Optimizing Phonological Awareness Learning

Phonological Awareness is an “umbrella term” referring to the ability to hear and manipulate sound units in speech. It is represented in educational curricula and learning standards across the country. Decades of research on the science of reading have established that phonemic awareness – the part of phonological awareness specifically about hearing and manipulating individual speech sounds – is a critical component for literacy learning.

Developmental research also indicates that young children exhibit awareness of larger sounds units, like:

Syllables: a larger unit of sound in a word. It is a word part that contains a vowel, or in spoken language, a vowel sound. For example, garnet has two syllables: gar-net.
Onset/rimes: the smaller units within a word. The onset is the part of a word before the vowel. The rime is the vowel and the string of letters that follow. For example, in jade, /j/ is the onset, and /ade/ is the rime; and in bird, /b/ is the onset, and /ird/ is the rime.
Phonemic awareness: the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words.
Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound in spoken words. For example, gem has three phonemes: /j/ /e/ /m/.

This suggests that teaching larger units before phonemes may be helpful. However, there is insufficient research testing this idea.

Project OPAL is seeking answers to the questions:

What to teach?
To whom?
When?

Researchers will identify preschool and kindergarten children who may benefit from additional phonological awareness instruction, provide select children with phonological awareness instruction using different approaches (15 minutes per day for 6-12 weeks), and assess their phonemic awareness and literacy skills through first grade. The goal is to provide extra literacy support to participating children and gain scientific evidence to inform educational practice and policy.

News

$3M Grant Awarded to Research Team to Advance Early Literacy Education

FSU and OSU researchers have received a $3.6 million NIH grant to help improve young children’s reading skills. The five-year study will focus on finding the best ways to teach early reading fundamentals.