I taught phoneme awareness: Why didnt my students catch on?
Bruce Murray, Auburn University Georgia Struggling Reader
Conference Sept 7, 2007 Slide 2 Slide 3 Source for lesson ideas and
materials for teaching phoneme awareness:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie Note: URL in the handout is
incorrect. Slide 4 Slide 5 B R E J Slide 6 think /th/i/ng/k/ saw
/s/aw/ /aw/s/ Slide 7 Test of Phoneme Identities 1. Say: Well see
the moon soon. Now say /s/. Do you hear /s/ in moon or soon? 2.
Say: She caught a fish by the fin. Now say /sh/. Do you hear /sh/
in fish or fin? 3. Say: That bug makes a buzz. Now say /z/. Do you
hear /z/ in bug or buzz? Slide 8 Slide 9 MEAL Is this word meal or
seal? Slide 10 SIT Is this word sit or mitt? Slide 11 Slide 12 MOON
Is this word soon or moon? Slide 13 Slide 14 We define the phonemes
not as sounds but as motor control structures we choose to call
gestures.... The gestural strategy permits coarticulation. That is,
it permits the speaker to overlap gestures that are realized by
different organs of articulation. The consequence is that people
can and do regularly speak at rates of 10 to 20 phonemes per
second. Liberman & Liberman, 1992 Slide 15 Slide 16 Non-chance
Scores on Phoneme Awareness Test Wallach & Wallach, 1979 Slide
17 Vowels are phonemes made by vocalizing while forming various
mouth shapes, e.g., E-I-E-I-O. Short vowels are particularly opaque
because they represent very subtle differences in mouth shape.
Slide 18 Consonants are made by tightening the vocal channel enough
to get some friction. Some consonants make a plain sound, visible
from the outside. They are salient (noticeable). Examples: /s/,
/k/, /f/, /p/ Other consonants make less distinct sounds, hidden
back in mouth. Examples: /l/, /r/, /n/, /ng/. Slide 19 FOX Is this
word fox or box? Slide 20 Slide 21 Slide 22 Slide 23 /An/ ane ain
a_e = /A/ ade ake ale ame ane ape ai = /A/ aid ail aim ain air ait
Slide 24 Slide 25 Slide 26 Slide 27 Slide 28 Slide 29 Slide 30
Slide 31 /d/ door /dOr/ drive /jrIv/ Slide 32 HWY Q Slide 33 Slide
34 Slide 35 Sh is for Sheep. Slide 36 Sh Slide 37 Slide 38 Slide 39
Slide 40 Slide 41 Slide 42 Slide 43 Slide 44 Slide 45 Slide 46
Inadequate generalization of phonemes. PA instruction goes wrong
when teachers don't help students locate phonemes in a variety of
different example words. Slide 47 Slide 48 Cats and kittens cry for
Christmas. Slide 49 1. Aunt Amy's alligator ate the armchair. 2.
Amos the amiable ape ate Amy's apron. Slide 50 Slide 51 Slide 52
Slide 53 Slide 54 Slide 55 Slide 56 BISKL Slide 57 Slide 58 Slide
59 Slide 60 Slide 61 Slide 62 bodycoda t r u s t Slide 63 onset
rime t r u s t Slide 64 bodycoda t r u s t Slide 65 LIKE FIGHT BAND
LEARN Slide 66 Basic Components of a Phoneme Awareness Lesson Slide
67 Choose one phoneme to teach. Examples: /m/ or /l/. Slide 68
Devise a meaningful name, picture, and hand gesture for your
phoneme, and display its principal grapheme. Slide 69 Make an
alliterative "tongue twister." Have students stretch or split off
your phoneme in the twister. Example: Many mice make music. Slide
70 Lead students to study the mouth move for your phoneme. Slide 71
Provide a model of how to find your phoneme in a spoken word. Slide
72 Add phoneme-finding practice by testing spoken words. Have
students blend the new phoneme into words. Slide 73 Apply phoneme
awareness in phonetic cue readingdecoding the first letters of
rhyming words. LIKE FIGHT BAND LEARN Slide 74 Slide 75 read mow
Slide 76 In kindergarten: Introduce phonemes with a variety of
developmentally appropriate activities. Work with consonants.
Emphasize finding phonemes in spoken words. Apply in invented
spelling and in reading beginning letters to distinguish rhyming
words. Slide 77 By late kindergarten and with older poor readers:
Review phonemes to introduce vowels and digraphs in phonics. Apply
by using vowel correspondences to decode and spell written words.
Slide 78
