What is phonemic awareness?
Phonemic awareness is a cognitive skill that consists of three pieces. The
first piece concerns a linguistic unit, the phoneme; the second concerns the
explicit, conscious awareness of that unit; and the third involves the ability
to explicitly manipulate such units. Phonemic awareness is thus the ability
to consciously manipulate language at the level of phonemes.
Phonemic Awareness — An Important Predictor Supported by the Research
A ten-year study by the Institute of Health and Child Development (1985-1995) found that 88% of reading difficulties were grounded in weak phonemic awareness. Alternatively, strong phonemic awareness not only made initial reading acquisition easier, it contributed to increased reading fluency throughout life.
A long line of research now agrees that phonemic awareness is the best predictor of the ease of early reading acquisition, better than IQ, vocabulary, and listening comprehension. (Stanovich, 1993-94)
- "One of the most compelling and well-established findings in the
research on beginning reading is the important relationship between phonemic
awareness and reading acquisition." (Kame'enui, et. al., 1997)
SEVEN SKILLS OF PHONEMIC AWARENESS
Count or say each sound
Add a sound
Delete a sound
Change a sound
Compare 2 sounds
Blend sounds into words
Create words that rhyme