Effective Decoding Instruction for Diverse Learners
A Study Group Series

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic Awareness can be defined as the ability to hear and manipulate phonemes, small units of speech that correspond to letters of the alphabetic writing system. Activities that help children develop an awareness of speech sounds include: counting words in sentences, counting syllables in words, identifying similar sounds in words, substituting sounds in words, and segmenting sounds in words. Research shows that once children have mastered phonemic awareness, useful knowledge of the alphabetic principle generally follows with remarkable ease. Having learned to attend to and think about the structure of language in this way, the alphabetic principle makes sense. All that's left to make it usable is knowledge of the particular letters by which each sound is represented. Recent studies have demonstrated that early reading and writing is further enhanced when spelling-sound correspondences are developed alongside speech-sound correspondences (Ball & Blachman, 1990; Blachman et al.; 1994; Byrne & Fielding-Barnsley, 1991, 1993, 1995; Hatcher, Hulme, & Ellis, 1994). Adams, American Educator, 1998.

1.  Assessment of Phonemic Awareness Skills

2.  Phonemic Awareness Activities for Young Children

3.  Phonological Awareness Activities for Older Students

Agenda | Phonemic Awareness | Alphabetic Principle | Syllables | Morphology, Syntax, Semantics | Resources

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Last modified: Mon Apr 5 19:56:00 EDT 1999