Nachalee Wongpaijit (Nacha) ID : 5714070004
Joseph K. Torgesen and Patricia G. Mathes (1998). What Every Teacher Should Know about Phonological Awareness. Available: http://www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/phon9872.pdf
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This article discusses the definition of phonological awareness and its importance roles for learning to read. Phonological awareness skills are detailed outlining that which skills should teach at which grade in order to develop good reading skill.
Phonological awareness is refers to explicit awareness of the sound structures of words in a language. It is involves both learning that words can be divided into segments of sound smaller than a syllable as well as learning about the individual phonemes themselves.
Phonological awareness is important in learning to read for three main reasons. First, it helps children understand the alphabetic principle, showing how words in oral language are represented in print. Second, it helps children notice the regular ways letters represent sounds in words, which is correlated to fluent reading. Third, it makes it possible to generate possibilities for words in context that are only partially sounded out.
The author gives a chart detailing what the average child can do from beginning kindergarten to the end of first grade, showing a progression of skill development to discuss the normal developmental course for phonological awareness. Although some children may acquire to develop basic phonological awareness skills as early as two and a half to three years of age, more advanced skills are not mastered until the end of first grade.
The author cites research which shown that genetic endowment and preschool linguistic experience are the factors in differences among children in acquiring phonological awareness skills. Even after children enter school, the