Stephanie Anderson
Emily Bell
Jessi Beltran
Brianne Schubert
Phonological Awareness
Definition:
Phonological awareness is essentially the ability to manipulate the sounds (or sound segments) of words. Additionally, phonological awareness is the ability to identify, differentiate, and manipulate the sounds in a language. Phonological awareness is one of the three phonological processing abilities. According to Anthony and Francis (2005) p. 255, “Phonological awareness refers to one’s degree of sensitivity to the sound structure of oral language”. Anthony and Francis (2005) further state that the remaining two phonological processing abilities include: phonological memory and phonological access to lexical storage. Phonological awareness can include: understanding individual sounds (phonemes), the ability to manipulate phonemes in words, and the ability to understand rhymes (Anthony and Francis, 2005). Phonological awareness tasks therefore could include: blending phonemes, recognizing the individual sounds within words, identifying syllables, and identifying rhyming words.
Phonological awareness is essentially the ability to manipulate the sounds (or sound segments) of words. Additionally, phonological awareness is the ability to identify, differentiate, and manipulate the sounds in a language. Phonological awareness is one of the three phonological processing abilities. According to Anthony and Francis (2005) p. 255, “Phonological awareness refers to one’s degree of sensitivity to the sound structure of oral language”. Anthony and Francis (2005) further state that the remaining two phonological processing abilities include: phonological memory and phonological access to lexical storage. Phonological awareness can include: understanding individual sounds (phonemes), the ability to manipulate phonemes in words, and the ability to understand rhymes (Anthony and Francis, 2005). Phonological awareness tasks therefore could include: blending phonemes, recognizing the individual sounds within words, identifying syllables, and identifying rhyming words.
Developmental information of process:
As children get older, they become increasingly aware of smaller parts of words (e.g. identifying and manipulating syllables or onsets and rimes). Children are also able to identify similar sounding and dissimilar sounding words before they are able to manipulate sounds within words. They can typically blend phonological information before they are able to segment information of equal complexity. Children are able to refine existing phonological awareness skills while they are learning new phonological awareness skills (Anthony and Francis, 2005).
As children get older, they become increasingly aware of smaller parts of words (e.g. identifying and manipulating syllables or onsets and rimes). Children are also able to identify similar sounding and dissimilar sounding words before they are able to manipulate sounds within words. They can typically blend phonological information before they are able to segment information of equal complexity. Children are able to refine existing phonological awareness skills while they are learning new phonological awareness skills (Anthony and Francis, 2005).
Stage of reading impacted:
If an individual cannot recognize individual phonemes within a word, they will not be able to read (i.e. they cannot decode a word or “sound it out” if they don’t understand individual phonemes). Therefore, the stage that would be greatly impacted is the Beginner reading stage.
Connections to oral language:
Experiences with oral language play an important role in the development of phonological awareness as early forms of phonological awareness develop prior to literacy instruction. Specifically, children who are in environments which are highly salient will develop syllable awareness before those children who are not. A child’s oral language environment influences much of their phonological awareness, which again, influences literacy.
If an individual cannot recognize individual phonemes within a word, they will not be able to read (i.e. they cannot decode a word or “sound it out” if they don’t understand individual phonemes). Therefore, the stage that would be greatly impacted is the Beginner reading stage.
Connections to oral language:
Experiences with oral language play an important role in the development of phonological awareness as early forms of phonological awareness develop prior to literacy instruction. Specifically, children who are in environments which are highly salient will develop syllable awareness before those children who are not. A child’s oral language environment influences much of their phonological awareness, which again, influences literacy.
Connections to bilingual or culturally or linguistically diverse:
As the education system has progressed into the modern era, the expectations for pre-literacy skills have grown substantially for children entering school. This gives a definite advantage to those children who come from phonological and linguistically rich backgrounds. One’s initial assumption may be that this would hinder a child whose native language is different than the language of instruction, but studies have shown that phonological skills in a child’s L1 transfers cross-linguistically to their L2. In a study conducted by Hagan, Carlson, & Polard-Durodola, it was found that Spanish-speaking students with a high level of letter name and sound knowledge in Spanish tend to show high levels of these same skills in English (2007). Therefore, early phonological skills of children of linguistically and culturally diverse populations have greater impact when looking at the specific nature of their early childhood, which is often influenced by the economic and social disparities that exist within this population. A child who has been deprived from rich early phonological exposure due to immigrations stress, parent’s heavy workloads, or poor childcare, nutrition and/or health services, may not be entering the school environment with the caliber of pre-literacy skills necessary for typical academic advancement. It is therefore unrealistic to expect these children to be at the same reading level in their L2 as their peers without offering them experiences with these skills in their L1, which will foster quicker literacy development in both languages.
As the education system has progressed into the modern era, the expectations for pre-literacy skills have grown substantially for children entering school. This gives a definite advantage to those children who come from phonological and linguistically rich backgrounds. One’s initial assumption may be that this would hinder a child whose native language is different than the language of instruction, but studies have shown that phonological skills in a child’s L1 transfers cross-linguistically to their L2. In a study conducted by Hagan, Carlson, & Polard-Durodola, it was found that Spanish-speaking students with a high level of letter name and sound knowledge in Spanish tend to show high levels of these same skills in English (2007). Therefore, early phonological skills of children of linguistically and culturally diverse populations have greater impact when looking at the specific nature of their early childhood, which is often influenced by the economic and social disparities that exist within this population. A child who has been deprived from rich early phonological exposure due to immigrations stress, parent’s heavy workloads, or poor childcare, nutrition and/or health services, may not be entering the school environment with the caliber of pre-literacy skills necessary for typical academic advancement. It is therefore unrealistic to expect these children to be at the same reading level in their L2 as their peers without offering them experiences with these skills in their L1, which will foster quicker literacy development in both languages.
Video example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX5WO6s_y-s Phonological Awareness video: This video discusses phonological awareness. Some of the information is a bit redundant; however the video shows good examples of different activities.
References
Cardenas-Hagan, E., Carlson, C., & Polard-Durodola, (2007). The cross-linguistic transfer of early literacy skills: The role of initial L1 and L2 skills and language of instruction. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in School, 38, 249-259.
No comments:
Post a Comment