title: Training Early Literacy Related Skills: To Which Degree Does a Musical Training Contribute to Phonological Awareness Development?
abstract: Well-developed phonological awareness skills are a core prerequisite for early literacy development. Although effective phonological awareness training programs exist, children at risk often do not reach similar levels of phonological awareness after the intervention as children with normally developed skills. Based on theoretical considerations and first promising results the present study explores effects of an early musical training in combination with a conventional phonological training in children with weak phonological awareness skills. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design and measurements across a period of 2 years, we tested the effects of two interventions: a consecutive combination of a musical and a phonological training and a phonological training alone. The design made it possible to disentangle effects of the musical training alone as well the effects of its combination with the phonological training. The outcome measures of these groups were compared with the control group with multivariate analyses, controlling for a number of background variables. The sample includedN= 424 German-speaking children aged 4-5 years at the beginning of the study. We found a positive relationship between musical abilities and phonological awareness. Yet, whereas the well-established phonological training produced the expected effects, adding a musical training did not contribute significantly to phonological awareness development. Training effects were partly dependent on the initial level of phonological awareness. Possible reasons for the lack of training effects in the musical part of the combination condition as well as practical implications for early literacy education are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Educational Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kempert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Götz
authors.affiliation: German Youth Institute Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blatter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Catharina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tibken
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Research, University of Bamberg Germany.
authors.forename: Cordula
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Artelt
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Institute for Educational Quality Improvement, Humboldt University of Berlin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stanat
keywords: early literacy; musical training; phonological awareness; phonological training; preschool children