무의미 음절 따라말하기를 통한 단순조음음운장애아동과 정상아동의 음운기억 수행능력 비교연구

Phonological Memory in the Nonword Repetition of Children: A Comparison of Functional Phonologically Disordered and Normal Children

본 연구는 생활연령 4세의 단순조음음운장애아동 15명과 정상아동 15명을 대상으로 언어문제를 보이지 않는 순수한 조음음운의 문제가 음운기억 수행에 어떤 영향을 주는지 살펴보고자 하였다. 연구자가 직접 제작한 무의미 음절 따라말하기 과제를 통하여 (1) 두 집단의 각 음절길이별 집단간 수행 비교, (2) 각 집단의 음절길이효과의 유무 및 (3) 각 집단의 말소리유사성효과의 유무를 살펴보았다. 연구결과 (1) 단순조음음운장애아동은 모든 음절길이에서 정상아동보다 유의미하게 낮은 음운기억 수행을 보였고, (2) 두 집단 모두 음절길이효과를 보였으며, (3) 단순조음음운장애아동은 말소리유사성효과를 보이지 않는 반면 정상아동은 말소리유사성효과를 보였다. 이와 같은 결과는 순수한 조음음운의 문제가 음운기억 수행에 영향을 준다는 것을 시사하며, 이는 음운기억과 관련된 상관연구를 활발하게 해 주는 디딤돌이 될 것이다.

Phonological memory, which is a part of phonological processing, refers to the coding of information in a sound-based representation system for temporary storage. Two main variables in phonological memory were dealt with in the present study: (1) the word length effect, which asserts that long words are more poorly recalled because they take longer to articulate during rehearsal and (2) the phonological similarity effect, which means that the confusion between similar memory traces causes poorer recall of similar- sounding words. The purpose of the present study was as follows: (1) to determine whether the two groups show significant differences in nonword repetition performances at each syllable length(2 to 6), (2) to determine whether each group shows the word length effect, and (3) to determine whether each group shows the phonological similarity effect. Fifteen normal and 15 functional phonologically disordered four-year-old children participated in the present study. All children showed normal receptive linguistic and general intellectual ability. The experimental task was a nonword repetition task, consisting of a total of 40 nonwords ranging form two to six syllables in length(i.e., five sets of eight words, each set having a different length). Four of the eight words in each set are similar-sounding words, and the other four, dissimilar-sounding. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) children with functional phonological disorders displayed poorer nonword repetition performance than the normal children at each syllable length, (2) each group exhibited the word length effect, and (3) only the group of normal children revealed the phonological similarity effect. In conclusion, this study implies that phonological memory could be impaired despite the absence of accompanying receptive language disorders.