The National Reading Panel identified phonemic awareness as one of the foundational skills needed to master the art of reading. Research has found that phonemic awareness and letter knowledge are the two best predictors of how well children will learn to read during the critical first two years of formal instruction. These educational studies provide teachers and parents with conclusive evidence of the importance of these vital skills. Currently, there is widespread interest in developing and implementing phonetic recognition programs based on these claims. Educators understand the value of this training for emergent readers and use teaching techniques to give children this advantage.
Fortunately, teaching the alphabets can be effectively and easily incorporated into any early learning setting, providing a distinct benefit to the child that will last beyond the end of traditional reading instruction. Due to the fundamental advantages of phonemic awareness, a child will not only learn to read more easily, but it will also be easier to master additional skills such as spelling, fluency, and comprehension.
By definition, phonemes are the smallest units of spoken language. Although similar to teaching phonics, phonological awareness focuses on sounds, rather than letter-sound combinations. Children are taught to identify phonemes in their natural context: the spoken word. Since phonemes are the sounds in words, the student is taught how the mouth moves when making the sound.
As the young learner becomes familiar with the sounds from which words are built, understanding of the pronunciation map and the normal sequence of phonemes increases. This pre-reading instruction sets the tone (literally) for a child to respond to the written word. Children are taught to manipulate phonemes into syllables and spoken words. At the discretion of the teacher or parent, letters may or may not be used, highlighting the difference between phonemic awareness and traditional phonics.
In a large study involving various ages and grade levels, teaching children to manipulate and master phonemes in words was highly effective. In all cases, and under different teaching conditions, students’ reading ability improved significantly when exposed to phonemic awareness training. This unique teaching tool was able to provide a consistently higher level of reading proficiency than any other training method. Clearly, phonemic awareness is at the heart of a successful reading program.
Additionally, this research followed children’s progress after completion of a reading instruction program. The study found that phonemic awareness increased students’ ability to spell, even in the upper grades. These claims were corroborated through repeated testing and went on to show a direct correlation between phonemic awareness and high spelling performance.
When students are taught that words are made up of sound segments called phonemes, they are better able to read and recognize the segmented units of speech. Being able to link sounds with letters and words increases a child’s ability to learn to read and contributes to a student’s overall comprehension, spelling, and fluency. While phonemic awareness is not a complete reading program, it provides children with essential foundational knowledge that has been shown to positively develop their reading skills.
There are many ways to successfully include phonological awareness in a child’s curriculum and extracurricular activities. For example, Er-u-di-tion, the game that starts the path to reading, includes game cards designed to improve the phonemic awareness of an emerging reader. Each blue card contains a letter (both uppercase and lowercase) and two words that highlight the sound of that letter. Teachers and parents can play a fun game with children while developing phonemic awareness.
