What is Phonemic Awareness?
Students need to have a strong understanding of spoken language before they can understand written language. Children need to be able to hear sounds, know their positions, and understand the role they play within a word. The path to phonemic awareness is sequential. As students progress through different phonemic awareness levels, they become proficient at listening for and reproducing sounds they hear, or listening "inside" words. Phonemic awareness instruction helps children understand, use, and apply oral language. Students need to know letter sounds, but it is vital to successful reading and spelling that they know how to apply their phonemic awareness skills.
The Five Levels of Phonemic Awareness
1. Rhythm and Rhyme
Children at this stage hear, identify, and match similar word patterns.
2. Parts of a Word
Children at this stage begin listening to individual sounds and blending them back together.
3. Sequence of Sounds
Children at this stage should focus on specific positions of sounds within a word. Start with the beginning position, then move to the ending position, lastly work on the middle position.
4. Separation of Sounds
Children at this stage should focus on segmenting words into individual sounds.
5. Manipulation of Sounds
Children at this stage focus on manipulating sounds within words. Begin with adding sounds, then move to changing sounds, and end with deleting sounds.
Students need to have a strong understanding of spoken language before they can understand written language. Children need to be able to hear sounds, know their positions, and understand the role they play within a word. The path to phonemic awareness is sequential. As students progress through different phonemic awareness levels, they become proficient at listening for and reproducing sounds they hear, or listening "inside" words. Phonemic awareness instruction helps children understand, use, and apply oral language. Students need to know letter sounds, but it is vital to successful reading and spelling that they know how to apply their phonemic awareness skills.
The Five Levels of Phonemic Awareness
1. Rhythm and Rhyme
Children at this stage hear, identify, and match similar word patterns.
2. Parts of a Word
Children at this stage begin listening to individual sounds and blending them back together.
3. Sequence of Sounds
Children at this stage should focus on specific positions of sounds within a word. Start with the beginning position, then move to the ending position, lastly work on the middle position.
4. Separation of Sounds
Children at this stage should focus on segmenting words into individual sounds.
5. Manipulation of Sounds
Children at this stage focus on manipulating sounds within words. Begin with adding sounds, then move to changing sounds, and end with deleting sounds.