The placement of learners in literacy courses according to skill level is often faulty, and the resulting heterogeneity in such classes poses difficulties for both teachers and learners; in addition, the inefficient use of government funds earmarked for integration is also problematic. In principle, phonological awareness is known to be a crucial skill as well as a predictor for (successful) literacy acquisition, but the development of this capacity is uneven among participants in heterogeneous courses, especially when they include individuals learning a second alphabet.
The Alpha II project builds on the RCM Alpha I project, which compiled an initial collection of items and tasks for the promotion and identification of phonological awareness in Arabic and Tigrinya (source languages) and German (target language). Alpha II aims to further develop this resource to create a structured item pool to support individual learning and to develop a diagnostic tool for placing learners in the appropriate course level. The project focuses on two levels of sound (syllable and phoneme) as well as three levels of operationalisation (identification, synthesis and segmentation), as these levels appear most useful from a pedagogical perspective. A picture- and sound-based diagnostic tool will be used in literacy courses in German-speaking Switzerland and tested at various alpha levels in quality tests with 80 to 100 participants. In a second survey, the tool’s performance will be controlled in a pre-/post-test design with the aim of shedding light on predictability of learning progress while also gaining insights into the perception and practicability of the learning modules from the participants’ perspective.
Over the course of the Alpha II project, a structured pool of tested items and learning modules will be compiled to individually promote phonological awareness; if the analysis results allow, a diagnostic tool to measure phonological awareness in German as the target language will also be developed. The project is primarily geared towards supporting learners and facilitating literacy acquisition. The diagnostic tool is an instrument for language course instructors and is designed to aid them in empirically identifying key requirements for literacy education and in conducting evidence-based placements.
The project aim is to promote phonological awareness in adolescent and adult migrants with poor or no literacy skills on an individual basis – ideally outside the course or at the same time, and by building on their current level of knowledge. This knowledge status-quo will be more precisely identified in order to avoid either over- or underchallenging participants; rather, targeted exercises are designed to offer individual support.