Phonological & Phonemic Awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to understand the sound structures of spoken language at the word, syllable, and phoneme levels. Developing phonological awareness in young children focuses on skills that help them build awareness of the sound structure of the language they are going to need to learn to read (Adams, 1990).

When students have phonological awareness, they understand that speech is made up of sounds (phonemes). Phonological awareness is developed when students understand:

1.     The concept that a sentence is made of words.

2.     The ability to recognize and produce rhyme.

3.     The ability to blend, segment, and delete syllables.

4.     The ability to recognize beginning and ending sounds in words.

5.     The ability to identify onset and rime in words.

6.     The ability to blend, segment, and delete phonemes.

7.     The ability to add and substitute phonemes.

Think about the sequence above. Does this sequence apply in your vernacular? Share your thoughts in your reflection journal and/or in your Collaboration group meeting.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words (National Institute for Literacy [NIFL], 2001, 2). A phoneme is the smallest part of sound in a spoken word. For example, in the word “dog,” there are three phonemes: /d/ /o/ /g/ (slashes are used to indicate the sound for each letter).

 

Phonemic awareness and phonological awareness are not the same. Phonemic awareness is the ability to manipulate individual sounds. Phonological awareness is much broader. Students have phonological awareness when they can manipulate larger parts of spoken language such as words, syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes (NIFL, 2001). When students can blend, segment, delete, add and substitute phonemes then they have phonemic awareness.

Classroom Application: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Activities

Select two or three activities from the following list to implement with your students, or choose some from your professional reading. These activities assist students with their development of phonological and phonemic awareness and can be incorporated into your shared reading and interactive writing lessons. You may also use activities in your school’s core reading program. Choose activities based on student scores on the Concepts About Print and/or the Phonological/Phonemic Awareness assessments used in Module 3. Students who do not understand the concepts of sentence, word, or rhyme will benefit from activities 1-7 below. Students who understand those concepts but cannot discriminate different sounds or segment words will benefit from activities 8-14. On average, activities should be about 10 minutes in length.

1.     Rhyming Names – Think of words or nonsense words that rhyme with the students’ names in the group. For example, say, “Billy-milly-tilly,” or “Mary-Tary-Rary” Have students try to do it on their own. It’s always fun for them to think of silly rhymes based on names.

2.     Rhyming Words – Say two words and ask the students if they rhyme, such as "cat" and "hat" or "man" and "can." Keep supplying pairs of rhyming words until they understand the idea. Next, present the students with two words that don’t rhyme such as "cat" and "pan." Help them articulate why those words don’t rhyme. Let them try it on their own with the help of picture cards that you supply. For example in Palauan, oluches (pencil), and meluches (writing).

3.     Favorite Songs – Choose songs heavy with rhyme to sing together, such as “This Old Man” or “Buckle My Shoe.” After singing the songs, talk about the rhyming words in them (eventually, you can put the lyrics in pocket charts and highlight the rhyming words). An example in Palauan is the song about body parts, Bedul Ma Iis.

4.     Rhyme-a-Card – Use a deck of playing cards. Have students pick a card and think of a word that rhymes with it. For example in English, it would be seven and heaven. In Marshallese, jidu (three) and kidu (dog).

5.     Rhyme-a-Word – Have students stand. Say two words and tell the students to bow if the words rhyme. Model this a few times. For example in Marshallese, if the students heard the word at (hat) and bat (slow runner), they would bow.

6.     Rhyming Couplets – A couplet is a verse that has two lines and rhymes. Read a couplet aloud, but omit the last word. Have students guess what rhyming word would best fit. Make up your own couplets. Here are a few ideas:

I have a dog,

But he croaks like a _____ (frog).

When the duck sat on a tack,

He made a real loud _______ (quack).

Sam rode in a train,

But never in a _______ (plane).

7.     Which of These Sounds Is Not Like the Other? – Make three letter sounds: two that are alike, and one that’s different. Have the students identify the different letter sound (for example, say “/b/ /c/ /b/. Which sound is different?”)

8.     Push-a-Word – Have students sit in a circle so they can all see you. Say a sentence such as “I can jump.” Turn on the overhead projector and arrange plastic transparency counters in a straight line on the bottom of the projector. Say the sentence again, and move the counter towards the top of the screen for each word in the sentence. Leave a large space between each counter. Ask students to tell you which word represents each counter. Next, have them clap for each word (as you say the words in the sentence). If an overhead projector is not available, use a mini chalkboard or a piece of paper.

9.     Onset and Rime – Onset is the first consonant or blend in a word. Rime is the first vowel plus the letters that follow it. The rimes are also called word families. Tell the children that you will say a word. After you say the word, they must replace the onset to form a new word. Some suggested words for this activity are: (c)at, (th)at, (f)or, (f)all, (sm)all, (st)op.

10.  Elkonin Boxes – Elkonin boxes were first used by the Soviet educator, D.B Elkonin and are very effective in transitioning students from phonemic awareness into actual phonics. Have students sit in a circle so they can all see you. Using an overhead projector, show the students a simple picture with the appropriate number of sound boxes drawn under it (for example, a picture of fan would have three sound boxes beneath it because “fan” has three sounds: /f/ /a/ /n/). Ask them to name what is in the picture. Then say the word one phoneme (sound) at a time, placing a chip into the box for each sound in sequence. Slide your finger under the boxes and say the word quickly. Give students their own pictures with sound boxes and practice together. Eventually, letters can be put into the boxes to demonstrate how words are spelled. If an overhead projector is not available, use a mini chalkboard or a piece of paper.

f

a

n

11.  Deleting Beginning and Ending Sounds in Words – Say a word like “mat.” Ask the students to say the word without the first sound (at) or without the ending sound (ma). Do this with several words. When the students are ready, do the same activity but have them delete ending sounds instead.

12.  What’s in the Bag? – Put 10 recognizable items in a bag. Have students take turns pulling items out of the bag, naming them, and then thinking of rhyming words. Nonsense words also count. Students may ask friends for help.

13.  Matching Beginning or Ending Sounds – Hold up a picture card. Have students identify the first sound of what is in the picture. Then ask them to brainstorm all the words they can think of that start with that sound. When they can do this with several different sounds, do the same procedure for ending sounds in words. For example in Pohnpeian, you can show students a picture of a kidi (dog). Ask the students, what sound do they hear in the beginning of the word. Then ask, what other sounds begin with a /k/.

Clap the Word Parts – Say a word and have the students clap the number of syllables in it. Start with a one-syllable word, then use two-syllable words. Next, have them try clapping the number of syllables in their names as you say them. For example, in Marshallese, students would clap twice when they heard the word, em/man (good).