-Phoneme segmentation is the ability to hear
a word and separate the word into
individual sounds – e.g. “How many
phonemes are in ship and what are the
phonemes?” (three /sh/ /i/ /p); phoneme
segmentation is important for spelling.
-Phoneme deletion is the ability to hear a
word and take out a sound in the word – e.g.
“What is smile without the /s/?” (mile)
(Adams, 2011).
-Phoneme substitution is the ability to hear a
word, take out a sound in the word, and
replace that deleted sound with a new
sound - e.g. “The word is red. Replace the /r/
with /b/ and what word do you have?” (bed).
Phonics builds on the auditory conceptual skills of phonological and phonemic awareness by including print. Phonics is an instructional practice that teaches letter-sound relationships. Duncan and Seymour (2000) documented that letter-sound knowledge is critical for decoding and recognizing words; children who struggle to learn phonic knowledge will often be delayed in their overall reading ability. Decoding is essential for additional word recognition skills such as orthographical (correct spelling of words) and morphological (smallest unit of meaning: cats has two morphemes = cat + s) patterns in spelling (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008). Thus, the alphabetic system is the knowledge source that is instrumental in learning to read and spell (Conrad, 2008; Ehri, 2000). “These foundational skills are not an end in and of themselves; rather they are necessary and important components of an effective, comprehensive reading program designed to develop proficient readers” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, 2010, p. 10).
Teachers often teach these concepts through activities that ask students to match, isolate, add, blend, delete, or substitute sounds. Typically for phonological and phonemic awareness, the activities are completed orally and/or with pictures. Yopp (1992, 2000) wrote several articles providing practical ideas for teaching phonemic and phonological awareness. Elkonin (1973) or sound boxes (McCarthy, 2008/2009) also support students’ phonemic awareness. Once a letter (or grapheme) is included, the same activities become phonics. Phonic activities include making words (Cunningham & Cunningham, 1992) and using word sorts (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008). Appendix A is a chart of different activities with a brief explanation of each.
This introduction explained important concepts and sets the stage for the research study that follows.
Methodology
Participants and Context
A midwest school district provided alphabetic professional development to their kindergarten through second grade teachers, reading specialists, instructional coaches, and special education teachers. From this group, four first grade teachers at one representative school in the district were selected, along with their 87 first-graders, to participate in this study. Gina, Michelle, Jennifer, and Lori (all names are pseudonyms) were experienced teachers with advanced degrees. Gina had taught 16 years (15 years in first grade) and held a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and Ed.S. in curriculum leadership. Michelle had taught first grade for 13 years at this selected school. She had a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction.
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Children who struggle to learn phonics knowledge will often be delayed in their overall reading ability.
