Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is an umbrella term to explain a child's ability to recognize and work with sounds & words. The two major skills that fall under phonological awareness are the ability to rhyme and the ability to recognize syllables within a word. When a child can do these two things, they have acquired phonological awareness.
"The ability to hear and manipulate larger parts of spoken language such as words, syllables, rhyming elements in syllables, and alliteration." Himmele Erch 422 Phonemic Awareness PowerPoint
"The ability to hear and manipulate larger parts of spoken language such as words, syllables, rhyming elements in syllables, and alliteration." Himmele Erch 422 Phonemic Awareness PowerPoint
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic Awareness falls under the umbrella with Phonological Awareness but is its own skill. A child cannot acquire phonemic awareness without first have phonological awareness. Shanahan defines Phonemic Awareness as "is the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds(pg.6)." These sounds are sometimes referred to as phonemes.
Why is Phonemic Awareness Important?
"Young children vary greatly in the ability
to hear the individual sounds within words,
and this variation led some scientists to
hypothesize that phonemic awareness might
be an essential early reading skill"
- Shanahan (pg.6)
"Young children vary greatly in the ability
to hear the individual sounds within words,
and this variation led some scientists to
hypothesize that phonemic awareness might
be an essential early reading skill"
- Shanahan (pg.6)
***An important aspect to remember when researching Phonological and Phonemic Awareness is that people often confuse Phonological for Phonemic. This is because Phonemic is an aspect of Phonological awareness BUT is in it's own category with it's own definition. Be sure to understand the definition of both of these terms before researching!***
"Should know the difference because awareness of larger units of sound—such as rhymes and syllables—develops before awareness of individual phonemes, and instructional activities meant to develop one awareness may not be suitable for another. Teachers should also understand and remember that neither phonological awareness nor its
most advanced form—phoneme awareness—has anything whatsoever to do with print or letters"- Munger (pg. 31)
most advanced form—phoneme awareness—has anything whatsoever to do with print or letters"- Munger (pg. 31)
Developmental Steps from Phonological Awareness to Phonemic Awareness
1. Awareness of Spoken Words
Phonological
2. Awareness of Spoken Syllables
Phonological
3. Awareness of Phonemes
Phonemic
4. Ability to Manipulate Sounds into Spoken Words
Phonemic
Himmele Erch 422 Phonemic Awareness PowerPoint
Phonological Awareness
How is Phonological Awareness taught?
Strategies for developing
Phonological & Phonemic
Awareness
▪ Nursery Rhymes or Poetry
▪ Tapping out the sounds
▪ Clapping the sounds
▪ Working with onsets and rimes
▪ Onset= b
▪ Rime = o
Himmele Erch 422 Phonemic Awareness PowerPoint
When children are first learning how to read, it is important for them to connect the sounds they are hearing/making or the images they are seeing to the actual word. This helps their brain make a connection which in term makes it easier for them to break down and understand the word as well as its meaning.
Another aspect of Phonological Awareness is being able to recognize and break down the syllables within a word. The worksheets below are great activities to use when teaching students to break about words to find the number of syllables. It is even more helpful for students who are proficient in their reading because they can rely on the images given while still making a connection to the written word. |
This video features a mother & reading specialist named Sarah. Sarah breaks down Phonological Awareness into seven categories as well as includes home activities that can be done with children to teach them aspects of Phonological Awareness.
It is important to note that the highlighted number points are parts of Phonemic Awareness because they include aspects of sound segmenting, blending, and deleting. |
Phonological Awareness is the stepping block when children are learning to read. For children to move on to bigger concepts such as Phonemic Awareness, they must first learn the basics. One of these skills include rhyme. Children do not have to know to read in order to rhyme which is why this is one of the first skills they learn. Below is examples of activities that helps students not only learn to rhyme different words but also allows for students to connect the images to written words.
Phonemic Awareness
How is Phonemic Awareness taught?
Strategies for developing
Phonological & Phonemic
Awareness
▪ Nursery Rhymes or Poetry
▪ Tapping out the sounds
▪ Clapping the sounds
▪ Working with onsets and rimes
▪ Onset= b
▪ Rime = o
Himmele Erch 422 Phonemic Awareness PowerPoint
How Much Phonemic Awareness Instruction Do Children Need?
"Phonemic awareness studies examined by the panel included instruction as brief as one hour and as extensive as 75 hours. The optimum amount of instruction across these studies—that is, the amount of instruction that was associated with the greatest reading gains—was between five and 18 hours." Shanahan (pg. 8)
What is Segmenting, Blending, Deleting, and Substitution?
Segmenting: Segmenting is when you take a word and break it apart into individual sounds.
i.e.
Dog is broken down into /d/ /o/ /g/.
Sheep is broken down into /sh/ /ee/ /p/.
Ant is broken down into /a/ /n/ /t/.
Blending: Blending is taking individual sounds and putting them together to make a word.
i.e.
/c/ /a/ /t/ is blended to make the word cat.
/sh/ /ee/ /p/ is blended to make the word sheep.
/s/ /t/ /o/ /p/ is blended to make the word stop.
Deleting: Deleting is when a sound is deleted from a word in order to create a new word.
i.e.
Take /s/ out of the word stop and you have top.
Substitution: Substitution is when a sound within a word is substituted for another sound in order to create a new word. This can be down with beginning sounds, middle sounds, and ending sounds.
i.e.
Take the /c/ in cat and replace it with /b/, now what word do you have? Bat.
Take the /a/ in cat and replace it with /u/, now what word do you have? Cut.
Take the /t/ in cat and replace it with /r/, now what word do you have? Car.
**The video below goes into more detail about these 4 teaching strategies in Phonemic Awareness as well as how to implement them into a classroom.**
i.e.
Dog is broken down into /d/ /o/ /g/.
Sheep is broken down into /sh/ /ee/ /p/.
Ant is broken down into /a/ /n/ /t/.
Blending: Blending is taking individual sounds and putting them together to make a word.
i.e.
/c/ /a/ /t/ is blended to make the word cat.
/sh/ /ee/ /p/ is blended to make the word sheep.
/s/ /t/ /o/ /p/ is blended to make the word stop.
Deleting: Deleting is when a sound is deleted from a word in order to create a new word.
i.e.
Take /s/ out of the word stop and you have top.
Substitution: Substitution is when a sound within a word is substituted for another sound in order to create a new word. This can be down with beginning sounds, middle sounds, and ending sounds.
i.e.
Take the /c/ in cat and replace it with /b/, now what word do you have? Bat.
Take the /a/ in cat and replace it with /u/, now what word do you have? Cut.
Take the /t/ in cat and replace it with /r/, now what word do you have? Car.
**The video below goes into more detail about these 4 teaching strategies in Phonemic Awareness as well as how to implement them into a classroom.**
There are many different strategies and techniques for teaching Phonemic Awareness. Below is a couple of activities and games that will help students learn, manipulate, and practice individual sounds to make up a word. The Elkonin Boxes are a very popular activity used by teachers. This helps students see a letter such as C and connect that letter with the sound given /c/. The student says each sound individually before blending each sound into the word.
i.e.
/c/ /a/ /t/ is cat.
/d/ /o/ /g/ is dog
/sh/ /u/ /t/ is shut.
Another important aspect of Phonemic Awareness is segmentation. Below is an activity that allows students to stretch or segment individual sounds within a word. This is an important aspect because some individual sounds can consist of two or more letters. These are called...
- Digraphs
-Trigraphs
-Quadgraphs
-R-Controlled Vowels
- Dipthongs
-Vowel Digraphs
-Constant Digraphs
i.e.
the word bow has 3 letters but ONLY 2 sounds
/b/ /ow/
the word sheep has 5 letters but ONLY 3 sounds
/sh/ /ee/ /p/
Other activities use graphics, manipulatives, and include a game aspect to learning.
-
i.e.
/c/ /a/ /t/ is cat.
/d/ /o/ /g/ is dog
/sh/ /u/ /t/ is shut.
Another important aspect of Phonemic Awareness is segmentation. Below is an activity that allows students to stretch or segment individual sounds within a word. This is an important aspect because some individual sounds can consist of two or more letters. These are called...
- Digraphs
-Trigraphs
-Quadgraphs
-R-Controlled Vowels
- Dipthongs
-Vowel Digraphs
-Constant Digraphs
i.e.
the word bow has 3 letters but ONLY 2 sounds
/b/ /ow/
the word sheep has 5 letters but ONLY 3 sounds
/sh/ /ee/ /p/
Other activities use graphics, manipulatives, and include a game aspect to learning.
-
Important Vocabulary When Working with Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
Sources:
Pictures:
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Sources:
Munger, K., Crandall, B., Cullen, K., Duffy, M., Dussling, T., Lewis, E., Mcquitty, V., Murray, M., O'toole, J., Robertson, J., & Stevens, E. (2016). Steps to Success: Crossing the Bridge Between Literacy Research and Practice. https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=oer-ost
Shanahan, T. (2005). THE NATIONAL READING PANEL REPORT: Practical Advice for Teachers. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489535.pdf
Himmele Erch 422 Phonemic Awareness PowerPoint
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.xkutubZn0w8C5MHP5bed5QAAAA?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain
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https://teachsimplecom.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/images/syllables-worksheet/syllables-worksheet.jpg
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https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.dXM0ws4FkDVzFiurER3SkgAAAA?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain
Sources:
Munger, K., Crandall, B., Cullen, K., Duffy, M., Dussling, T., Lewis, E., Mcquitty, V., Murray, M., O'toole, J., Robertson, J., & Stevens, E. (2016). Steps to Success: Crossing the Bridge Between Literacy Research and Practice. https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=oer-ost
Shanahan, T. (2005). THE NATIONAL READING PANEL REPORT: Practical Advice for Teachers. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED489535.pdf
Himmele Erch 422 Phonemic Awareness PowerPoint