The Foundation of Reading

The most important component of reading that is not focused on enough is phonological awareness.

Phonological awareness is the KEY to reading and spelling success. If a child doesn't get a solid foundation in this, there is strong evidence that they will struggle to read and spell. Many studies have shown that if a child lacks in this component, then it is a big indicator of reading failure. This is HUGE and needs to be addressed and focused on in every classroom and at home with your child.

So what exactly is phonological awareness?

To put it simply, you could teach phonological awareness with your eyes closed since it’s just focusing on what we hear. Phonological awareness is having the ability to think about the sound structures of language. When we work with phonological awareness, we look to see if one can remember, discriminate, and manipulate within a sentence, word, syllable, and phoneme (sound) level.

Let's break that down and show what that looks like in an educational setting.

A word level can be identified by being able to count words used within a sentence.

Example: He was the quickest runner in the Olympics.

Give the sentence orally and have the student repeat exactly what was dictated. Can they identify how many words are in that sentence just by listening?

A syllable level can be identified by clapping or tapping each syllable in a word.

Example: el-e-phant, bath-tub, thanks-gi-ving, game

A phoneme level can be identified by hearing the initial, medial or final sound in a word.

Example: What is the first sound you hear in fish? /f/

What is the middle sound you hear in cup? /u/

What is the last sound you hear in frog? /g/

An onset rime level can be identified as being able to rhyme words easily or being able to manipulate sounds within a word.

Example: Give me a word that rhymes with much? (such)

Example: Say baseball without saying base. (ball)

Example: What word am I saying? /ta/.../ble/ (table)

Example: What word does not rhyme? Pair, share, shame

What is the difference between phonemic awareness and phonological awareness?

Oftentimes we hear phonemic awareness more often than phonological awareness. So what's the difference? As you can see, phonemic awareness was mentioned under these levels (phoneme level). Phonological awareness is the umbrella term that covers all four developmental terms. Phonemic awareness is just one piece of the puzzle.

Why do we need a strong foundation in phonological awareness?

First of all, phonological awareness performance is a strong predictor of long-term reading and spelling success (Put Reading First, 1998). Students with strong phonological awareness are likely to become good readers, but students with weak phonological skills will likely become poor readers (Blachman, 2000). It is estimated that the vast majority—more than 90 percent—of students with significant reading problems have a core deficit in their ability to process phonological information (Blachman, 1995).

If we can easily identify and work on these areas of phonological awareness, then we can help close the gap and ensure reading success for any student. This can be done through explicit and systematic reading instruction.

If you have any questions on how to assess these different levels, please email me.