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Phonological Awareness

 

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Phonological awareness activities can be fun opportunities to play with language.

Phonological awareness refers to children’s awareness of the sounds in words (Cunningham, 2005). When children are able to count out the number of words in a spoken sentence, tap out the syllables in their names, discover that “farm” and “fun” have the same beginning sound, or hear rhyming words, they are demonstrating phonological awareness.

Phonemic awareness is part of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness refers to children’s ability to identify and manipulate phonemes--the smallest units of sound within words. For example, children demonstrate their phonemic awareness when they can isolate each of the sounds in a word like cat (c-a-t).

How Phonological Awareness Develops

Children develop phonological awareness by listening to, speaking, and playing with oral and written language. Children's understanding about the sounds of language develops over time, and it may be different for each child. Researchers have learned that phonological awareness appears to develop in a sequence (Goswami, 2000). Children first become aware of words as separate entities and then realize that words are made up of syllables. Next, they become able to break apart words into onsets and rimes, and finally, into individual sounds (phonemes) (Lieberman et al, 1974). Theorists have different views about how much phonological awareness a child needs in order to learn how to read, but most researchers support the idea that phonemic awareness helps children learn to read, and learning to read and write helps children become phonemically aware (Opitz, 2002).

Why Phonological Awareness is Important for Struggling Readers

Researchers have found that phonological awareness is strongly correlated with children’s success in beginning reading (Ehri & Nunes, 2002; National Reading Panel, 2000). Several longitudinal studies have found that early rhyming skills are highly correlated with later reading and spelling ability (e.g., Bradley & Bryant, 1983; Bryant et al, 1990, Maclean et al, 1987). Some researchers believe that difficulty with phonological awareness is a characteristic of dyslexia (see, for example, Shaywitz et al, 2000). It may help teachers of struggling readers to learn about their students’ phonological awareness in order to design an effective instructional program.

One Thing to Keep in Mind:

Research suggests that different readers may need different types and amounts of phonological awareness experiences. It is important to remember that phonological awareness is just one aspect of a balanced literacy curriculum. Teachers can help children develop phonological awareness by providing children with purposeful opportunities to become sensitive to the sound structure of their language.

 

Teacher Resources

Articles and Handouts

" Phonemic awareness and the teaching of reading"
Position statement by the International Reading Association
http://www.reading.org/resources/issues/positions_phonemic.html

"Developing phonemic awareness in young children" by Hallie Kay Yopp (1992). The Reading Teacher, vol. 45, pp. 696-703.
- Describes chants, rhymes, songs, and other activities that support phonological awareness development.

“Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom” by Hallie Kay Yopp and Ruth Helen Yopp (2002.) The Reading Teacher, vol. 54, issue 2, pp. 130–143.
- Playful, appealing activities that focus attention on the sound and structure of language are useful for promoting phonemic awareness in young learners. The authors describe several such activities that spring from children's literature, music, or traditional games, and can be easily incorporated into the early literacy curriculum. Available online at:
http://www.reading.org/publications/bbv/books/bk460/abstracts/bk460-1-Yopp.html

"A test for assessing phonemic awareness in young children" by Hallie Kay Yopp. The Reading Teacher, vol. 49, pp. 20-29.
The article includes a test of phonemic segmentation, along with discussion of how teachers can use it to inform their instruction and special considerations for its use.

Developing Phonemic Awareness: Books that work by Dr. Kimberly Tyson
An annotated bibliography of children’s books for phonemic awareness.
Click to download PDF version of the handout

Books

Phonics They Use by Patricia Cunningham, Boston: Pearson
Phonemic Awareness: Playing with Sounds to Strengthen Beginning Reading Skills by J. Fitzpatrick, Creative Teaching Press, 1997.

The Phonological Awareness Handbook for Kindergarten and Primary Teachers by L. Ericson and M. F. Juliebo, International Reading Association, 1998.

Phonics Through Poetry: Teaching Phonemic Awareness Using Poetry by B. B. Hajdusiewica, Goodyear, 1998.

References

Bradley, L., & Bryant, P.E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read: A causal connection. Nature, 310, 419-421.

Bryant, P.E., Maclean, M., Bradley, L., & Crossland, J. (1990). Rhyme, alliteration, phoneme detection, and learning to read. Developmental Psychology, 26, 429-438.

Cunningham, J. W., Cunningham, P. M., Hoffman, J. V., & Yopp, H. K. (1998). Phonemic awareness and the teaching of reading: A position statement from the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Cunningham, P. (2005). Phonics they use: Words for reading and writing (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Ehri, L. D., & Nunes, S. R. (2002). The role of phonemic awareness in learning to read. In A. E. Farstrup & S. J. Samuels (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (3rd ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Goswami, I. (2000). Phonological and lexical processes. In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. III, pp. 251-267). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Lieberman, I. Y,, Shankweiler, D., Fischer, F. W., & Carter, B. (1974). Explicit syllable and phoneme segmentation in the young child. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 18, 201-212.

Maclean, M., Bryant, P.E., and Bradley, L (1987). Rhymes, nursery rhymes, and reading in early childhood. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33, 255-282.

National Reading Panel (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health.

Opitz, M. (2002). Phonological and phonemic awareness. In Guzzetti, B. J. (Ed.), Literacy in America: An encyclopedia of history, theory, and practice (p. 431-434). Santa Barbara, CA: ABL-CLIO.

Shaywitz, B. A., Pugh, K. R., Jenner, A. R., Fletcher, J. M, Gore, J. C., & Shaywitz, S. E. (2000). The neurobiology of reading and reading disability (dyslexia). In M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, P. D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research (Vol. III, pp. 229-249). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
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