Phonological Awareness

What is phonological awareness?

Reading skills start before children identify letters and words in print. It all begins with sounds. Phonological awareness is the ability to identify and manipulate units of sound (Florida Center for Reading Research, 2005). Manipulating sounds comes in the form of syllables, onsets, rimes, and phonemes. Phonemic awareness is a term that falls under phonological awareness and it is the ability to identify and manipulate phonemes, the smallest unit of sound in a word (National Reading Panel, n.d.).

Phonological skills can be thought of as climbing a staircase. Students begin at the bottom step (simplest) and climb their way up to the top (most complex).

(Chard & Dickson, n.d.).

Phonological Awareness Skills

Rhyming - Identifying and producing words that repeat the same ending sound (ex. cat and bat)

Alliteration - Repeating and creating words that have the same beginning sound (ex. Silly Sam sings songs)

Sentence Segmentation - Breaking apart sentences into individual words.

Syllables - Blending and segmenting syllables, or small groups of sounds that are heard in a word, and each syllable has a vowel sound (ex. syl-la-ble)

Onset and Rime - Identifying the first consonant or consonant group that comes before the first vowel (onset) and the vowel and consonants that follow (rime). (ex. "bag" onset is /b/ and the rime is /ag/)

Phonemes - Blending, segmenting, manipulating, and deleting the individual phonemes (sounds) in words.

(Florida Center for Reading Research, 2005).

Phonemic Awareness Essentials

Isolation - Isolate a specific sound in a word. (ex. the first sound in "pilot" is /p/)
Blending - Listening to a sequence of sounds and putting those sounds together to form a word. (ex. /b/ /u/ /s/ "bus")
Segmentation - Breaking apart the individual sounds that make up a word. (ex. the phonemes in "shop" is /sh/ /o/ /p/)
Addition - Adding phonemes to a given word. (ex. add /b/ to "and" to make "band")
Deletion (Elision) - Taking out a phoneme in a given word. (ex. remove /r/ from "rice" and you get "ice)
Substitution - Encompasses all of the previous layers of phonemic awareness by segmenting the word into phonemes, isolate the specific phoneme, delete that phoneme, add in a new phoneme, and blend the phonemes to create a new word. (ex. start with "cat" and change /c/ to /b/ to make "bat")

(Really Great Reading, 2019).

Implications for Reading

A child’s ability to read and write is heavily dependent upon their oral language skills and development. Multiple studies have shown that phonological awareness can predict a child’s ability to read real and nonsense words while reading comprehension is most accurately based on oral language and print awareness (Kennedy, et al., 2012). Reading involves understanding that letters are symbols, and each symbol makes a sound. When students have an awareness of the different sounds created by the language, they are more likely to be able to make connections between the spoken language and reading (Kennedy, et al., 2012). An evidence-based assessment of scientific research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of “teaching children to manipulate phonemes in words and the outcome verified that it was highly effective across all domains of literacy” (National Reading Panel, n.d.). The results also showed that all student types were able to improve their reading ability. Children can be taught the necessary skills to develop phonological awareness to increase their oral language skills and develop their literacy skills.

Strategies

Rhyme Generation - Students use rhymes to isolate, blend and manipulate sounds. Using the rhymes in context, such as songs or poems engages students and makes word play fun and meaningful.
Multisensory Mapping - Students use auditory, kinesthetic and visual techniques to process sounds. This may include things like singing, matching, illustrating, or tracing. This strategy is especially beneficial for students with dyslexia or who are at risk readers.
Picture Card Snap - Used in small groups or as a literacy center, students are given a target sound such as initial sound of /b/ as in "boy". Students then take turns picking up picture cards from the face down pile and placing them in a face up pile. When a card with the target sound is drawn, the first player to say SNAP and identify the target sound gets all of the face up cards.
Sound Sorts - Students learn to identify and categorize sounds using picture cards. Students have a target sound and initial, medial or final part of the word. Students are given a bag of pictures and take turns saying the word and identifying the part of the word they are working on. Students then sort the cards that have the target sound.
Treasure Chest - Focused on segmenting and blending sounds, students are put in pairs. The first student draws a picture card, says the name of the picture, and segments the word and puts a penny on the treasure chest for each sound in the word. The partner then blends the sounds and says the word. Students then switch roles.

(Antonacci & O'Callaghan, 2012)

Interventions

Program - Road to the Code

Description - An 11 week program that works with students who have difficulty with early literacy skills. The program focuses on 15-20 minutes of daily instruction teaching phonemic awareness and letter sound correspondence.

Tier - 1,2,3

Grade Level - K,1

Instruction Type - Small group, Individual

(Kelly, 2011).

Program - Funēmics

Description - Struggling readers gain awareness of words, syllables, rhyming, phonemes, and phoneme manipulation using a research-based curriculum.

Tier - 2,3

Grade Level - K,1, 2

Instruction Type - Small group

(Read Naturally, 2021).

Program - Stepping Stones to Literacy

Description - Builds basic phonemic awareness skills through listening, letter naming, phonological awareness, and serial processing.

Tier - 2

Grade Level - K,1

Instruction Type - Small group, Individual

(Utah State Board of Education, n.d.).

Program - Bridge the Gap

Description - Targeted instruction based on student need. 5-7 minutes of daily lessons that include explicit instruction in early, basic, and advanced phonemic awareness skills.

Tier - 2

Grade Level - 2 and up

Instruction Type - Small group, Individual

(Heggerty, 2020).

Program - Blast Foundations

Description - 25 weeks, 15-20 minutes a day of intensive targeted instruction in phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, phonics, and high-frequency words.

Tier - 2,3

Grade Level - Early intervention 1-3, Emerging readers 3-5

Instruction Type - Small group

(Utah State Board of Education, n.d.).

Assessments

Formal Assessments

Title: ELLA: Emerging Literacy & Language Assessment
Author: Elisabeth Wiig & Wayne Secord
Description: Evaluates the skills children ages 4-6 to 9-11 need to become proficient readers. The ELLA meets Early Reading First requirements for educators needing to use evidence-based diagnostic tools to identify children at risk for reading failure. It includes standard scores, confidence intervals, percentile ranks, means, and age equivalents.
Age Range: 4 years and 6 months to 9 years 11 months
Administration Time: 30-45 min for age 4yr6mo to 5yr5mo
60 min for age 5yr6mo to 9yr11mo
Subtests:
Section 1 - Phonological Awareness and Flexibility
Section 2 - Sign and Symbol Recognition and Interpretation
Section 3 - Memory, Retrieval, and Automaticity
Cost: $394
Link: https://www.proedinc.com/Products/15009/ella-emerging-literacy--language-assessment.aspx?bCategory=LRA!PARN

Title: TOPA-2+: Test of Phonological Awareness-Second Edition: PLUS
Author: Joseph K. Torgensen & Brian R. Bryant
Description: A norm-referenced measure of phonological awareness for children ages 5 through 8 years. The TOPA-2+ has two versions, a Kindergarten version and an Early Elementary version. It tests if children can isolate phonemes in spoken words and understand the relationship between letters and phonemes in English.
Age Range: 5-8
Administration Time: Kindergarten - 30-45 min.
Early Elementary - 15-30 min.
Subtests:
1. Phonemic Awareness:
Initial Sound-Same and Initial Sound-Different
2. Letter-Sounds
Cost: $263
Link: https://www.proedinc.com/Products/11880/topa2-test-of-phonological-awarenesssecond-edi.aspx?bCategory=LRA!PARN

Informal Assessments

The following are examples to assess phonological awareness:

Word - How many words are in this sentence: "I like sports." 3 words
Rhyme - Do these words rhyme? "cat" "hat" (yes)
Can you find another word that rhymes with cat and hat? mat, sat, fat
Syllable blending - I am going to say a word in parts. Listen: /o/ /pen/ What word did I say? Open
Syllable segmentation - Can you tell me the two word parts in "open?" /o/ /pen/
Syllable deletion - Say "open" without /pen/. /o/
Onset-rime - What word do these sounds make? /s/ /ee/ "see"

(Reading Rockets, 2004).

The following tasks can be used to assess a child's phonemic awareness:

Phoneme Isolation - Tell me the first sound in plant. /p/
Phoneme Identity - Tell me the sound that is the same in bike, boy, blue. /b/
Phoneme Categorization - Tell me which word doesn't belong: boy, run, bat. "run"
Phoneme Blending - Listen to a sequence of sounds and combine them to make a word. /h/ /a/ /t/ "hat"
Phoneme Segmentation - How many phonemes in "map"? /m/ /a/ /p/
Phoneme Deletion - What is "smile" without the /s/? "mile"

(National Reading Panel, n.d.).

iPad Apps/Technology

What's Changed? Skill Builder: This app promotes phonemic awareness by having a child listen to two non words and determining what changed.
Cost: Free
Link: https://apps.apple.com/py/app/whats-changed-skill-builder-us-version/id965731509?l=en

Word Sounds/Phonemes: Children learn to count, blend and segment phonemes.
Cost: $3.99
Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/word-sounds-phonemes-by-teach/id989348506

Rhyming Words by Teach Speech: Students learn to identify the sounds in words to find other words that rhyme.
Cost: $3.99
Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rhyming-words-by-teach-speech-apps/id965680785

Phonological Awareness Lab: A multi-level game provides students fun activities that help them practice using syllables, rhyming, decoding, and blending.
Cost: $21.99
Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/phonological-awareness-lab/id905978880

Partners in Rhyme-Rhyming Game: Uses games to help students learn that words are made up of sounds and determine words that rhyme.
Cost: Free
Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/partners-in-rhyme-rhyming-for-phonemic-awareness/id721334745

(Marianne, 2018).

References

Antonacci, P. & O'Callaghan, C. (2012, June 19). Essential Strategies for Teach Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved from https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/40626_1.pdf.
Chard, D. & Dickson, S. (n.d.). Phonological Awareness: Instructional and Assessment Guidelines. Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/phonological-awareness-instructional-and-assessment-guidelines.
Florida Center for Reading Research. (2005). K-1 Student Center Activities: Teacher Resource Guide. Retrieved from https://fcrr.org/sites/g/files/upcbnu2836/files/media/PDFs/student_center_activities/K1TRG.pdf.
Heggerty. (2020). Bridge the Gap. Retrieved from https://heggerty.org/curriculum/bridge-the-gap-phonemic-awareness-intervention-curriculum/.
Kelly, C. (2011). Reading Intervention Programs: A Comparative Chart. Retrieved from http://www.ldonline.org/article/42401/.
Kennedy, E., et al. (2012). Literacy in Early Childhood and Primary Education. Retrieved from https://ncca.ie/media/2137/literacy_in_early_childhood_and_primary_education_3-8_years.pdf.
Marianne. (2018, February 3). Apps for Teaching Phonemic Awareness. Retrieved from https://homeschoolingwithdyslexia.com/apps-teaching-phonemic-awareness/.
National Reading Panel. (n.d.). Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading. Retrieved from https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf.
Read Naturally. (2021). Funēmics. Retrieved from https://www.readnaturally.com/product/funemics. Really Great Reading. (2019). Six Layers of Phonemic Awareness: Improve Students’ Reading Using Their Ears. Retrieved from https://www.reallygreatreading.com/six-layers-phonemic-awareness.
Reading Rockets. (2004). Phonological Awareness Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/article/phonological-awareness-assessment.
Utah State Board of Education. (n.d.). Evidence-Based Tiered Programs. Retrieved from https://www.schools.utah.gov/file/2616b67e-5c51-4c43-a361-23779571cee9.

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