Maine Reading First Course

Maine Department of Education 2005

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Maine Reading First Course

Session #7Phonological and Phonemic

Awareness Research and Assessment


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Key Learning Goals Session 2

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Research and Assessment

To provide theoretical understanding of the research supporting development of phonological and phonemic awareness in children, including:

knowing the progression of phonological skill development (rhyme, syllable, onset-rime, phoneme)

understanding the difference between speech sounds (phonemes) and letters/letter combinations (graphemes) that represent them

understanding English speech sounds (consonant and vowel phoneme systems).

To enable class participants to use scientifically based assessments to determine a student’s development in phonological and phonemic awareness.

To enable class participants to use assessment data to inform instruction that meets the diverse needs of students.


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Think-Ink-Pair-ShareRate your general familiarity with phonemic awareness by

placing an X on the continuum and completing the Knowledge Rating Chart

Grapheme Onset and rime Phoneme Phonemic awareness Phoneme blending Phoneme categorization Phoneme isolation Phoneme segmenting


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Changing Emphasis of Five Essential Elements

Element

K 1 2 3

Phonological Awareness

Phonics Letter Sounds & Combinations

Multisyllables

Fluency

Vocabulary Listening

Reading

Comprehension Listening

Reading


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Critical Components of Reading

Alphabetics Fluency Comprehension

Phonological Awareness Rate Vocabulary-Words-Syllables Accuracy Text Comprehension-Rhymes-Onsets and Rimes Expression-Phonemic Awareness

Sound IsolationDiscriminationSegmenting & BlendingManipulation

Phonics-Letter Sound Correspondence-Decoding-Encoding (LINKS 2002)


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What Makes the English Language an Alphabetic System?

It uses….written characters or symbols (graphemes) to represent sounds (phonemes).

However, written English is not just a phonetic system. It is also….an orthographic or spelling system that often reflects meaning rather than sound.

(LINKS 2002)


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What is Phonological Awareness?

The term that describes the awareness of sounds in oral language. Phonological awareness includes the understanding and skills of rhyming, segmenting, blending and manipulating at the word, syllable, and phoneme levels.

(LINKS 2002)


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What is phonemic awareness?Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize

and manipulate phonemes or speech sounds.

Children who are phonemically aware can:

Segment the word hat into its 3 sounds: /h/ /a/ /t/

Blend the 3 sounds /d/ /o/ /g/ into the word dog

Delete the last sound of cart and make the word car

(NRP 2000, Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001)


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What is phonics?

Phonics is the relationship between printed letters and spoken sounds. Phonics involves the visual aspects of print, as well as the auditory aspects of spoken language.

Children who know phonics skills can: Tell you which letter makes the first sound in bat

Tell you which letter makes the last sound in car

(IRA’s Position Statement on PA, 1998)


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How are Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Different?

Brainstorm your answers to this question with a partner.


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“Woof! Woof!”

This is how many children respond when asked to tell the sounds they hear in the word dog. Though many children enter school with a substantial vocabulary, adequate syntax, and clear speech, few are phonemically aware.


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What Does Research Tell Us About Phonemic Awareness? Phonemic Awareness does not constitute a complete

reading program, however it is a key component and critical foundational piece of the complex literacy process. Generally, 20 hours of instruction in a year is sufficient.

Phonemic Awareness instruction helps all children improve their reading and spelling.

Phonemic Awareness instruction for most students should be accomplished by the end of first grade.

Teachers need to be aware that English Language Learners categorize phonemes in their first language.

(NRP, 2000)


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What Does Research Tell Us about Phonemic Awareness

Instruction?

Phonemic Awareness instruction is most effective when:

Instruction is explicit and focused on one or two PA skills at a time (segmenting and blending are two most critical skills);

Children are taught to manipulate phonemes with letters;

Children are taught in small groups;

Single sessions last no more than 30 minutes;

Sounds, letters, and letter names are over-learned so children can work with them automatically to read and spell words; and

Instruction is based on student needs identified through assessment.

(NRP, 2000)


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Levels of Phonological Awareness

Type of Tasks Levels

Rhyme & Alliteration Word Level

Discrimination Tasks Word Level

Segmentation Sentence, syllable, onset/rime, & phoneme levels

Blending Sentence, syllable, onset/rime, & phoneme levels

ManipulationDeletionSubstitution

Sentence, syllable, onset/rime, & phoneme levels


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Explicit Teaching

How To (Model)

Let’s Do (Guided Practice with Feedback)

You Do (Independent Application)


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Rhyme and Alliteration Tasks

RhymeDetection: Do the words cat/bat rhyme? Do the words mug/fin rhyme?

Production: What word rhymes with snake?

AlliterationDetection: Do the words bat, bear, balloon sound have the same beginning sound?

Production: What is a word that begins with the same sound as cat does?


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Discrimination TasksIdentify Rhyming Words

Which word does not rhyme….goat/coat/door?

Identify Words with Same Initial SoundsWhich word does not sound the same at the beginning…pig/tub/pen?

Identify Words with Same Final SoundsWhich word does not sound the same at the end…snake/like/dog?

Identify Words with Same Medial SoundsWhich word does not sound the same in the middle….road/gate/bake?


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Segmentation TasksWords in a Sentence

Tell me the words you hear in this sentence: The cat went home.

Syllables in a WordTell me the syllables you hear in this word: pretty pret-ty

Onset/RimeTell me sound that begins this word and then the rest of this word: bug /b/-ug

Phonemes in WordsTell me the sounds you hear in the word:

hat /h/ /a/ /t/


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Blending TasksWords in a Sentence

Listen to these words. Tell me the sentence: The -- cat – walks.

Syllables in a WordListen to the parts of this word. Tell me the word:

hap—py happy

Onset/RimeListen to the parts of this word. Tell me the word:

/n/ et net

Phonemes in WordsListen to the sounds in this word. Tell me the word:

/l/ /a/ /p/ lap


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Manipulation TasksDeletion

Words in a SentenceListen to this sentence: The black cat went home. Tell me the sentence without the word black: The cat went home.

Syllables in a WordListen to this word: table Tell me the word without ta-: -ble

Phonemes in Words (initial, medial, or final sounds)Listen to this word: patTell me the word without /t/: pa-


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Manipulation TasksSubstitution

Words in a Sentence

Listen to this sentence: The black cat went home. Change the word black to white. Tell me the new sentence:

The white cat went home.

Syllables in a Word

Listen to this word: happyChange –py to pen. Tell me the new word: happen

Phonemes in Words (initial, medial, or final sounds)

Listen to this word: stop Change /o/ to /e/. Tell me the word: step


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Skill Mastery(Straight Talk About Reading, Hall & Moats)

Age 3Recitation of rhymesRhyming by pattern Alliteration

Age 6Initial consonant matchingBlending 2-3 phonemesCounting phonemes (70% of children by age 6)Rhyme identificationOnset-rime division

Age 4Syllable counting (50% of children by age 4)

Age 7Blending 3 phonemesSegmentation of 3-4 phonemes (blends)Phonetic spelling Phoneme deletion

Age 5Syllable counting (90% of children by age 5)

Age 8Consonant cluster segmentationDeletion within clusters


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Why do We Assess Early Literacy Skills?

To ensure that children have the necessary early literacy skills so that reading instruction can establish a trajectory of satisfactory literacy acquisition.


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What are the purposes of Early Literacy Assessment? Focuses attention on critical reading skills strongly

predictive of future reading growth and development.

Helps inform classroom instruction for all students.

Helps identify children at risk of reading failure who need additional support.

Helps monitor student achievement over time to insure that adequate progress is being made.


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How do We Assess Phonemic Awareness?

Usually 1:1 Recommended to assess by mid

kindergarten year Focus on assessing blending and

segmenting phonemes Use information to make data

driven decisions for instruction


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What are Some Methods of Assessing Phonological and

Phonemic Awareness?

Kirwan Assessment (6 Subtests) Blending (onset-rime and phonemes) Sound Identification (initial and final) Segmenting phonemes Initial letter-sound identification

Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)

Initial Sound Fluency Phoneme Segmentation Fluency


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Kirwan Assessment

Oral Blending of Onset-Rime (s….eem)

Oral Blending of Phonemes (b..a..ck)

Identifying Initial Consonant Sounds (/m/ is the first sound in meet)

Identifying Final Consonant Sounds (/s/ is the final sound in base)

Phoneme Segmentation (the phonemes in get are /g/../e/../t/

Linking Letters to Sounds (point to the letter that says the sound you hear at the beginning of frog: n, t, f )


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Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation

Students are individually asked to segment the sounds in a list of 22 common words.

Examples:dog /d/…/o/…/g/grew /g/…/r/…/ew/


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The Importance of Fluency

Automaticity means the less effort students devote to sound/word identification, the more attention they have available to devote to meaning.

Students who lack fluency may not easily acquire more complex skills; this holds true in other academic areas as well.

It is a worthwhile measure for judging the effectiveness of instruction.


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Research Says...

Shaw, R. & Shaw, D. (2002). DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency-Based Indicators of Third Grade Reading Skills for Colorado State Assessment Program (CSAP). (Technical Report) Eugene, OR: University of Oregon.

Buck, J. & Torgesen, J. (2003). The Relationship Between Performance

on a Measure of Oral Reading Fluency and Performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. (FCRR Technical Report #1)Tallahassee, FL: Florida Center for Reading Research.

Barger, J. (2003). Comparing the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluencyindicator and the North Carolina end of grade reading assessment.(Technical Report). Asheville, NC: North Carolina Teacher Academy.


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DIBELS Measures – Grades K-3

Letter Naming Fluency – Predictor of later reading skills, taps into letter knowledge and rapid naming ability. One-minute timed task.

Initial Sounds Fluency – Taps into emerging phonological awareness with beginning sound identification tasks. About 3 minutes to administer.

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency – Measures a child’s skills in breaking short words into individual phonemes, or sounds. One-minute timed task.

Nonsense Word Fluency – Taps into alphabetic principle skills by measuring letter-sound correspondence skills as well as decoding skills. One-minute timed task.

Oral Reading Fluency – Measures a child’s skills in reading connected text accurately and fluently. One-minute timed task.

Retell Fluency – Measures a child’s basic skills in comprehending connected text. One-minute timed task.

Word Use Fluency – Measures a child’s vocabulary knowledge and expressive language skills. One-minute timed task.


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DIBELS Assessment Schedule


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DIBELSInitial Sound Fluency (K)

This is tomato, bear, plate, and jail.

Which picture begins with /t/?

What sound does “bear” begin with?


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DIBELSPhoneme Segmentation Fluency (K-

1)


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Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Assessment Hands-On

Activity

Examine the samples of Amy’s Yopp-Singer and Kirwan Assessments and make notes about the following…..

What phonological and phonemic awareness knowledge/skills does the student demonstrate control of?

What phonological and phonemic awareness knowledge/skills does the student need more practice with?

What phonological and phonemic awareness knowledge/skills might be good next teaching steps?


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In Summary…… Phoneme awareness is necessary, but not sufficient.

Phoneme awareness can be directly taught.

Phoneme awareness does not require extensive teaching time.

Phoneme awareness should be assessed in kindergarten and first grade.

Focus majority of instruction on blending and segmenting sounds, and connect sounds to visual letters.


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3—2—1

3—things worth remembering

2—things to learn more about

1—burning question

Documents

Maine Reading First Course