THE FLOOR: What Is Phonemic Awareness?
Why do some children learn to read so easily, while others struggle? Thirty years of research funded by the National Institutes of Health has found an answer:
Successful children have a special 'sound foundation'--they can play with speech sounds in their 'Mind's Ear.'
Phonemic Awareness is the 'sound foundation of successful reading--
. . . the understanding that words and syllables are strings of speech sounds
. . . the ability to play mentally with the sounds of speech
. . . is necessary for Phonics to work
. . . should be taught starting at preschool age
The ‘sound foundation’ of successful reading is known as Phonemic Awareness.
Phonemic Awareness is a set of teachable skills, and children do not have to be particularly 'intelligent' to learn them.
Phonemic Awareness is not about the spelling of words--it is all about their sounds.
Phonemic Awareness
. . . is the understanding that spoken words and syllables are made up of sequences of speech sounds.
For example, the word "shows" contains three individual speech sounds:
'sh'
'oh'
'z.'(Think sound, not spelling.)
Phonemic Awareness
. . . is the ability to think about and mentally play with the sounds in speech.
Children are using Phonemic Awareness when they do things like
rhyme
clap syllables
hear individual sounds within words
blend sounds into words
pull words apart into individual sounds
add and subtract sounds from words
speak Pig Latin or sing the Name Game song
Phonemic Awareness
. . . is necessary for phonics to work.
But don’t let children ‘cheat’ by seeing the letters as they learn Phonemic Awareness tasks.
Phonemic Awareness means learning to do these things in the ‘Mind’s Ear’--no peeking!
(Once their ‘Mind’s Ear’ is strong enough to do these things alone, then they can peek.)
Phonemic Awareness
. . . should be taught starting at preschool age.
But it’s never too late to back up and build strong Phonemic Awareness.
Phonemic Awareness
. . . continues to develop as children learn phonics.
Basic auditory skill and Phonemic Awareness skills list.
The easiest tasks are at the bottom of the list, building up to the most difficult tasks at the top.
Phoneme Deletion:
Say what would be left if you removed part of a wordPhoneme Segmentation:
Separate and say the individual sounds of a word in orderPhoneme Counting:
Tap out the number of sounds in a wordSound Isolation:
Discern individual phonemes in a word--for example, the first or last soundWord-to-Word Match:
Tell if two words share a sound in common--for example, do they have the same first soundPhoneme Blending
Blend isolated sounds into real or nonsense wordsAuditory Discrimination:
Discern speech sounds from one anotherRhyme:
Discern and supply rhyming wordsBenefits
Children who play Phonemic Awareness games build their ability to recall speech sounds in their 'Mind's Ear.'
Children who can recall speech sounds in their 'Mind's Ear' are equipped to learn Rapid-Accurate Naming of letter-sounds.
Children who play Phonemic Awareness games build their ability to blend and pull apart the sounds of words in their 'Mind's Ear.
Children who can blend and pull apart the sounds of words in their 'Mind's Ear' are equipped to sound out and spell words.
Even the weirdness of English spelling is less troublesome.
Listen to the pronunciation of the red letters:
Father Fat Famous
Cat Kite Chemistry Rick
ought tough though through hiccoughOkay, let me admit that I am still troubled by the whole 'ough' issue.
The point is:
In English, one letter can make several different sounds.
In English, one sound can have several different letters.
But--in English, one sound is . . . one sound. Simple, accurate, reliable.
So as children work and play with sounds in their 'Mind's Ear,' they are building something true and consistent.
They are building a 'Mind's Ear' strong enough to handle Phonics fluently.
Phonemic Awareness helps learners to build the Phonics walls of the Reading Treehouse.
More on this topic: The Reading Treehouse -> THE FLOOR: Phonemic Awareness
Navigate The Reading Treehouse
Do you prefer a map? Then let the menu bar on the left guide you. Just pick a starting point and click your way down the list.
Remember, Teachers:
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Phonemic Awareness first
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Then Phonics
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