For years, phonology has been incorporated into language education. Young children are introduced to phonics as educators take them through visual flash cards, teaching them the sounds of the alphabet. Children learn to connect sounds into words, using what they learned from the alphabet to apply a system of sounds into a word. Controversy regarding this reading education method has additionally been popular. Although researchers have found negative effects in learning to read phonologically, teachers can still strategically incorporate it into the classroom as long as they are aware of its potential negative effects.
According to Bentin S. (1991), phonological awareness is "the ability to recognize the internal phonetic structure of spoken words" (271). This is measured, he explains, by the individual's ability to "isolate and manipulate individual phonetic segments in words" (271). When young children begin to read, their educator utilizes phonology by encouraging them to "sound it out". Here the children take a word, such as "cat" for example, and read it by breaking it into phonetic sounds: "cu"-"aa"-"tuh"..."cat". This method of language learning is useful for children because it allows them to read larger or unfamiliar words simply by sounding them out. Millions of education materials which focus on phonetics have been developed, including the "Hooked on Phonics" materials which were commercially sold.
Despite the popularity and positive outcomes of phonetics, its method is controversial. Many scholars argue that different approaches, such as the semantic (Dick and Jane) approach, are much more effective for learning how to read. Horrace Mann, an education reformer in the 1800s argued that the study o...
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...o be aware that phonetics can be discouraging since it requires a slow and careful start. In addition to this, teachers should understand that there are many false illusions about the benefits of phonetics and that it is acceptable to include additional methods, such as the semantics method into the classroom.
Works Cited
Bentin, S., Hammer, R., and Cahan, S. (1991) "The Effects of Aging and First Grade Schooling on the Development of Phonological Awareness". Psychology Science. 2.4.
Burke, D.M., and Shafto, M.A. (2004) "Aging and Language Production". Current Directions in Psychology Science. 13.1.
Dewhurst, S.A., and Robinson, C.A. (2004) "False Memories in Children: Evidence for a Shift from Phonological to Semantic Associations". Psychological Science. 15.11.
Horn, E. "Phonetics and Spelling". (1957) The Elementary School Journal. 57.8
Beginners who could not decode new words but would invent partial sound spellings were assigned randomly to three groups. A mouth treatment group was trained to position pictures to depict the order of articulatory gestures in words. An ear treatment group was taught to position blocks to represent the order of sounds in words. No special instructions were given to a no-treatment control group. The results demonstrated that the two techniques of phonemic awareness instruction were valuable in teaching phonemic segmentation and in improving participant’s ability to spell the sounds in words despite the fact that letters were not used during the activity. On the other hand, only articulatory instruction improved processes improved participants reading ability. The findings show that that awareness of articulatory gestures enhances the activation of graphophonemic connections that aid children to identify written words. Instructors can begin with Elkonin boxes lesson and have children to stretch a few words out into their different sounds. Elkonin boxes have a positive effect on early elementary grades as they aid children in building their phonological awareness by subdividing words into separate sounds or syllables. They help students know how to count the number of phonemes in a
Phonemic Awareness and Alphabetic Principle in addition to Phonics and Decoding Skills provide students with early skills of understanding letters and words in order to build their reading and writing skills. Students will need to recognize how letters make a sound in order to form a word. While each word has a different meaning to be to format sentences. While reading strategies for Reading Assessment and Instruction, I was able to find three strategies for Phonemic Awareness and three strategies for Alphabetic Principles which will provide advantage for the student in my research and classroom settings.
Practicing Systematic Synthetic Phonics helps to develop early reading in a number of different ways; Ehri (1988) suggested that there were four main ways in which a reader might recognise an unknown w...
Six principles for early reading instruction by Bonnie Grossen will be strongly enforced. It includes Phonemic awareness, each letter-Phonemic relationship explicitly, high regular letter-sound relationship systematically, showing exactly how to sound out words, connected decodable text to practice the letter phonemic relationships and using interesting stories to develop language comprehension. Double deficit hypothesis which focuses on phonological awareness and rapid naming speed.
The article “ Hands-on and Kinesthetic Activities for Teaching Phonological Awareness”, gives a very well detailed overview on the teaching study done between Phonological Awareness and Phonics instruction and how they take different forms from vocal and visual methods. These techniques emphasized schoolbooks and computer games to multi-sensory approaches that emphasize hands- on activities and manipulative. Teachers have a variety of methods supported by research to teach these important skills. This study was done by using 2 before school programs, one focusing on Kinesthetic Activities that r...
The current controversy involving phonics instruction appears to center on two questions: “How much knowledge of letter-sound connection is necessary for the development of conventional reading and writing?” and “Can sufficient phonological knowledge be acquired by children through informal, indirect instruction,
Jose applies basic phonemic awareness skills for unknown words; however, he struggles with sight words which may hinder his reading abilities. He struggles when more advanced phonemic skills are required such as with deletions, substitutions, and reversals. Jose will benefit in rigorous activities to build his phoneme and grapheme understanding and build his phonological awareness.
The FLaRE (Florida Literacy and Reading Excellence) Center has published a professional paper entitled “Phonemic Awareness” of which I will be presenting a critical review. Phonemic awareness is one of the five essential components of reading identified by the National reading Panel (Learning Point Associates, 2004). Phonemic awareness can be defined as a person’s understanding that each word we speak is comprised of individual sounds called phonemes and that these sounds can be blended to form different words (Learning Point Associates, 2004). The article was intended to give a synopsis of phonemic awareness and the vital role it plays in a literacy program. I found the article to be very clear and concise presenting valuable tactics that can be applied in the classroom.
Looking upon my time here at Central Michigan, I recall in previous courses that phonemic awareness is how we interpret the sounds in a word. Essentially, being able to hear and identify these sounds of our language. After deeply focusing on Phonological and phonemic awareness over the course of a few weeks, it is clear that my prior knowledge isn’t far off. Both of these skills involve sound and can be processed with eyes closed—no printed material. After much research, these skills are vital to a child and their development; they aid in spelling, alphabetic principle, and letter-sound correspondence. If this skill is not obtained by a child, he or she will have a difficult time with reading and comprehension in addition to poor spelling.
The Phonological theory states that there is a congenital dysfunction in the left perisylvian cortex, which is responsible for the phoneme- orthography conversion, an important aspect of acquiring language skills (Ramus 2003). Phonological processing is the ability to analyze speech or spoken language. A compromise in this processing is the hallmark of dyslexia as it causes a breakdown in the ability to recognize individual words, syllables, and phonemes (smallest components of words).
The first few years of elementary school are crucial for students to build these skills which contribute to stronger reading and writing. The article which I found difficult to gain information to implement in my classroom was “The Relationship Between Phonological Awareness and Reading: Implications for the Assessment of Phonological Awareness” written by Hogan, Catts, and Little. This article described a study based on how phonological assessment could predict the reading level of students in early school grades. The study administered assessments to kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade students on phonological awareness, letter identification, word reading, and phonetic decoding. The results of the study showed phonological awareness in kindergarten predicted word reading in second grade, the level of word reading in second grade then predicated the phonological awareness skills in fourth grade. Although this study was interesting and provided valuable information on phonological awareness, I cannot see myself using any of this information within my high school classroom. There is a huge gap between elementary school students and high school student’s development level. Once I have my own classroom and begin to educate student in these area I may find a connection or correlation, however, at this point in time I do
As explained phonological awareness develops through a gradual process of refinement of sounds, starting with broad distinctions between general sounds, moving ultimately towards fine gradations of phonemes (Barratt-Pugh, Rivalland, Hamer & Adams, 2005a). Studies David Hornsby and Lorraine Wilson from suggesting that children learn phonic before they learn how to read and write. Children at young ages explore the relationships in sound and letter, this leads there phonics to a graphic symbol.
Phonological awareness (PA) involves a broad range of skills; This includes being able to identify and manipulate units of language, breaking (separating) words down into syllables and phonemes and being aware of rhymes and onset and rime units. An individual with knowledge of the phonological structure of words is considered phonologically aware. A relationship has been formed between Phonological awareness and literacy which has subsequently resulted in Phonological awareness tasks and interventions.This relationship in particular is seen to develop during early childhood and onwards (Lundberg, Olofsson & Wall 1980). The link between PA and reading is seen to be stronger during these years also (Engen & Holen 2002). As a result Phonological awareness assessments are currently viewed as both a weighted and trusted predictor of a child's reading and spelling and ability.
According to Bursuck & Damer (2011) phonemes are “the smallest individual sounds in words spoken.” Phonemic awareness is the “ability to hear the phonemes and manipulate the sounds” (p. 41). Phonemic awareness is essential because without the ability students are not able to manipulate the sounds. According to the National Institute for Literacy (2007), “students with poor phonics skills prevent themselves from reading grade-level text and are unable to build their vocabulary” (p.5) Agreeing with the importance of phonemic awareness, Shapiro and Solity attempted to use whole class instruction to improve students’ phonological awareness. The intervention showed that whole class instruction assisted not only the students with poor phonemic awareness, but also on-level developing readers.
These skills are an important core separating normal and disabled readers. According to Hill (2006, p.134), phonemic awareness is a skill that focus’ on the small units of sound that affect meaning in words. For example, the following phoneme has three syllables, /c/, /a/ and /n/. These letters make three different small units of sound that can impact the meaning of words. Seely Flint, Kitson and Lowe (2014, p. 191), note that even the Australian Curriculum recognises the importance of phonemic awareness in the Foundation year, due to the ‘sound and knowledge’ sub-strand. This sub strand recognises syllables, rhymes and sound (phonemes) in spoken language. Rich discussions about topics of interest to children as well as putting attention to the sounds of language can help encourage phonemic awareness as well as improve students vocabulary and comprehension development. It is important to make awareness of phonemes engaging and interesting in preschool and in the early years so children can learn these skills early and become successful