more effectively learning to read hiragana letters. First, 90 normal 4- to 6-year-olds were examined by the modified version of Bi-syllable Word Test (Tezuka, 1987). Developmental stages were then identified as (a)recognizing a word as a whole (b)understanding the difference between initial and final syllables, (c)identifying each letter with correct sounds in initial positionsin a given word(Sakaguchi, Sakihara, Iitaka, 1993). These results agreed with Amano(1970)'s report that normal children first identify the number of syllables in a given wordd and can articulate them before they can read.Tezuka's Test was then administered to a group of aphasic patients with reading difficulties and proved to be an effective tool for assessment and teaching to read hiraganas (Goto, Suzuki, Iitaka, 1994). With the above findings, Horiguchi is developing a computer assisted program for the handicapped to lear to read hiraganas.In addition, a therapeutic program is now undertaken to teach a retarded child (CA 8 : 6, VA 4 : 1) to identify Japanese hiragana letters associated with correct sounds by using the syllabification games with familiar bi-syllable and tri-syllable words. Improvements have been observed not only in reading hiragana letters but also in articulating them.