A Theory-driven Treatment
for Chinese Developmental
Dyslexic Children: Preliminary Results on the Training of
Metalinguistic Awareness
Flora Hoi-ki Chung & Leung Man-tak
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Abstract
This paper
reports on a treatment program for children with developmental dyslexia
(specific reading disability) administered at the Developmental Dyslexia Clinic
of the University of Hong Kong. Recent research attempts to relate poor reading
abilities of dyslexics to the poor development of metalinguistic awareness (an
awareness about the structure of orthography). The basic hypothesis behind this
treatment program is that by fostering the flexible application of phonological
regularity and consistency rules in reading, the reading performance of dyslexia
children will improve. The training program is divided into three phases: the
establishment of phonological regularity awareness in the first phase, the
building of phonological consistency awareness in the second phase and the
flexible application of regularity and consistency rules in the third phase.
Results indicate
that there is an overall improvement in post-treatment reading scores of the
Hong Kong Graded Chinese Character Naming Test (HKGCNT). The probe results also
reveal the corresponding effect of manipulating treatment materials on
performance. The results suggest that the program is
affecting the reading strategies used by the clients and is effective in
improving reading performance.
本文報告在香港大學兒童讀寫障礙診所進行的三組療程。近期的研究指出，讀障學童的閱讀能力是由於元語言意識的發展不足所致。元語言意識是指讀者對文字結構的意識。讀者自行分析字型、語音和語義之間的關係，整理出一套形音義規則，再將規則靈活地應用在閱讀上。本療程的基本假設是：如學童能靈活地運用中文字的語音規則性(phonological regularity)和語音一貫性(phonological consistency)規則，他們的閱讀能力會得以提升。療程分為三個階段:第一階段建立語音規則性的意識 ; 第二階段建立語音一貫性的意識 ; 第三階段促進語音規則和一貫性意識的靈活運用。
結果顯示在治療後，學童在《香港中文單字閱讀測試》的表現有明顯的進步。在每節治療後進行的測驗則顯示，治療中所選用的字詞類別直接影響學童的元語言意識發展和閱讀策略，有提升閱讀能力的效果。
Key words: developmental dyslexia 發展性閱讀障礙
treatment 治療
Chinese 中文
reading 閱讀
metalinguistic awareness 元語言意識