{"id":105,"date":"2020-04-07T10:22:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T17:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/?page_id=105"},"modified":"2024-02-22T15:08:01","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T23:08:01","slug":"phonological-awareness","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sd41.bc.ca\/slp\/topic\/early-literacy\/phonological-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Phonological Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phonological awareness is the <\/span>explicit knowledge of the sounds and sound structure of spoken words. It is part of our metalinguistic ability which allows us not only to understand and use language for communication, but also to think about the form and structure of language we use or hear.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Very young children\u00a0<\/span>(aged 1-2 years)\u00a0<\/span>may be able to understand short sentences and use words or simple sentences, but they are not yet able to take a step back and \u201clook at\u201d the language they use: they don\u2019t yet know <\/span>that when we speak, we use words that we string together into sentences in an organized way following grammatical rules and they don\u2019t yet realize that words are made up of a small set of speech sounds or phonemes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The first sign of that recognition is usually the appreciation of rhymes in nursery rhymes, songs and poems.<\/span> Recognizing two words as having similar ending (rhymes) and being able to generate rhyming words is usually the first step in becoming aware of the sound structure of words. Breaking words up into parts\/beats (syllables) is a typical next step.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The understanding that words and syllables consist of speech sounds that can be produced separately or in isolation is often the next step in awareness. Being able to produce two sounds in a continuous flow or to blend <\/span>sounds together<\/span> usually follows. The opposite skill, segmenting a word into its component sounds comes next. Once these are mastered, dropping or deleting a sound from the end\/beginning\/middle of a word and substituting it with another sound (sound manipulation) is the <\/span>level of phonological awareness that a helps a child when they <\/span>start\u00a0<\/span>literacy education<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In summary<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

Phonological awareness is the ability to isolate and manipulate sounds in words: in other words\u00a0<\/span>playing<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>with sounds in words. It includes the ability to:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. recognize when words rhyme<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. break a word into syllables<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. recogni<\/span>z<\/span>e when words start with the same sound<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. r<\/span>ecognize when\u00a0<\/span>words end with the same sound<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. break a word up into its individual sounds<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. blend individual sounds together to create a word<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Why is it important?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

    Phonological awareness skills have been shown to\u00a0<\/span>predict<\/span><\/b>\u00a0reading ability. When you test a child\u2019s phonological awareness skills just before they enter school, you can predict the children who will find learning to read easier: they will be better at phonological awareness tasks.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    This\u00a0<\/span>correlation<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>with<\/span>\u00a0reading has been found\u00a0<\/span>in<\/span>\u00a0typically developing children\u00a0<\/span>at all ages\u00a0<\/span>from preschool to young adults; it has also\u00a0<\/span>been\u00a0<\/span>found in special populations, such as children and adolescents with Down syndrome, adults with head injury and even for Braille users<\/span>\u00a0(tactile alphabet for the blind)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0How does phonological awareness relate to reading?<\/i>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

    Being able to isolate sounds in words and relate these sounds to letters is a part of learning to read. It is especially important in learning to read new words<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I<\/span>f\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0child\u00a0is able to\u00a0sound out the letters and then blend together these sounds to form the word, then they can recogni<\/span>z<\/span>e the word and read it much easier.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>While there are some words which are irregular, that is they don\u2019t spell exactly as they sound (eg.\u00a0<\/span>yacht, sword, two<\/span><\/i>), sounding out the word is much more efficient than trying to guess what the word is from the rest of the sentence. Guessing unknown words from the rest of the sentence is useful about 10% of the time, and mostly for words that are short, easy to read and contribute little to the meaning of the story, for example: \u201c<\/span>and<\/span><\/i>\u201d \u201c<\/span>is<\/span><\/i>\u201d \u201c<\/span>the<\/span><\/i>\u201d etc.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Children need to have another strategy to help them tackle unfamiliar words and learn to read them in text. Phonological awareness skills with letter-sound<\/span>\u00a0correspondence<\/span> and\u00a0blending together\u00a0sounds give early readers the ability to attempt new words and learn them\u00a0<\/span>all by themselves<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Share and Stanovich (1995) proposed that the ability to phonologically decode words acts as a\u00a0<\/span>self teaching\u00a0mechanism<\/span><\/b>, enabling children to progress through the stages of literacy development.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Each successful attempt at text decoding provides an opportunity to strengthen letter-sound relationships, which are the \u201cfoundation for skilled word recognition and spelling\u201d.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Who are at risk for phonological awareness delays?<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

    \u00a0<\/span>Children who have:<\/span><\/p>\n