Dyslexia in English-speaking countries is characterized by word reading accuracy and fluency problems. Phonological processing deficits have been identified as a major factor in dyslexia (IDA, 2002). While English teachers have focused on the characteristics of the target language, i.e., English, little attention has been paid to how the learner's native language affects the acquisition of English in an EFL or ESL environment. Suppose the acquisition of English phonemic awareness is essential for letter-sound correspondence. In that case, learners with a writing or phonological system close to the English language should have an advantage over those who do not.
For example, English is a closed syllable language, and instructors must consider it difficult for native speakers of Japanese, an open syllabic language, to learn it (Kawagoe, 2021). Prior research has shown native Japanese speakers have difficulty naturally acquiring English phonemes (Tsuda & Takahashi, 2014). Therefore, the difficulty of English acquisition for learners in EFL and ESL should be discussed from the perspective of cognition and acquisition of readiness, including orthography of the native language, with a hint of dyslexia and learning disabilities.
This presentation will introduce case studies of Japanese junior high school students struggling with English word reading and writing. In all cases, vowels were added to the consonants of the alphabet (e.g.,/ku/ instead of /k/). In the phonological awareness test, the tendency to pronounce phonemes with vowels added to them was also observed in the phoneme segmentation task . In spelling tasks, there are many errors in which vowels are added to consonants (e.g., desk → desuku). In Japan, there has been little phonological awareness instruction in English. However, after the instructional intervention, syllable, rime, and phoneme phonological awareness skills all improved.
In the research on elementary school students, letter name dictation, letter selection, vocabulary, and phonological awareness tests (phoneme segmentation) were administered to 5th graders. Correlation analysis between items revealed that phoneme segmentation and lowercase dictation had the most significant impact on vocabulary. Interviews with homeroom teachers revealed that children in the lower English reading achievement groups also tended to be behind in Japanese language learning.
Bibliography
International Dyslexia Association (2002). Definition of Dyslexia. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://dyslexiaida.org/definition-of-dyslexia/.
Kawagoe, I. (2014). Syllables and Mora. In Sugahara, M. (Ed.), Phonology, Asakura Japanese-English Contrastive Linguistics Series 3 (pp. 30-57). Tokyo： Asakura Shoten.
Murakami, K. (2020). Error analysis of word listening tasks for junior high school students. A before-and-after comparison of phonological awareness and decoding instruction, Oral presentation at the 2nd Annual Conference of the Association of Universal Design in English Language Learning, December 8, 2020.
Tsuda, C. and Takahashi, N. (2014). The influence of English phonological awareness on English learning by native Japanese speakers, Journal of Developmental Psychology,25, 95-106.
