Phonological awareness

Introduction

Phonological Awareness refers to the sound structure of spoken language. It is a broad skill that includes
being able to hear and play with smaller sounds in words. Phonological awareness includes identifying
and manipulating sounds. It can include speaking rhyming words, clapping out the syllables in a word, or
recognizing the initial sound of a word (Morris, 2012). Phonological awareness skills are an important
predictor of later language and literacy development (NELP, 2010).

Children’s awareness of sound begins with whole words, and then they begin to understand the smaller
units of sound, such as syllables, onset-rime and phonemes (Schickedanz & Collins, 2013). Syllables are
word parts or the largest sound units of spoken language. They are the uninterrupted segments of
speech that are usually distinguished by the vowel sounds created when pronouncing a word.

Phonological awareness is the ability to detect and manipulate sounds and syllables in words. It is critical
for the foundation of a child's literacy development (aka - learning how to read and write). It is one of
the milestones required for emergent literacy skills, in addition to print concepts (e.g., understanding
which way to hold a book or the correct direction to read text), alphabet knowledge (i.e., understanding
of letter names and their shapes), and literate language (i.e., understanding how to compose language
elements for adequate communication).

Objectives

Define the phonological awareness

The difference between phological and phonics awareness

The processing of phonological awareness

Key words

•word awareness

•Syllable awareness

• Onset-rime awareness

• phonemic awareness

Body

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS AND PHONICS

Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and their spelling. Phonics is different from
phonological awareness because phonics refers to printed text, whereas phonological awareness refers
to oral language (the sounds we hear , not the letters we read). Though strength in both of them is
important for reading success, each of them play their own role. A child can have weakness in one area
but not the other , vice versa or weakness in both.

WHY IS PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS IMPORTANT FOR READING?

The awareness of sounds helps children (and adults) segment and blend words together which aids in
reading and spelling. The knowledge of these sounds helps children learn how to decode words
(sounding them out, pairing sounds to segment), and this helps children read unfamiliar words.

A child with weak phonological awareness will struggle with reading. When we read , we're focused on
identifying the words in front of us , but we also need to keep track of the words we just read , and grab
the meaning of the previous and future words we encountered. This is a lot to stay on top of, so by
having good phonological awareness skills, we can focus more on the comprehension of the text we
read and less on struggling to decode what a word says.

PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING

Does your child say “top” instead of “stop” or “bock” instead of “block”? Maybe you notice that your
child says “nana” instead of banana or “puter” instead of “computer”? Your child may be demonstrating
phonological processes, which are patterns that young children use to simplify adult speech. Many
children use these processes while their speech and language are developing.

Below is a list of different types of phonological processes. They are broken down into the following
three areas: syllable structure, substitution, and assimilation. If you hear these sound patterns beyond
the age at which they should have resolved (listed below) we recommend reaching out for a free phone
consultation or speech evaluation. Complete our therapist match survey and we’ll match your child with
a speech pathologists that specializes in treating phonological processing disorders.

Syllable Structure: Sound changes that cause sounds or syllables to be reduced, omitted, or repeated

•Cluster Reduction is the deletion of one or more consonants from a two or three consonant cluster
(e.g. “poon” for “spoon”, “tuck” for “truck”). Should resolve by the time a child is 4 without /S/ and by
age 5 with /S/.

•Final Consonant Deletion is the deletion of a final consonant sound in a word (e.g. “cuh” for “cup”,
“dah” for “dog”). Expect this sounds pattern to resolve by the age of 3.

•Initial Consonant Deletion is the deletion of the initial consonant sound in a word (e.g. “up” for “cup”,
“un” for “sun”). If your child is using this phonological process, we recommend speech therapy
regardless of their age as this is an unusual pattern that typically indicates the presence of a significant
phonological delay.

•Weak Syllable Deletion is the deletion of a weak syllable in a word (e.g. “nana” for “banana”, “puter”
for “computer”). This process resolves by the age of 4.

Substitution: Sound changes in which one sound class replaces another sound class

•Backing is the substitution of a sound produced in front of the mouth with a sound produced in the
back of the mouth (e.g. “gog” for “dog”). If your child is backing his or her sounds, we recommend
speech therapy regardless of their age as this pattern is typically seen in children that require speech
and language intervention to resolve a significant phonological delay.

•Fronting is the substitution of a sound produced in the back of the mouth with a sound produced in the
front of the mouth (e.g. “tey” for “key”). This pattern resolves by 3.5 years of age.

•Gliding is the substitution of a glide (w, y) sound for a liquid (l, r) sound (e.g. “yike” for “like”, “wug“ for
“rug”). Gliding resolves by the age of 6.

• Stopping is the substitution of a stop (b, p, t, d, k, g) sound for a fricative (f, v, s, z, h, th, sh, zh) or
affricate (ch, j) sound (e.g. “toap” for “soap”, “tair” for “chair”). Your child should no longer stop their
sounds after the age of 3 for /F/ & /S/, age 3.5 for /V/ & /Z/, age 4.5 for /CH/, /SH/ & /J/ and age 5 for
/TH/.

•What is vowelization? Vowelization is the substitution of a vowel sound for a liquid (l, r) sound (e.g.
“bay-uh” for “bear”). Vowelization typically resolves by the age of 6.

•Affrication is the substitution of an affricate (ch, j) sound for an nonaffricate sound (e.g. “choe” for
“shoe”). We should no longer hear this process after the age of 3.

•Deaffrication is the substitution of a nonaffricate sound for an affricate (ch, j) sound (e.g. “ship” for
“chip”). Expect this process to be gone by the age of 4.
•Alveolarization is the substitution of an alveolar sound for a nonalveolar sound (e.g. “tum” for
“thumb”). Alveolarization resolves by age 5.

•Depalatalization is the substitution of a nonpalatal sound for a palatal sound (e.g. “fit” for “fish”). This
pattern should be gone by the age of 5.

•Labialization is the substitution of a labial sound for a nonlabial sound (e.g. “mouf” for “mouth). Should
resolve by age 6.

Assimilation: Sound changes in which one sound will start to sound like another, surrounding sound

•Assimilation is when a consonant sound starts to sound like another sound in the word (e.g. “bub” for
“bus”). Children no longer use this process after the age of 3.

•Denasalization is when a nasal consonant like “m” or “n” changes to a nonnasal consonant like “b” or
“d” (e.g. “dore” for “more”). No longer present after the age of 2.5.

•Final Consonant Devoicing is when a voiced consonant (e.g. b, d) at the end of a word is substituted
with a voiceless consonant (e.g. p, t) (e.g. “tup” for “tub”). Gone by age 3.

•What is prevocalic voicing? Prevocalic Voicing is when a voiceless consonant (e.g. k, f) in the beginning
of a word is substituted with a voiced consonant (e.g. g, v) (e.g. “gup” for “cup”). This pattern often
sticks around until age 6.

•Coalescence is when two phonemes are substituted with a different phoneme that still has similar
features (e.g. “foon” for “spoon”). Coalescence should resolve by the time a child is 6 years old.

•Reduplication is when a complete or incomplete syllable is repeated (e.g. “baba” for “bottle”). No
longer present by the age of 3.
Summary

Phonological awareness talks about how the students can learned to spell, read the syllable's and how
to construct word with proper sound.

The phonological awareness diagnostic assessment is a short on demand assessment that tells teacher
how students are progressing in phonological awareness the assessment complements existing
strategies used to identify students progress in foundational literacy development

It allows students to demonstrate what they know and can do and clarifies for teachers their student's
skill level for the subskill teacher will be able to use the assessment flexibly by choosing which subskill
they will assess to suit the needs of individual students

The assessment takes 10-13 minutes and is conducted by classroom teacher with individual students
teachers use the online tool to enter.

Learning assessment

References

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