Phonological Awareness In Action
About Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is an awareness of various speech sounds such as syllables, rhyme, and individual phonemes (the smallest units of sound comprising spoken language). Phonological awareness consists of skills that typically develop gradually and sequentially with direct training and exposure. Children who have phonological awareness are able to identify and make oral rhymes, can clap out the number of syllables in a word, and can recognize words with the same initial sounds like 'money' and 'mother.' A certain amount of phonological awareness is critical to reading success
Phonological awareness skills:
• Lead to reading success
• Prevent reading deficits
• Lead to success with spelling
• Help children become aware of sounds in their language
Phonological awareness is an umbrella term with skills "under the umbrella" moving from easier (word and syllable) to more complex (onset-rime and phoneme). Initial consonant sounds are called onsets and the rhyme chunk at the end is called rime. Being able to isolate the initial consonant sound is a prerequisite for children to use consonants in early word recognition and spelling. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify and reflect on the smallest units of speech sounds within syllables.
Through phonological awareness instruction, children learn to associate sounds with symbols and create links to word recognition and decoding skills necessary for reading. According to Gillon (2004), “Phoneme awareness performance is a strong predictor of long-term reading and spelling success and can predict literacy performance more accurately than variables such as intelligence, vocabulary knowledge, and socioeconomic status” (p. 57).
Students at risk for reading difficulty often have lower levels of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness than do their classmates. The good news is that phonemic awareness and phonological awareness can be developed through a number of activities.
It should be noted that phonological awareness and phonics are not the same. Phonological awareness refers to speech sounds while phonics is relates spelling and sound. Both are important instructional components for the emergent/beginning reader.
Phonological awareness skills:
• Lead to reading success
• Prevent reading deficits
• Lead to success with spelling
• Help children become aware of sounds in their language
Phonological awareness is an umbrella term with skills "under the umbrella" moving from easier (word and syllable) to more complex (onset-rime and phoneme). Initial consonant sounds are called onsets and the rhyme chunk at the end is called rime. Being able to isolate the initial consonant sound is a prerequisite for children to use consonants in early word recognition and spelling. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to identify and reflect on the smallest units of speech sounds within syllables.
Through phonological awareness instruction, children learn to associate sounds with symbols and create links to word recognition and decoding skills necessary for reading. According to Gillon (2004), “Phoneme awareness performance is a strong predictor of long-term reading and spelling success and can predict literacy performance more accurately than variables such as intelligence, vocabulary knowledge, and socioeconomic status” (p. 57).
Students at risk for reading difficulty often have lower levels of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness than do their classmates. The good news is that phonemic awareness and phonological awareness can be developed through a number of activities.
It should be noted that phonological awareness and phonics are not the same. Phonological awareness refers to speech sounds while phonics is relates spelling and sound. Both are important instructional components for the emergent/beginning reader.