Research of ability to differentiate words without visual support

doc. dr. Monika Máčajová, dr. Soňa Grofčíková, Ľubomír Rybanský, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia;        Abstract: Auditory differentiation is one of the key abilities in the development of phonological awareness. It is the starting point for phonemic differentiation, which can be defined as an ability to distinguish distinct features of phonemes in language by the audible way. Abilities of auditory differentiation are the most significant in writing in differentiating short and long vowels, audible similar sounds, sibilants, and in differentiating syllables /dy-di/, /ty-ti/, /ny-ni/, /ly-li/. Incorrectly perceived sounds change the meaning of the words as well as grammar and orthography. Presented study deals with theoretical issues and research findings in the ability to differentiate and identify heard words in Slovak preschool-age children. These abilities should be developed in preschool age and the main goal to facilitate the process of initial reading and writing. The research was focused on the child´s ability to differentiate the same or different words by hearing without visual stimuli represented by pictures. The child heard the pairs of words and his task was to identify if words are the same or not. Following pairs of words were tested on auditory differentiation: nos-kos /nose-mow/, koláč-koláč /pie-pie/, koza-kozy /goat-goats/, lyže-líže /ski-lick/, kaša-kaša /mush-mush/. The research was conducted with 866 respondents at the age of four to seven years. The results are part of more extensive research focused on the development of a complex tool used to evaluate the level of phonemic awareness. The paper is the outcome of the VEGA project no. 1/0637/16 entitled The Development of the Diagnostic Instrument for the Assessment of the Level of Phonemic Awareness of Pre-School Age Children.

Key words: word differentiation, word identification, phonemic awareness, word, phoneme, sound