USING PHONEMIC TECHNIQUES

Using Phonemic techniques to teach children

Abstract

Elementary student with learning disabilities can become a good reader. But for this, teachers have to alter their instructional methods to fulfill the needs of individuals. Teachers should not teach phonics in isolation, instead in the context of whole word. Tailored style of teaching should be adopted to understand the requirements of students. Once students are grouped according to same attributes then it is easy to devise learning activities for them. Elementary students' needs attention of teacher to improve their performance, struggling readers before learning needs hearing, saying and writing. Students should have listening center in which students have the facility to listen to CDs of different books. Different phonemic activities should be conducted by teachers to improve the capabilities of students. Persistent hard work from teachers and parents and self motivation of student can overcome the problem of learning disability.

Using Phonemic techniques to teach children

Introduction

Linking learning disability with a person's intelligence is not wise judgment. Person's intelligence has nothing to do with a learning disability, it is a problem that affects the brain's ability to process, analyze, receive, or store information (Lyness, 2010). These problems can cause difficulty for a student to learn as quickly as others. In an English language, individual alphabets written on a page do not make any sense. Individual alphabets with a unique sound, therefore, should be liked with equally unique sound called phonemes (Lyon, 2011). When these alphabets linked together, then final meaning of the word is realized.

In order to read English student must know the relationship between sounds and letters. Therefore, beginner student should understand the 44 sounds of spoken English (the phonemes) and 26 letters of the alphabet. Through NICHD research, the outcome is that beginner reader must learn how to pronounce or connect printed letters into sound, and understand that our speech can be broken into small sounds (phoneme awareness), and it can also be represented in printed forms (phonics) (Lyon, 2011). It is most important for development of word reading skills to understand that written alphabets or spellings represent the phonemes of spoken words. Phoneme awareness is necessary for the beginner reader because if individual cannot perceive the sounds in spoken words then it is difficult for them to sound out words fluently.Phonemic Awareness

In last 10 years, phonemic awareness has proved its significance, and there has been consensus on the importance of this awareness for specific reading disability. Phonemic awareness is really necessary for beginning readers. If we look at the definition of phonemic awareness, it is basically defined as “the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken words and the understanding that spoken words and syllables are made up of sequences of speech sounds” (Yopp, 1992).

Phonemic awareness has no or little concern with meaning of the word rather it concerns the structure of words. Beginner reader needs to be able to link written spellings with sound. Reader must first understand that words are composed of sound (phonemic awareness), and they should not ...