The Role of Akshara Knowledge and Phonological Processing Skills in Reading Development among Sri Lankan Children by Deepani Kumudulatha Marasinghe Arachchillage A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education Department of Educational Psychology University of Alberta © Deepani Kumudulatha Marasinghe Arachchillage, 2018 ii Abstract This dissertation consists of three separate papers. The first paper examined predictors of akshara recognition at the symbol-level (akshara type, akshara frequency, visual complexity, number of diacritic markers, grapheme-phoneme sequence matching, and orthographic linearity) and child-level (phonological awareness, phonological memory, RAN, home reading time and socioeconomic status) in a sample of Sinhala-speaking Grade 1 to 6 children (N=300) in Sri Lanka. Generalized linear regression analyses showed that akshara type, akshara frequency, visual complexity, grapheme-phoneme sequence matching and the number of orthographic linearity breaks in akshara accounted for unique variance in how frequently an akshara was recognized correctly. Syllable awareness, phoneme awareness, phonological memory, and home reading time were unique child-level predictors of akshara recognition. The results suggest that the akshara learning process in alphasyllabaries is both prolonged and qualitatively different from letter learning in alphabetic languages due to the large symbol set and symbol-specific characteristics that exact a processing cost. These finding have implications for models of literacy acquisition. The second paper examined the effects of introducing complex akshara and phoneme- level reading instruction on the development of phoneme awareness and its association with akshara knowledge and word reading accuracy in a sample of Sinhala-speaking children from Grades 3 to 5 (N = 150) in Sri Lanka. Phoneme awareness was slow to emerge and showed a strong relationship with word reading accuracy and akshara knowledge only after children received explicit phoneme-level instruction on akshara formation. Increased exposure to complex akshara itself had a small but significant effect on the development of phoneme awareness. Both word reading accuracy and akshara knowledge predicted phoneme awareness iii once children received phoneme-level instruction, but the opposite was not true. The results suggest that phoneme awareness in Sinhala is particularly sensitive to the method of reading instruction. This raises the question whether Sinhala students would benefit from direct phoneme instruction provided to them in earlier grades. The third paper examined the cognitive correlates (akshara knowledge, phonological awareness, phonological memory, and RAN) of word reading skills in a sample of Sinhala- speaking Grade 1 to 6 children (N = 300) in Sri Lanka. Multiple regression analyses showed that akshara knowledge had the strongest unique association with both reading accuracy and fluency across grades. RAN was also uniquely associated with word reading skills in all grades except Grade 4. Phonological memory was uniquely associated with reading accuracy until intermediate stage of reading development and with reading fluency only for the beginning readers. In contrast, neither syllable awareness nor phoneme awareness were uniquely associated with reading skills across grades. These results suggest that learning to read words accurately and fluently in alphasyllabaries is a prolonged process, and akshara knowledge is the most important predictor of success in it. These findings have implications for the literacy acquisition, development, and instruction in alphasyllabaries. iv Preface This thesis is an original work by Deepani K. W. Marasinghe Arachchillage. The research project, of which this thesis is a part, received research ethics approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board, Project Name “The role of akshara knowledge and phonological processing skills in reading development among Sri Lankan children”, No. Pro00053314, February 28, 2015. All of the research work presented in this dissertation forms part of an international research collaboration with Dr. Sonali Nag at the University of Oxford, and Dr. Rauno Parrila at the University of Alberta. I was the lead investigator and responsible for the areas of literature review, concept formation, data collection as well as manuscript composition. Dr. Rauno Parrila was the dissertation supervisor and involved in concept formation, manuscript composition and editing. Dr. Okan Buluth assisted with data analysis for Study 1 and contributed to manuscript composition. Dr. Tomohiro Inoue assisted with data analysis for Study 2 and 3 and contributed to manuscript composition and edits. Dr. Sonali Nag assisted in data and theory interpretation and manuscript editing. v Dedicated To my parents for their overwhelming support and understanding and to my husband and son, Asoka and Madhusara my eternal gratitude vi Acknowledgements I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all of those who supported, guided and encouraged me throughout this project. I extend my appreciation to the following people Dr. Rauno Parrila, my supervisor whose patience, profound knowledge and expertise, and understanding helped me in so many ways throughout this project. Without your support and guidance, this project would not have been possible. Thank you for all your time and dedication. Members of the supervisory committee, for participation in my committee and providing guidance with insightful comments to make this dissertation better. My family and parents, I am forever grateful for your love, constant support and encouragement throughout my studies. Numerous friends, thank you for your patience, love and support throughout the years of my studies. vii Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 Sinhala - an Indic Alphasyllabary ............................................................................................... 3 Sinhala Phonology ................................................................................................................... 4 Sinhala Vowels .................................................................................................................... 4 Sinhala Consonants .............................................................................................................. 5 Sinhala Orthography ................................................................................................................ 8 Sinhala Diglossia ................................................................................................................... 13 Learning to Read and Write in Sinhala ................................................................................. 14 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................................... 15 Overview of the Present Dissertation ........................................................................................ 16 References ................................................................................................................................. 18 II. STUDY 1: THE IMPACT OF SYMBOL AND CHILD CHARACTERISTICS ON AKSHARA RECOGNITION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN ............ 25 Sinhala Orthography ................................................................................................................. 25 Akshara Characteristics ......................................................................................................... 28 Child Characteristics ................................................................................................................. 29 Current Study ............................................................................................................................ 30 Method ...................................................................................................................................... 31 Participants ............................................................................................................................ 31 Materials ................................................................................................................................ 32 Akshara Recognition .......................................................................................................... 32 1. Akshara frequency .................................................................................................. 32 2. Visual complexity ................................................................................................... 33 3. Linearity .................................................................................................................. 33 4. Number of linearity breaks ..................................................................................... 33 5. Akshara type ........................................................................................................... 33 6. Number of diacritic markers. .................................................................................. 34 7. Grapheme-phoneme sequence matching ................................................................ 34 viii 8. Number of grapheme-phoneme sequence mismatches ........................................... 34 Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) .................................................................................