Effectiveness of Phonological Games Training on Phonemic Awareness in First-Grade Elementary School Children
Keywords:
Phonological Games, Phonemic Awareness, Reading Skills, Early Literacy, First, Grade Elementary StudentsAbstract
Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of phonological games training in improving phonemic awareness among first-grade elementary school students.
Methodology: This applied study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of first-grade students attending public elementary schools in Karaj during the first half of the 2020–2021 academic year. Sixty eligible students were selected through multistage cluster sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=30) or a control group (n=30). Data were collected using a phonological awareness test designed for preschool and first-grade children. The experimental group received ten 45-minute sessions of phonological games training over five weeks. The intervention included rhyming and syllable activities, identification of initial and final phonemes, phoneme blending and segmentation, and phoneme deletion and substitution. The control group received routine classroom instruction. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 and one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
Findings: ANCOVA results indicated that the pretest significantly predicted posttest phonemic awareness scores (F=10.52, p=0.002, η²=0.156). After controlling for pretest scores, a statistically significant group effect was observed, indicating significantly greater phonemic awareness in students who received phonological games training than in those receiving routine instruction (F=78.41, p≤0.001, η²=0.579). The effect size indicated that group membership and exposure to the intervention accounted for 57.9% of the variance in posttest phonemic awareness scores, representing a large intervention effect.
Conclusion: Systematic phonological games training appears to be an effective, active, and developmentally appropriate approach for strengthening phonemic awareness among first-grade students. Integrating structured phonological games into early literacy instruction may therefore facilitate the acquisition of foundational language skills required for successful reading and writing development.
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