Final Exam, Part I

Phonemic Awareness


There are two current views of reading that relate to the distinction between learning and acquisition. The word recognition view is a belief that written language must be learned. The sociopsycholinguistic view believes that language is innate and can be acquired. Because the word recognition view is based on the concept that identifying words involves recoding written language to oral language this process requires that one must have phonemic awareness to complete this task (Freeman 75).
Because we have a phonemically based alphabet where every letter has one or more speech sounds it is imperative that children master phonemic awareness before they begin to read. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds-phonemes--in spoken words. For example, a phonemically aware child should be able to recognize which words in a set of words begin with the same sound, isolate and say the beginning or ending sound of a word, blend and combine the separate sounds in a word to say the word and break up a word into its separate sounds. For example, a child seeing the word “sat” should be able to isolate the s phoneme and add a new phoneme, such as r to create a new word. Researchers believe if a child masters this ability they will be more successful in reading. Professors David and Yvonne Freeman concur. In response to research that clearly indicated phonemic awareness as the factor that differentiated good readers from poor readers they write, “Children with phonemic awareness [become] good readers and those who lack[ed] phonemic awareness [struggle] with reading” (76). With this knowledge is it is important for pre-school teachers to be cognizant that when children begin their formal education special attention should be made to ensure that all students can manipulate phonemes before they begin to read.
This approach should be done in a way that is “developmentally appropriate” (170 Zeece) and teachers can involve students in this process in a variety of ways. By keeping instruction light, fun and informal, teachers can create an environment where learning about language will pique the child’s curiosity; they can avoid grammar drills and memorization as well as be celebrate and recognize the individual differences each child brings into the classroom. It is also believed that word and wordless books help children to develop the basics of story structure and the cohesion of images and words.
Children begin to categorize sounds and phonemes without even knowing it. They can create their native vowel and consonant sounds before they are a year old and by the beginning of school they have amassed an oral vocabulary of a couple of hundred or thousands of words. This is the critical moment where applying phonemic awareness can prove to develop and strengthen the reading success of children. The skills children learn at this stage will give them confidence as they will be able to recall these concepts as they engage in the various texts they will encounter in school.



Works Cited
Atwill, Kim, Jay Blanchard et al. Receptive Vocabulary and Cross Language Transfer of Phonemic Awareness in Kindergarten Children. The Journal of Education Research. Volume 100, Number 6, January 2007. pp.336-346.

Freeman, David E. and Yvonne S. Freeman. Essential Linguistics: What You Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics and Grammar. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2004.

Metsala, Jamie L. and Linnea C. Ehri, ed. Word Recognition in Beginning Literacy. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 1998.

Zeece, Pauline. Sound Reading and Reading Sounds: The Case for Phonemic Awareness. Early Childhood Education Journal, Volume 34, Number 2 (October 2006), pp. 169-175



Emergent Literacy


Contrary to what one may believe literacy does not begin in the classroom. Emergent literacy theory speaks to this fact. Emergent literacy theory basically says children learn about reading and writing before they enter school for formal instruction. Children can learn about literacy in what seems to be benign ways even if they do not quite understand it. It is believed that the stage between birth and five years of age is the most significant stage for emergent literacy development. Children become aware that environmental signs such as labels, road signs and advertisements convey meaning. How their parents interact and engage the child in these environmental activities can prove to be a powerful indicator of success in future reading and writing. A child walking into the classroom without engaging in the community might find school a little more difficult.
Research in emergent literacy has allowed educators to observe and comprehend more completely the ways in which toddlers use and develop conceptual meaning about print language as they go about in their daily lives and communities. This research is important because it can be used to develop curriculum and possibly predict the early reading patterns as indicated in a study of one child’s development in understanding the word apple. In Pauline Zeece’s observation, a child surrounded by apples falling from the tree in her new back yard while she swings and slides, she knows more is at work here than just typical play. The child notices that apples are taken into the home to be enjoyed and the toddler even gives one as a present to her father clearly pronouncing its name. An interesting pattern developed as the child began to sort books from her book shelf for reading. The same number of books were set aside daily and quickly deemed her favorites. Upon closer inspection, and subsequent reading the child had put aside books that either directly or indirectly referenced apples. In addition, after only three weeks in the new home this young child selected two P shaped sponges and said “Apple!” Even more telling, was when the P’s were replaced with G’s the child said “No!” and immediately replace the G’s with the P’s to spell the word apple (565-566). This is a great example of emergent literacy at work. A two year old has absorbed her new environment and provided meaning for it by locating stories that mentioned or indicated the word apple but she also took her understanding to a new level with the invented spelling using two P’s to represent apple. The more a child continues in their perceptions and interactions of the community, the more they become aware of the literacies around them, they will try to construct meaning for themselves that will only assist in their reading and writing development. Emergent literacy is the precursor to our formal concept of literacy and any deficiency in emergent literacy can indicate future difficulty in a child learning to read and write.




Works Cited
Purcell-Gates, Victoria. Other People’s Words: The Cycle of Low Literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Elliott, Elizabether and Charleen Olliff. Developmentally Appropriate Emergent Literacy Activities for Young Children: Adapting the Early Literacy and Learning Model. Early Childhood Education Journal. Volume 35, Number 6 (June 2008), pp. 551-556.

Neumann, Michelle, Michelle Hood and David Neumann. The Scaffolding of Emergent Literacy skills in the Home Environment: A Case Study. Early Childhood education Journal. January 2011, pp. 1-7.

Zeece, Pauline. Linking Life and Literature in Early Childhood Settings. Early Childhood Education Journal. Volume 35, Number 6 (June 2008), pp. 565-569,