Phonological Awareness

Phonological Awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structure of words and sentences. Below are some of the aspects students need to learn.

1. Recognize the Onset of a word

  • Onset is any consonant sound before the vowel.
    • bug: "b" is the onset.
    • make: "m" is the onset.

2. Recognize the Rime of a word

  • Rime is the vowel and the consonant/s following the onset.
    • bug: "ug" is the rime.
    • make: "ake" is the rime.

3. Alliteration and Initial Sounds

  • Identify words with the same initial sound: "Big bears eat berries."
  • Produce words with the same initial sound: cat, kitten, car, key

4. Rhyme

Rhyming words have the same ending sound. These are often used in nursery rhymes, poetry, and songs.

  • Recognition: Do these words rhyme? neigh and day
  • Detection: Which word does not rhyme? see, pet, and bee
  • Generation: What word rhymes with pot? not, hot, got

5. Syllable Awareness 

  • Segment (count): How many syllables can you hear in "yesterday"? 3 syllables
  • Complete: Can you tell me the rest of the word? Show the student a picture of a tiger. ti + ___ 
  • Identify: Which part of "mother" and "father" sounds the same? ther
  • Delete (subtract): Say "rainbow" without "bow".  rain

6. Syllable Stress

 Multisyllable words in English contain one or more stressed syllables. Native speakers learn this by listening. English learners lack this background knowledge and must learn which syllable to stress.

  • First syllable stress: CHAP-ter, LAUGH-ter
  • Second syllable stress: a-BOUT, to-DAY, out-SIDE
  • Middle syllable stress: qua-LI-ty, re-MEM-ber

7. Recognize Words in a Sentence

  • Segment (Divide) Words in a Sentence:
    • She is my sister.     she + is + my + sister
  • Count words in a sentence
    • I like to eat apples. = 5 words

8. Sentence Word Stress

General guidelines for which words to stress in a sentence. This will change if the speaker wants to emphasize a point.

  • Nouns and main verbs are stressed.
  • Adjectives and adverbs are usually stressed.
  • Subject pronouns (I, You, He, She, We, They) are usually unstressed, while object pronouns (me, you, him, her, us, them) are usually stressed.
  • Function words (determiners, prepositions, and conjunctions) are usually unstressed unless you want to emphasize their role(s) in a sentence.
  • Question words (who, what, when, where, why, and how) are usually unstressed unless you want to emphasize their role.

9. Sentence Intonation 

The unique lilt used for sentences and questions in a language. Two basic intonation patterns in English convey meaning. Native English speakers learn this aspect of sound in their first five years of life. English learners must learn English sentence intonation.

  • Falling Pitch: Statements generally sound lower at the end.
  • Rising Pitch: Questions usually rise higher at the end.