CLEP-2 Day 12 Reading/Test Material Phonics for Primary Learners - Webinar Live Link. READING MATERIAL SESSION 12 PHONICS FOR PRIMARY LEARNERS . DAY 12 OF CLEP -II WEBINAR SERIES SCERT, AP. On " Phonics for Primary Learners" by Dr Poornima, Academic Consultant, British Council School Ambassador. Watch Live
SESSION OBJECTIVES
English has 44 different sounds (19 vowel sounds and 25 consonant sounds); these sounds are called Phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound. Each phoneme can be represented by one or more alphabet (letters). A letter (A, B, C etc.) or a group of letters (words) that represent a sound are called Graphemes. If a phoneme is represented by 2 letters it is called a digraph (‘oo’ in spoon), if a phoneme is represented by 3 letters it is called a trigraph – air.
Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of sounds in letters. When a word is transcribed, there is a direct specification towards how its pronounced. The chart below displays the symbols of all the 44 sounds that exist in the English language (Blumenfeld, 2015).
Phonemic awareness helps a child to separate a word by its sound and spelling. Experts say that phonemic awareness is a crucial factor for learning in young learners. Learners with a high phonemic awareness are able to speak and read information more effectively(Blevins,1998). This aptitude has to be developed through modelling, practise and training.
The chart below presents phonemes through pictures and words of common use
Step 3. Plan: Create a suitable activity/task that is related to the lesson. Choose the most effective TLM that can create a meaningful learning experience. Encourage learners to use the new words while asking questions, explaining concepts, answering to fellow classmates.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPOSURE:
Live youtube Link given below.
SESSION OBJECTIVES
- • Gain an understanding of phonics and phonological awareness
- • Reflect on an interdisciplinary approach
- • Explore strategies to integrate phonics instruction into different subjects – Interdisciplinary approach\
CLEP-2 Day 12 Reading/Test Material Phonics for Primary Learners - Webinar Live Link
Phonics is the relationship between the letters of a language and the sound associated to them. It is a methodology often used in language instruction to raise awareness in reading and writing skills. It is also known as the ‘learning-‐to-‐read’ method used in primary schools. Phonics instruction provides exposure to linking sounds (phonemes) and the symbols (alphabet-‐graphemes) that represent them.English has 44 different sounds (19 vowel sounds and 25 consonant sounds); these sounds are called Phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound. Each phoneme can be represented by one or more alphabet (letters). A letter (A, B, C etc.) or a group of letters (words) that represent a sound are called Graphemes. If a phoneme is represented by 2 letters it is called a digraph (‘oo’ in spoon), if a phoneme is represented by 3 letters it is called a trigraph – air.
Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of sounds in letters. When a word is transcribed, there is a direct specification towards how its pronounced. The chart below displays the symbols of all the 44 sounds that exist in the English language (Blumenfeld, 2015).
In English the right pronunciation to a word can be identified only through its phonetic transcription and not through its spelling,
e.g.: some words may share similarities in the spelling however they are pronounced differently -‐ Good -‐ /ɡʊd/, Food -‐ /fuːd/. The phonetic chart will be extremely useful to decode pronunciation for teachers, however for learners at the primary level, sounds are presented without the use of the alphabet and the suitable word.
TEACHING PHONICS TO YOUNG LEARNERS
The learning outcome for phonics instruction in the primary level is to familiarize the sounds of the language. ‘The goal of teaching phonics to develop student’s ability to read connected text independently’ (Adams, 1990). The ability for a learner to recognize phonemes and use sounds (dog – ‘d’+’o’+’g’: 3 sounds) into meaningful words is called phonological awareness. It creates the foundation to develop language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Phonological awareness is made up of a group of skills. The most sophisticated— and latest to develop—is called phonemic awareness. This skill lets young learners to map individual sounds in a word. It also involves the ability to add, subtract, or substitute new sounds in words.Phonemic awareness helps a child to separate a word by its sound and spelling. Experts say that phonemic awareness is a crucial factor for learning in young learners. Learners with a high phonemic awareness are able to speak and read information more effectively(Blevins,1998). This aptitude has to be developed through modelling, practise and training.
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS |
|
| Words in a sentence | Teaching learners to identify different words in a sentence |
| Syllables | Introduce what a syllable is (beats in a word). All syllables must contain a vowel or vowel-‐like sound in them. We break words into syllables to help us with our reading and writing |
| Onset-‐Rime | The "onset" is the initial phonological unit of any word (e.g. c in cat) and the term "rime" refers to the string of letters that follow, usually a vowel and final consonants (e.g. at in cat). Not all words have onsets. Similar to teaching beginning readers about rhyme, teaching children about onset and rime helps them recognize common chunks within words. This can help students decode new words when reading and spell words when writing. |
| Rhyme-‐ alliteration | Young children first develop an awareness of the phonological patterns that occur at the end of rhyming words before moving on to awareness of bigger chunks within words, such as identifying independent words and syllables within compound words. |
| Phonemic awareness | Phonemic awareness is the understanding that words are made up of phonemes or individual units of sound that influence the meaning of the word. For example, the word “sun” is made up of four individual phonemes: /s/ /u/ /n/. If you change one of these notice how the meaning of the word changes. When /s/ is replaced by /r/ you have “run”, a verb meaning to move really quickly using ones legs. This is very different than “sun”. |
The process that initiates identifying new vocabulary is identified through 3 phases that promote phonological awareness, namely
Some points to base classroom instruction are as follows,
- • Decoding: when learners are able to match the sound to a letter
- • Blending: when learners combine 2-‐3 letters to produce a sound
- • Encoding: writing the spelling of the word
THE THEORETICAL APPROACH APPLIED TO THE CLASSROOM
The alphabetic principle is the understanding that there are systematic and predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Phonics instruction helps children learn the relationships between the letters of the written language and the sounds of spoken language. In young learners, the reading and writing skill is dependent on their understanding of the alphabetic principle. The principle helps learners explore that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language. When young learners understand that there are predictable relationships between sounds and letters, it allows them to experiment these relationships through both familiar and unfamiliar words. This initiates fluency and accuracy in the long term (Nancy E, 2005).Some points to base classroom instruction are as follows,
- • Teach letter-‐sound relationships explicitly and in isolation.
- • Provide opportunities for children to practice letter-‐sound relationships in daily lessons.
- • Provide practice opportunities that include new sound-‐letter relationships, as well as cumulatively reviewing previously taught relationships.
- • Give children opportunities early and often to apply their expanding knowledge of sound-‐letter relationships to the reading of phonetically spelled words that are familiar in meaning
INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO RAISING PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
Promoting phonological awareness is extremely important for beginner level learners. Teachers can create subject-‐based contexts as hooks to retain information. Anderson et al. in Becoming a Nation of Readers have opined that optimal resources and materials used for instructions need to ensure that it meets the following criteria (Blevins,1998),- • Comprehensible: Vocabulary must be understandable and relevant to the context
- • Instructive: The majority of words must be decodable based on the sound-spellings previously taught
- • Interesting: The context and the text must be engaging enough for students to want them to revisit them again
While planning a lesson the following steps can be adopted –
Step 1. Blocking Vocabulary list: While planning a lesson, create a blocking vocabulary list related to the concepts and themes handled. Blocking vocabulary are a group of words (2-‐3) that the teacher filters from the lesson that may need to be explained in class. These words are required to complete any set of tasks planned -‐ fill ups, match the following etc. While micro-‐planning for each period allot 2-‐3 words from the list accordingly.
Step 2. Research: Once the list of vocabulary is prepared, it is important for the teacher to ensure she has the correct meaning of the words to the given context. Ensure that MPF – meaning, pronunciation and form is researched from a proper resource eg. Oxford dictionary, Cambridge, Merriam Webster, Collins, etc. A thesaurus may be used to list down similar words.
Step 2. Research: Once the list of vocabulary is prepared, it is important for the teacher to ensure she has the correct meaning of the words to the given context. Ensure that MPF – meaning, pronunciation and form is researched from a proper resource eg. Oxford dictionary, Cambridge, Merriam Webster, Collins, etc. A thesaurus may be used to list down similar words.
Step 3. Plan: Create a suitable activity/task that is related to the lesson. Choose the most effective TLM that can create a meaningful learning experience. Encourage learners to use the new words while asking questions, explaining concepts, answering to fellow classmates.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPOSURE:
- 1. Rhymes, songs, poems
- 2. Matching pictures to words
- 3. Matching ‘picture word’ pairs to related picture word pairs: mind maps, concept maps
- 4. Worksheets and written tasks
- 5. Language tasks: fill ups, match the following, question answers
Live youtube Link given below.
