NSW Centre for Effective Reading

Telephone02 9687 0377

EmailNSWCER@det.nsw.edu.au

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness and the building blocks to reading

There are six component areas (or building blocks) to reading

  1. Oral language
  2. Phonological awareness
  3. Phonics
  4. Vocabulary
  5. Fluency
  6. Comprehension

Phonological awareness is the ability to hear words in sentences, hear and join in rhymes and hear letter-sounds.

Like oral language, phonological awareness is one of those building blocks that start to develop early in a child’s life, even before school starts.

Specifically, children develop the skills to hear individual sounds (or phonemes) in words and learn how to manipulate those sounds. Ask your child: What sound can you hear first in a word? What sound can you hear last?

Try getting them to blend sounds to make simple words (c-a-t = cat) and also to pull sounds apart (dog = d-o-g). This is called phonemic awareness.

Supporting your child’s phonological awareness can be lots of fun!

·         Read books and share rhymes

·         Sing nursery rhymes and poems (Jack and Jill went up the…)

·         Make up rhyming words (they don’t have to real- din, pin, sim)

·         Clap along to rhymes and even beat out syllables in words (ta/ble, el/e/phant)