Why is phonemic awareness important in early reading instruction?
Research in the past decade has shown that phonemic awareness is a potent predictor of success in learning to read. Once children have some degree of phonemic awareness and letter knowledge they can begin to decode the letter/sound correspondences that make up our written language. What are the five components of phonemic awareness? Rhyming Matching sounds (alliteration, ending, beginning sounds) Segmenting Sounds in Words Blending sounds to make words Substituting Phonemes Rhyming Rhyming is the ability to hear two words that end the same way. Listening to and saying nursery rhymes or repetitive rhyming refrains helps students hear the rhyme. At later stages, they should be able to produce the rhyming word. Matching Sounds (Alliteration) Students are able to listen for words that have the same beginning sound. Segmenting Sounds in Words This occurs when children are able to separate the sounds they hear by phonemes (mom into m/o/m), syllables (ro-bin) or onsets and rimes (like into l/
