| Phonemic
Awareness and the Alphabetic Principle: A Joyful Noise
(This is a PowerPoint presentation about
phonemic awareness. Feel free to use it for staff development and
parent education.)
What
is Phonemic Awareness?
Phonemic
awareness may be defined as the understanding that speech is made up of separate
sounds or phonemes. In order to demonstrate phonemic awareness, children may be
required to perform certain tasks that manipulate language: rhyming
blending phonemes to create a word
counting the number of phonemes they hear in a word
segmenting phonemes of a spoken word
phoneme substitution
phoneme addition
phoneme deletion Examples of
each of these tasks may be found in most reading/phonics/phonemic awareness
books for teachers. Research
says . . . Stanovich's (1986) research
indicates that phonemic awareness is the most potent predictor of success in
learning to read . . . and it is more highly related to reading than tests of
general intelligence, reading readiness and comprehension. Marilyn Adams (1990)
goes on to say that phonemic awareness if the most important core and causal
factor separating normal and disabled readers. She further reports that the lack
of phonemic awareness has been identified as the most powerful determinant of
the likelihood of failure. Ehri (1984) states that phonemic awareness is central
in learning to read and spell. Dr. Hallie
Yopp reported the following research findings
in a lecture at SDSU:
Performance on phonemic awareness tasks
and reading and spelling achievement are highly related.
Some illiterate adults lack phonemic awareness.
The correlation between phonemic awareness and
reading and spelling achievement remain significant even when intelligence
and socio economic status are controlled.
Experimental studies reveal a causal relationship: phonemic
awareness facilitates reading and spelling
acquisition.
The importance of phonemic awareness in reading
achievement cuts across instructional approaches.
How do We Develop Phonemic Awareness?
This section will definitely take some time! As a former
kindergarten teacher (back in the dark ages!), I am a firm believer
in developing phonemic awareness and playing with the sounds of
language before focusing on print symbols.
Read-Aloud
Books for
Phonemic Awareness Task Development Chapman,
Cheryl. (1993). Pass the Fritters, Critters. New York: Scholastic, Inc.:
rhyming. Jordano, Kimberly and Callella-Jones,
Trisha, Fall Phonemic Awareness Songs & Rhymes. Cypress, CA: Creative
Teaching Press.
Most,
Bernard. (1996) Cock-A-Doodle-Moo! Harcourt Brace: phoneme addition and
substitution.
Salisbury, Kent. (1998). There's a Dragon in my Wagon! New York:
McClanahan Book Company, Inc.: phoneme substitution.
. There's a Bug in my Mug!
. A Bear Ate my Pear!
. My Nose is a Hose!
Slepian, Jan and Seidler, A. (1967) The Hungry Thing. Scholastic:
phoneme substitution.
Altoona Baboona: phoneme substitution
The Disappearing Alphabet: phoneme deletion
Please go to Alphabet Avenue and Word Way for more activities that
deal with letter recognition, rhyming and working with word chunks.
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