The impact of attending a cued articulation course on teachers’ phonological and letter-sound awareness: implications for classroom reading instruction

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science by Research – Speech Pathology to the Department of Community and Clinical Allied Health, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

There has been much debate over recent years about the best way to teach reading, but the strongest body of evidence supports a structured phonics program. Yet researchers have found that many primary school teachers may not have sufficient phonological awareness, and knowledge of the relationship between letters and sounds, to teach reading effectively. Professional development programs have been shown to improve teachers’ phonological understanding, which can lead to improved literacy outcomes for their students. Teachers using Cued Articulation provide their students with a cue for individual sounds in words. Therefore, successful completion of a Cued Articulation training course requires that teachers gain an awareness of these sounds, and an appreciation of English phonology. These outcomes subsequently lead to an improved understanding of how these sounds are represented by letters in the opaque English orthographic system. This study investigated whether attendance at a Cued Articulation training course can provide the phonological and letter-sound awareness required by teachers of reading, and whether teachers perceive any change in their teaching practice following course attendance. Quantitative results provided strong evidence that course attendance is associated with significant gains in teacher knowledge, and qualitative data revealed that teachers recognized these gains in their understanding and consequent changes to their approach to the teaching of reading.