Phonemic Awareness

Concept & Definition

• Phonemic awareness is the ability to distinguish
the sounds, or phonemes, in spoken language as
they relate to the written language.

• Phonemic awareness is not the same thing as

phonics, but rather a basis to understanding
phonics, which is like a code for learning to
sound out written words.
Concept & Definition
• Phonemic awareness is considered extremely
important in the early stages of literacy.

• It has been studied closely as it applies to early

childhood education and the development of
literacy skills.
Concept & Definition
• Phonemic awareness is not phonics.

• Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear,

identify, and manipulate individual sounds-
phonemes--in spoken words.
Concept & Definition
• Before children learn to read print, they need to
become more aware of how the sounds in words
work.

• They must understand that words are made up

of speech sounds, or phonemes (the smallest
parts of sound in a spoken word that make a
difference in a word's meaning).
Importance of Phonemic Awareness
• Children are aware of the sounds that letters
represent and helps beginning readers better
identify with the alphabet.

• It improves children' word reading and

comprehension.

• It helps children learn to spell.

Auditory Process
• Phonemic awareness is the auditory process
of identifying the sounds so that later, the
printed letters can be matched up with their
proper sounds.
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
• Phonemic awareness can both taught and
assessed as part of the process of learning to
read.

• Children are introduced to the individual sounds

of many different words before they are
introduced to syllables.
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
• In other words, even though the word “hat” has
only one syllable, it has three different
sounds: /h/ /a/ (short a) /t/.

• Children who are taught to listen for and can

hear the different sounds early on have proved to
become stronger readers.
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
• There are many different exercises that can be
done to help raise phonemic awareness.

• Working with rhyming words such as “hat”

and “cat” and words that begin with the
same sound such as “cat” and “car” can help
children identify the auditory differences and
similarities.
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
• Assessing phonemic awareness usually begins as
early as in preschool.

• Teachers often present children with single

letters to see if they know the sound or sounds
that the letter makes.
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
• To help children learn to read better, help them
increase their phonemic awareness early on.

• Many children as young as two can begin to

learn letter names and sounds.
Teaching Phonemic Awareness
• Even though a child may speak the sounds, the
sounds themselves and their association with
letters must be taught.

• The earlier a child begins, the better their

chances of becoming strong readers later in life.
Phonemic Awareness Can Be Developed Through Activities

• Identify and categorize sounds

• Blend sounds to form words

• Delete or add sounds to form new words

• Substitute sounds to make new words

Phonemic Awareness Instruction Is Most Effective When--

• Children are taught to manipulate phonemes by

using alphabet letters.

• Instruction focuses on only one or two rather

than several types of phoneme manipulation.
Phonemic Awareness Activities
• Fill-in rhyming words:

• ‘There was an old woman who lived in a

shoe;
• She had so many children she didn’t know
what to d__’?
Phonemic Awareness Activities
Make a Rhyme

• Fill-in some new rhymes:

• A tree with a --bee. (or a C, key, knee . . .)
A boy holding a --toy.
A cat with a --bat.
A man on a --can
A bug and a --hug.
PHONICS
Concept and Definition
• Phonics refers to a method for teaching
speakers of English to read and write.
Concept and Definition
• Phonics involves teaching how to connect the
sounds of spoken English with letters or groups
of letters (e.g., that the sound /k/ can be
represented by c, k, ck, ch, or q spellings).
Concept and Definition
• Phonics is a widely used method of teaching to
read and decode words, although it is not
without controversy.

• Children begin learning to read using phonics

usually around the age of 5 or 6.
Concept and Definition
• Teaching English reading using phonics requires
children to learn the connections between letter
patterns and the sounds they represent.

• Phonics instruction requires the teacher to

provide children with a core body of information
about phonics rules, or patterns.