Cross-Linguistic Association Between Phonological Awareness and Connected Speech Perception Skills of Chinese EFL Young Learners

Phonological awareness (PA) is of great significance to children’s early language learning and cognitive development. However, there has been a clear lack of research on the role of PA in developing children’s perception of connected speech in foreign languages. Thus, this study focused on the cross-linguistic association between PA and children’s connected speech perception skills. A total of 82 10- to-11-year-old Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners participated in a battery of tasks on English connected speech perception and English and Chinese PA. The data yielded three critical results based on correlation, linear regression, Sobel test, and bootstrapping analyses. First, EFL young learners’ English connected speech perception skills were significantly associated with their English and Chinese PA. Second, English phonemic and Chinese sound awareness were recognized as predictors of their connected speech perception skills. Moreover, the results further revealed that Chinese tone awareness predicted English connected speech perception skills via a direct pathway through Chinese sound awareness as a mediator. These findings demonstrated a cross-linguistic positive correlation between PA and connected speech perception skills from graphic to alphabetic characters in childhood. The results of this study shed light on teaching strategies for connected speech in EFL primary school education.