Teaching letters-to-syllable connections enhances phonemic awareness in French preschoolers

This study investigates whether teaching letters-to-syllable connections is more effective in boosting phonemic awareness than teaching grapheme-phoneme connections in French-speaking preschoolers. A controlled longitudinal teaching program was implemented, comparing two groups: one taught letter-to-syllable correspondences and the other letter-to-phoneme correspondences. Phonemic awareness was assessed at three time points. Results indicate that the letters-to-syllable group showed greater progress in phonemic awareness, particularly between the first and second assessments. This suggests that focusing on syllables as accessible phonological units can be a more effective approach to developing phonemic awareness in early literacy learning.

Doignon-Camus, N, Zagar, D, Viallard, M, Gombert, J, Bertelson, P