Encouraging the development of phonological awareness through musical activities by Edgar Willems

Ob koncu predšolskega obdobja se otrok nahaja na določeni stopnji fonološkega zavedanja, ki pomembno napoveduje kasnejšo bralno uspešnost. Pomembno je, da že pred vstopom v šolo na različne načine spodbujamo razvoj fonološkega zavedanja, katerega osnova so dobre sposobnosti poslušanja. Poslušanje je prav tako sestavni del glasbenih dejavnosti, ki z razvojem ritmičnega in melodičnega posluha spodbujajo tudi razvoj fonološkega zavedanja. Namen magistrskega dela je bil raziskati vpliv glasbenih dejavnosti, osnovanih na pedagoških načelih Edgarja Willemsa, na razvoj fonološkega zavedanja v okviru kvazi-eksperimentalne raziskave, hkrati pa oblikovati določene smernice, ki bi bile pomoč vzgojiteljem, staršem in različnim strokovnjakom pri uvajanju glasbenih dejavnosti za spodbujanje razvoja fonološkega zavedanja kot tudi celostnega razvoja otrok. V raziskavo je bilo vključenih 70 otrok, starih od 4 do 7 let, od tega je 35 otrok v obdobju šestih mesecev enkrat tedensko obiskovalo enourne glasbene ure (eksperimentalna skupina), 35 otrok pa tovrstnih glasbenih spodbud ni imelo (kontrolna skupina). S preizkusom fonološkega zavedanja, ki ga je oblikovala Simona Ažman, smo ocenjevali spretnosti fonološkega zavedanja na začetku izvajanja glasbenega programa in po šestih mesecih. Rezultati analize kovariance so pokazali, da med eksperimentalno in kontrolno skupino obstajajo statistično pomembne razlike v fonološkem zavedanju, testiranem ob koncu intervencije. To pomeni, da smo s pomočjo intervencije v obliki glasbenega uvajanja po Edgarju Willemsu v eksperimentalni skupini statistično pomembno vplivali na spremembe v fonološkem zavedanju, ki so prisotne tudi ob upoštevanju razlik v starosti in začetnih spretnosti fonološkega zavedanja. Potrdili smo tudi hipotezo o statistično pomembnem vplivu starosti na razvoj spretnosti fonološkega zavedanja, pri čemer višja starost prinaša višji rezultat na testu fonološkega zavedanja. Razlik v uspešnosti reševanja, ki se kažeta med skupinama, pa ne moremo pripisati razlikam v spolu, saj se je vpliv slednjega izkazal za statistično nepomembnega. Na osnovi ugotovitev raziskave lahko potrdimo, da glasbene dejavnosti po Edgarju Willemsu predstavljajo uporabno in učinkovito orodje za spodbujanje razvoja fonološkega zavedanja, še posebej v predšolskem obdobju.At the end of the preschool period a child is at a certain level of phonological awareness which is an important predictor of later reading ability. It is important to encourage development of phonological awareness in different ways before school entry. Listening, being one of the basic skills of phonological awareness is also part of musical activities which with the improvement of rhythmic and melodic skills also enhance the progress of phonological awareness. The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the effect of musical activities based on the teaching principles of Edgar Willems on the development of phonological awareness in children as well as to design certain guidelines to help parents, teachers and other experts in conducting musical activities in order to encourage the development of phonological awareness and the overall development of a child. A quasi-experimental research was conducted that included 70 children aged 4 to 7, 35 of which participated in one hour long musical lessons once per week for six months (experimental group) while the other 35 children didn’t receive such lessons (control group). A test of phonological awareness designed by Simona Ažman was employed to evaluate the skills of phonological awareness at the beginning of the six month period and at the end. The results of the ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) showed a statistically significant differences in the level of phonological awareness between the experimental and the control group when compared at the end of the test period. This shows that statistically significant changes in phonological awareness were made by engaging children in musical lessons even when the differences in age and the starting skills of phonological awareness (F(1,66) = 6,17, p = 0,016, partial η2 = 0,09) are taken into account. We’ve also confirmed the hypothesis about the statistically significant effect of age on the development of phonological awareness where the higher age brings a higher score on the phonological awareness test. The differences between the two groups cannot be associated to the differences in sex, the effect of which shoved as statistically unimportant. Based on the founding of this research we can confirm that musical lessons based on the teaching principles of Edgar Willems present a useful and effective tool to encourage the development of phonological awareness in children, especially in the preschool period