PHONEMIC AWARENESS

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness and reading

The awareness that the speech stream is made up of a sequence of small units of sound and the ability to manipulate those small units--phonemic awareness--appears to be critical for readers of an alphabetic orthography. (Ball, Blachman, 2001) Why? Because an alphabetic orthography maps speech to print at the level of the phoneme. In other words, users of an alphabetic written system record the smallest units of sound of their spoken language in print.

This child has made the empowering discovery that users of English write down the smallest pieces of the language. In order for a beginning reader to capture the logic of this written system, it appears that he or she must notice that running speech is made up of a sequence of small sounds. Without this insight--without phonemic awareness--the symbol system is arbitrary. (Ball, Blachman, 2001) The task of dealing with the symbol system, then, can quickly become overwhelming. It is, in short, to one's advantage to be aware of the level of sounds that the written system encodes. (Adams 1998)

Phonemic Awareness Instruction

What does phonemic awareness instruction look like in the classroom? First, most experts call for phonemic awareness activities that are child appropriat. (Yopp, 2007) Phonemic awareness instruction must be viewed by educators as only one part of a much broader literacy program. Phonemic awareness development is not meaningful in and of itself. It is important only in the context of comprehensive reading instruction. Indeed, Griffith and Olson argued that phonemic awareness activities will not be helpful unless they can be placed in a context of real reading and writing. Furthermore, teachers must recognize that while sensitivity to the sound basis of language supports literacy development, it is also an outcome of literacy experiences. Therefore, to overemphasize this component of literacy instruction in the initial years of schooling is to limit children's opportunities for more comprehensive literacy development. (McCardle 2004)

First Phonic Activity

Make a Word (letters)

Select rime units such as at to focus upon. Have a card with the letters at written on it. In a bag have letter cards that may serve as the onset for this family. (Ball, Blachman, 2001) A child draws a card from the bag. The class says the sound of the letter drawn, blends it with the at and determines whether or not a real word is made. Students give a thumbs up or thumbs down. For instance, a student draws the card b. Students say /b/ and blend it with /at/, /b/--/at/: bat. Everyone indicates thumbs up because this is a real word. Someone else draws the letter g. Students say /g/--/at/: gat! Thumbs down for this one.

Activities with phoneme manipulation

1. Cock-a-doodle-moo! (oral)

In the book Cock-a-doodle-moo! by Bernard Most, a rooster wakes up one morning to discover that he cannot crow above a whisper. So the farm animals sleep on. "Z-z-z-cheep," snore the chicks. "Z-z-z-quack," snore the ducks. The rooster tries desperately to teach the cow to "cock-a-doodle-doo" so ...