The Use of Soundabet to Increase Phonemic Awareness
Graduation Date
Fall 2006
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program Name
Education
Program Director
Madalienne F. Peters, EdD
Abstract
Phonemic awareness is an essential stepping stone in the reading development of primary grade students. Dan Gurney created a supplemental phonics program called Soundabet, which uses instructional songs. The purpose of this study is to determine if the use of Soundabet can increase students' ability to match all consonant and short vowel sounds to their corresponding written form. By looking at 77 kindergarten children this study evaluated the effectiveness of using Soundabet to teach both English language learners and English only students. The rate of letter sound acquisition was analyzed and compared for both subgroups. It was found that although the overall final assessment mean for English only participants was higher English language learners made more growth over a 10 week period.