International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

The present study investigates the effect of computer-assisted intervention targeting phonological processing skills in Hong Kong kindergarteners who learn English as a second language (ESL). Thirty children received 18 sessions of 45 minutes phonological processing skills intervention over nine weeks. Children in the experimental group (n = 15) received computer-assisted intervention, while the control group (n = 15) received intervention by traditional (pencil-and-paper) teaching approach. Following a pretest – posttest – retention test design, participants were assessed for their phonological processing skills changes by alliteration test, blending test, phoneme segmentation test and rhyme test before the intervention, after the intervention and 10 weeks after the intervention. The results indicated that children in the experimental group outperformed than those in the control group in all subtests during the posttest. A retention test which held 10 weeks after the intervention revealed that significant gains in the experimental group were maintained in the alliteration test and rhyme test.