ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the impact of phonological awareness training on Uyghur children's phonological and literacy development. The first study implemented a seven-week training program focused on Chinese phonetic discrimination, covering initials, vowels and phonemes. Results indicate noticeable improvements in Chinese initial and vowel awareness, as well as Chinese character reading and writing skills among Uyghur children who underwent this training. This training method, grounded in the distinctions between Uyghur and Chinese phonological structures, effectively reduced native language interference, enhancing the discrimination of Chinese phonemes and overall literacy skills. In the second study, the training aimed at Uyghur children's English phonological awareness and reading abilities, incorporating Uyghur−Chinese phonetic discrimination and phonics training over seven weeks. Findings reveal that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group across all aspects of English phonological awareness and word reading, particularly in onset–rime awareness. This comprehensive phonological training, combining smaller phonemic discrimination and larger onset–rime awareness training, helps Uyghur children form new phonemic categories and better discern various phonological elements, reducing native phonological interference and aligning with the target language's orthographic features. Practically, the study recommends a modified training program for Uyghur children's English phonological awareness.
