Phonics and Phonemic Awareness S S Grand Canyon University: EED-470 February 23, 2014 [pic]Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Scientifically based reading research has identified five essential components of effective reading instruction: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. To guarantee that children learn to read well, explicit and organized instruction must be provided for these five essential components ("National Center for Reading First ", 2005). The importance of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction for beginning readers has received wide support among reading researchers (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000). Students need to receive literacy instruction so that they are able to recognize and manipulate the sounds of the English language (phonemic awareness) and how to associate the sounds to the letters (phonics). Once the students are able to successfully incorporate these two components, they are more likely to succeed in reading.
Phonological awareness is the key component in achieving this. Phonological awareness is essential for success in reading; educators therefore need to employ effective strategies that will combat phonological awareness deficits. Phonological awareness is significant to the success of reading; therefore educators must be conscious of the various components of phonological awareness. (Allinder et al. 2002) states that phonological awareness is the conscious ability to manipulate and detect sounds of language, and this is foundational to reading development.
It is important to expose students to more than just concrete identification words like ‘chair’ or ‘horse’ but broaden their base of word knowledge to include abstract words as well. Children speak the words they have heard and later recognize those words within the context of literature. When a student has heard a word within a context, verbally used the word to express thinking and can identify and associate meaning to the word with in a text, they will be likely to use the word in written communication as well. Academically speaking, the same rules apply. Students need to hear academic language used within a
In Ransinski web seminar relating to the topic of fluency, he mentions how around the country reading fluency is defined as teaching children to read fast. On the other hand, Ransinski disagrees and believes that fluency is the bridge to comprehension, and that it is the deeper structure of language which ultimately means meaning. He also believes that students should be able to dive deep in to reading and break through the surface structure for a student to understand the full meaning of a text. Even if you considered the five components of reading which are; phonemic awareness, phonics, reading fluency, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension all of these components deal with fluency. In order for a student to master fluency they must be able to master the five components of reading as well.
One, drawing on physical ability, is that we learn in stages. For example, we make sure we can walk before we run. The other, drawing on intellectual ability, is that we generalize from past experience. For instance, if you see an insect that you never saw before and that looks like a cockroach you are likely to think it may be a cockroach. These strategies help us explain child productions in the whole of language, from pronunciation through vocabulary and grammar to skills like how to hold a conversation.
“The disconnect between text and reader is especially noticeable in content areas where readers must interact with highly specialized and technical language” (Vacca & Vacca, 2008, p. 348). For students to find success in a content area classroom, educators need to engage students in reading with the use of instructional strategies (Vacca & Vacca, 2008). Strategies used in content area classrooms vary with purpose. “What a teacher does before reading, during reading, and after reading (B-D-A) is crucial to active and purposeful reading” (Vacca & Vacca, 2008, p. 346). Before reading activities help students get ready to read by motivating the readers, activating prior knowledge, and introducing key vocabulary.
Strategic activities may include presentation of the text, vocabulary development, using graphic organizers, and/ or previewing the text. This paper will describe strategic activities that aid in the facilitation of comprehension. Comprehension is the final product of reading, and therefore should require attention and emphasis during literary instructional time. Comprehension is one area where many students have struggles. Comprehension does not require just one-step, instead it is a process that includes vocabulary development and fluency.
How to Activate Prior Knowledge Prior knowledge refers to all of the readers’ experience throughout their lives, including all of information they have learned elsewhere. This knowledge is one of the reading strategies which are very effective for being used in reading comprehension. Furthermore prior knowledge is the most important aspect of the reading experience because it will help students in understanding and remembering what have students read by activating their background knowledge. There are three steps in activating prior knowledge those are pre teaching vocabulary, providing background knowledge and creating opportunities for students to continue building background knowledge. The first step is pre teaching vocabulary in which teacher needs to introduce and review new vocabularies that relate to stories or information they are going to read.
When PA has been part of a literacy program it has not only impacted future reading scores of children with written and oral language difficulties, it has also improved scores of children who have no problems with language (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2004, Schuele & Bondreau, 2008.) Educators throughout the country reacted to these results by demanding that PA literacy programs be implemented into their curriculum. Attention also became focused on phonological processing problems. PA is a skill which is a component of the larger abstract process of metalinguistics. Metalinguistics “refers to one’s thinking about one’s language in general [and ] the ability to focus attention on language in and of itself, independent of meaning” (Yopp and Yopp ,2000.)
Reflective Writing 1 My personal goals for this course are to develop and become an excellent writer. My main objectives are learning how to do good research, APA documentation, and developing good writing mechanics such as correct punctuation and spelling. I would like to develop a clear thought and be able to express it threw writing .My previous English class was developmental. It was a helpful tool in my writing development. English 115 will be a great accomplishment for me.