聽損兒童音韻覺識、快速唸名及其對中文閱讀能力的預測

Phonological Awareness and Rapid Automatic Naming of Chinese-Speaking Children with Hearing Loss and their Predictive Relationship with Reading Ability

找出聽力損失兒童閱讀困難的原因是聽障教育界長久以來的重要議題。音韻覺識及快速唸名是預測一般兒童閱讀能力的重要指標，它們是否也能預測聽損兒童的閱讀能力則缺乏相關研究。本研究的目的在於探討聽損兒童是否受限聽力而影響其音韻覺識及快速唸名的表現，並分析此二者對預測聽損兒童中文閱讀能力的重要性。本研究透過三年縱貫性研究，以說華語的33名聽損及45名聽常兒童為對象，先後測得兩組兒童在一年級上學期音韻覺識及快速唸名的表現，接著評量其後續的閱讀能力，分別包含一年級下學期的繪本識詞與繪本閱讀理解、二年級下學期的識字量、以及三年級上學期標準化測驗的閱讀理解。研究結果發現聽損兒童在聲韻結合及去音首兩項音韻覺識能力上，落後聽常兒童，但快速唸名則和聽常兒童相當；聽損兒童在閱讀理解（包括繪本閱讀理解、標準化閱讀理解測驗）落後聽常兒童，但識字能力（包括繪本識詞、識字量）則和聽常兒童相當。本研究亦發現即使排除智力因素，音韻覺識和快速唸名對於聽損兒童的識字均有顯著預測性相關，顯示此二者在聽損兒童的中文識字歷程扮演重要角色。快速唸名對於聽損兒童閱讀理解的預測性相關未達顯著，而聲韻結合、去音首則透過識字的中介作用，對於聽損兒童閱讀理解有獨特貢獻性。本研究結果顯示聲音韻覺識可能是聽損兒童中文閱讀困難的可能原因，和國外聽損兒童的情況類似。因此本研究建議及早促進聽損兒童的音韻覺識及閱讀理解能力。

In deaf education, identifying the cause of reading difficulty in children with hearing loss is imperative. The literature suggests that both phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatic naming (RAN) can predict reading ability in children without hearing loss. However, the effect of either variable on reading ability in children with hearing loss remains unknown. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate PA, RAN, and early reading in the understudied population of Mandarin-speaking children with hearing loss. Furthermore, this study examined how PA, RAN, and other hearing-related variables can predict reading performance in this target group. Methods: This longitudinal study included 33 children with hearing loss and 45 children with typical hearing. In the first grade, predictor variable data were collected from all children during the fall (measures of PA, RAN, and nonverbal intelligence) and outcome variables during the spring (word recognition and reading comprehension of picture books). Chinese character recognition was tested in the spring of the second grade, and reading comprehension was tested in the spring of the third grade. Results/Findings: (1) The PA-blending and PA-onset deletion skills of the children with hearing loss were poorer than those of the children with typical hearing; however, the RAN skills were not significantly different between the two groups. (2) The reading comprehension of the children with hearing loss was lower than that of children with typical hearing, but word/character recognition was comparable between the two groups. (3) After controlling for the influence of intelligence factors, the PA of the children with hearing loss in the first grade had significant predictive correlations with the subsequent word/character recognition and reading comprehension. For example, PA-phonetic reading, PA-onset deleting, and PA-tone awareness were significantly correlated with Chinese word/character recognition in the second grade. PA-blending and PA-onset deleting were significantly correlated with reading comprehension in the third grade. (4) After controlling for the influence of intelligence factors, the RAN in the first grade of children with hearing loss was significantly related to picture-book reading comprehension half a year later. RAN was significantly related to Chinese word/character recognition in the second grade but was not significantly related to reading comprehension in the third grade. (5) The strongest variables for predicting reading comprehension were nonverbal intelligence and PA-phonetic awareness. Conclusions/Implications: The findings from the present study confirmed that the PA and Chinese reading comprehension of children with hearing loss lagged those of children with typical hearing, whereas the RAN and word/character recognition ability were similar for the two groups. This study supports previous research, showing that the reading comprehension challenges of children with hearing loss are related to PA skills in English and extends the findings to Chinese. PA and reading comprehension abilities should be promoted as early as possible for Chinese-speaking children with hearing loss.