Phonological Awareness and Pre-Reading Skills
What is phonological awareness and why is it an important first step in becoming a confident reader? People ask me all the time how they can help their children develop the essential pre-reading skills. I want to provide you with information to help you so it does not seem so daunting.
I am a trained, licensed Speech-Language Pathologist with teaching certification who has been working with children for 15 of my 20 years in the field. Because of this experience, I am in a unique position to offer advice about the importance of reading to and with your child, books to read, and information about each step.
The reading readiness skills I’m going to talk about combine two of the things I love the most: books and language. Below you will find information about the skills that children need to acquire in order to become successful readers.
Pre-reading Skills
Phonological Awareness is the foundation of reading. It is the ability to recognize sounds and manipulate them. As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I spent a lot of time learning about language development. In order for kids to become successful readers, they must master letter and sound knowledge along with developing spoken language and language comprehension.
Phonological Awareness Skills
- Word Awareness
- Rhyming
- Alliteration
- Syllable Awareness
- Onset and Rime
- Phoneme Awareness: beginning and ending sounds
Word Awareness
Children must be able to recognize individual printed words on the page.
Rhyming skills
Children also need to be able to understand the concept of rhyming when developing their phonological awareness. Rhyming is when the ending of the word stays the same and the beginning sound changes.
This concept can be a difficult one to learn at first. Children often have more trouble with the ends of words. You can check out these rhyming books to help your child become familiar with rhyming.
Age 4
Rhyming Recognition
Do the words rhyme?
cold/hot (no)
pink/wink (yes)
Age 5
Rhyming Recognition
Pick which words rhyme from a group, ex, “Cat, bird, bat”
Age 5.5
Rhyming Production
Can produce a rhyme. Ex, “Give me a word that rhymes with fish“
Alliteration
Everyone thinks that the most important thing for reading is learning your ABCs but, you cannot ONLY teach your child to recognize their letters. Children need to understand that letters make sounds, and words are made up of those sounds.
The first skill in reading readiness is identifying the sounds letters make as well as identifying the beginning, middle, and ending sounds of words.
Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of the word and is a wonderful way to help develop an awareness of sounds. You can look at my list of Amazing Alliteration Books for fun ways to practice this skill.
Age 5
Identify Alliteration
Can identify which word sounds different. Ex:
wise, wacky, friend, woman
Teaching Syllables
Learning to differentiate syllables in words is an important pre-reading skill. Clapping out syllables is such a fun activity and another way to teach syllables.
Age 5
Counting Syllables
Can clap out the number of syllables in a word. Ex:
Window (two syllables)
Car (one Syllable)
Age 6
Syllable Deletion
“Say flower. Say it again without the /f/. (lower)
Onset and Rime
This is a fancy way to talk about the initial consonant sound or blends (onset) and the vowel and letters that follow (rime). Learning onset-rime is teaching children about patterns in words, like word families. This is a step in phonological awareness development that is crucial for reading and spelling.
Age 5
Blending Sounds
Can identify a single-syllable word given the onset and rime. Ex:
b-ack (back)
sl-eep (sleep)
Age 5.5
Identify Initial Sounds
Can identify the first sound in a single-syllable word. Ex:
face (f)
bird (b)
Age 5.5
Identify Final Sounds
Can identify the final sound in a single-syllable word. Ex:
baseball (l)
home (m)
Phoneme Manipulation
What is a phoneme? A phoneme is a unit of sound. Manipulation of sounds in words while still understanding the meaning is one of the hardest phonological awareness skills to master.
For example, C-A-T are three separate sounds that come together to make the word cat. When kids get the hang of this pre-reading skill, their ability to sound out words independently is the next step.
Age 6
Blending Phonemes
Can put sounds together to make a word. Ex:
/s//o//ck/ (sock)
Age 6.5
Phonemes Segmenting
Can take a word apart to make the sounds. Ex:
best (/b//e//s//t/)
Age 6.5
Phonemes Substitution
Can substitute one sound for another in a word to make a new word. Ex:
hop, change the /h/ to /p/(pop)
Age 7
Phonemes Deletion
Can remove one sound from a word Ex:
“Say horse. Now say it again without the /h/ (-orse)
Alphabet Books
Children do not need to know their letters to identify sounds. These two skills are completely different from one another. Alphabet Books are a great way to work on the two skills of identifying letters and the different sounds they can make.
Expert Tip
This may seem like a lot of information, but remember learning to read happens over years, not days.
- Find books that reinforce the skills you are working on, learning should be fun!
- Make learning into a fun game – especially if you are driving in the car, taking a walk, or even sitting at a restaurant. Downtime is the perfect time to play fun word games.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Pre-reading Skills?
These are skills needed before a child can learn to read include:
1. Oral language skills (spoken language skills)
2. Comprehension skills (understanding language)
3. Letter knowledge
4. Sound knowledge (Phonological awareness)
What is Phonological Awareness?
It is the foundation of reading. It is the ability to recognize sounds and manipulate them. As a Speech-Language Pathologist, I spent a lot of time learning about language development and reading readiness skills.
What are Some Phonological Awareness skills?
1. Alliteration
2. Rhyming
3. Learning Syllables
4. Sound Manipulation
What Are Other Pre-Reading Skills
In addition to phonological awareness skills, children have to have the ability to understand spoken language. Children have to be able to understand what they are reading before they can read.
Children also need to have the ability to identify their letters and the sounds they make before they can read. This skill is different from identifying sounds they hear in a word. Alphabet Books are a great way to work on the skill of identifying letters and their sounds.
Related Content
Epilogue
Did I help explain what phonological awareness is? Do you have any more questions?
Citation
Moats, L, & Tolman, C (2009). Excerpted from Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS): The Speech Sounds of English: Phonetics, Phonology, and Phoneme Awareness (Module 2). Boston: Sopris West.
Two Peas Publishing. (2014). Hello Two Peas comprehensive phonological awareness assessment. Two Peas Publishing.
Kilpatrick, D. A. (2018). Phonological awareness screening test (PAST).
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