SALTA 4th grade

The Science of Reading

Phonological awareness ​ is the ability to identify, think about, and manipulate the parts of words, including syllables, onsets and rimes, and phonemes. ​ Advanced phoneme awareness includes ​ substitution, deletion, addition, or reordering of language parts. ​ Phoneme awareness ​ has an instructional progression by which speech-sound awareness becomes the foundation for learning print. The ​ hourglass figure ​ demonstrates the instructional progression of phonology. Phonics ​ is when sounds are connected to a printed symbol (letter and letter combinations) that represent phonemes. This system of correspondence between phonemes and graphemes represents the alphabetic principle or 1 to 1 correspondence.

Phonics instructional progression then starts with the smallest graphemes, and builds to syllables, morphemes and words.

Phonological and Phoneme Awareness is critical for learning to read any alphabetic writing system ( ​ Ehri, 2004, Rath, 2001; Trioia, 2004) ​ , for these reasons: 1. Necessary for learning and using the alphabetic code. 2. Predicts later outcomes in reading and spelling. 3. Highly beneficial for novice readers and spellers. 4. Interacts and facilitates the development of vocabulary and word consciousness. Despite normal ability, struggling readers are characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, poor spelling, and issues with decoding. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. The degrees of reading difficulties may vary; one reader might encounter mild struggles, and another may have profound struggles. While not always the case, these reading difficulties can be similar to those encountered with dyslexia. Poor readers struggle with phonological awareness and phonemic awareness. One way to know if phonemic awareness is weak is to analyze spelling errors. Struggling readers should be given a ​ Phonological Awareness screener ​ to diagnose missing skills as phonological skills can be taught and repaired with small amounts of instruction for 80+ percent of students. It is

Revised: 03/02/20