Developmental Pattern of Phonological Awareness Skill in Indian Alphasyllabic Languages and English: Educational Implications

Abstract

The trajectory of the development of phonological awareness (PA) skill varies between English and Indian Languages. The orthographic granularity of language is an important factor in the development of reading skill. In both kindergarten and formal schools, development of PA skills has been identified as an important component of literacy skill development. Most children learn both, the regional language and English at school and structured facilitation of PA skills in these languages is crucial. The differences between the acquisition of subskills under PA skills at various linguistic categories across languages needs to be clearly understood by the curriculum developers and school-based professionals for effective and seamless transition of PA skills across grades. The systematic and comprehensive review of studies with Indian population in various alphasyllabaries specifically outlines the developmental pattern of PA skills in English and alphasyllabic languages. This conceptual knowledge among educators, special educators and school-based speech language pathologists will help in designing of curriculum, language based standardized assessment tool for early identification and individualized education plans for children with deficient  literacy related skills.