PHONEMIC AWARENESS, PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS & PHONICS

1. PHONEMIC AWARENESS, PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS & PHONICS Tanya Tankersley

2. Purpose The purpose of this presentation is to present the differences between phonics, phonological awareness and phonemic awareness.

3. Understanding these aspects in the Grand Scheme of Literacy Teaching literacy involves many aspects; many happen simultaneously and all have their own equally important purposes in the grand scheme of literacy. The readings for this module dealt with phonemic awareness and the differences between it and phonological awareness and phonics. It is especially important to remember that each aspect of literacy is individual and works with the other aspects for reading and writing acquisition.

4. SOME DEFINITIONS

5. PHONEMIC AWARENESS • DEFINITION: • “Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to focus on and manipulate phonemes in spoken words” (Ehri et al., 2001, p.253) • “An understanding about the smaller units of sound that make up the speech stream: phonemes” (Cunningham et al., 1998) • Phonemic awareness is one specific aspect of phonological awareness.

6. PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS • DEFINITION • “Phonological awareness encompasses larger units of sound as well, such as syllables, onsets and rimes” (Cunningham et al., 1998) • It’s a “more encompassing term referring not only to PA but also to awareness of larger spoken units such as syllables and rhyming words” (Ehri et al., 2001, p.253) • Phonological awareness is the broad category in which phonemic awareness falls.

7. PHONICS • DEFINITION: • “Knowing the relation between specific, printed letters (including combination of letters) and specific, spoken sounds” (Cunningham, et al., 1998)

8. COMPARING THE THREE FIELDS

9. Phonemic awareness v. Phonological awareness • Phonemic awareness is a specific piece of phonological awareness since it only involves understanding phonemes where phonological awareness involves other sounds like syllables, onsets and rimes • According to the Reading Rockets module, phonemic awareness is a “subcategory” of phonological awareness

10. PHONEMIC AWARENESS (NARROW FOCUS) Identifying and manipulating individual sounds in words PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS (BROAD FOCUS) Includes identifying and manipulating larger parts of spoken language, such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes, as well as phonemes Also encompasses rhyming, alliteration and intonation (continued) **summarized from Reading Rockets module

11. Phonemic awareness v. phonics • “Phonemic awareness is not phonics” (Cunningham et al., 1998) • Phonemic awareness it the understanding that sounds of SPOKEN language work together to make words, while phonics is the understanding that there is a relationship between letters and sounds through WRITTEN language (Reading Rockets module)

12. (continued) • Phonemic awareness and phonics instruction are necessary for students to read and gain comprehension • If one cannot “hear and work with phonemes of psoken words” they will struggle to learn how to relate the phonemes to letters when they see them written in a text. (Reading Rockets module) • Therefore, although they are different aspects of literacy, it is vital to learn phonemic awareness and phonics to be able to comprehend a text.

13. CONCLUSION • Phonemic awareness is a narrow aspect of phonological awareness since it addresses identifying and manipulating sounds in words, one aspect of phonological awareness. • Phonemic awareness and phonics are not the same thing; however the understanding of written language (phonics) and spoken language (phonemic awareness) are necessary for actually reading a text and comprehending it.

14. References • Cunningham, J., Cunningham, P., Hoffman, J., & Yopp, H. (1998). Phonemic Awarness and the Teaching of Reading: A Position Statement from the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. [Pamphlet]. International Reading Association. • Ehri, L., Nunes, S., Willows, D., Schuster, B., Yaghoub-Zadeh, Z., & Shanahan, T. (2001). Phonemic awareness instruction helps children learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel’s meta-analysis, Reading Research Quarterly, 36(3), pp. 250-287. • Reading Rockets Module 3: Phonemic Awareness. (http://www.readingrockets.org/firstyear/fyt.php?CAT=14).