This study investigates the effect of phonological awareness (PA) training on English vocabulary retention of Ll Chinese university students in Taiwan. Two groups of frrst-year students at a university in Hsinchu, Taiwan participated in this study. In order to gauge the effect of PA training, the current study involved training university freshmen in phonemic and syllabic awareness, which is especially important for L1 Chinese students learning English vocabulary. The experimental group was trained to map sounds onto letters and syllables, while the control group was given a normal pronunciation course without PA training. Results have revealed that, in general, students in the two groups performed differently at a statistically significant level. The experimental group recalled more words on both short-term and long-term recall tests.