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 seems to
be a lack of research on the role of PA in developing children’s perception
skills of foreign languages connected speech. 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 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 of
connected speech in EFL primary school education.