Phonemic Awareness vs.
phonics: Untangling some
Rizalina c.
confusionlabanda
Despite the recent shift to
providing students with more
aligned foundational skills
instruction, we find that a
pesky confusion about the
phon-words, phonemic
awareness vs. phonics persists.
This confusion arises not only
because these words sound
similar but also because there
is a great deal of overlap
between the concepts they
Defining the
difference in
phonemic awareness
vs. phonics
Phonemic awareness
Phonemic Awareness is the
ability to hear distinguish,
and manipulate the smallest
individual sounds in spoken
words, which are called
phonemes.
Phonemes, although the
smallest units of sound in a
spoken language, play the
enormous role of making it
possible to distinguish one
word from another.
Examples of phonemic awareness skill
practice
• “What is the first sound in the
Phoneme Isolation - word ‘cat’?” (/k/)
identifying individual • What is the last sound in the
sounds in words. word ‘sit’?” (/t/)
Phoneme Blending –
listening to a sequence • “What word do these sounds
of separately spoken make:
• /s/ /a/ /t/?” (sat)
sounds and combining
them to form a word.
Examples of phonemic awareness skill
practice
• “How many sounds are in the
Phoneme Segmentation word ‘ship’?” (/sh/ /i/ /p/ - 3
– breaking a word into sounds)
its individual sounds. • “Say the word ‘dog’ one sound at
a time.” (/d/ /o/ /g/)
Phoneme Deletion –
recognizing what • “What is ‘smile’ without the /s/?”
remains when a (mile)
• “Say ‘cart’ without /k/.” (art).
phoneme is removed
from a word.
Examples of phonemic awareness skill
practice
Phoneme Addition – • “What word do you get if you
making a new word by add /s/ to the beginning of
‘top’?” (stop)
adding a phoneme to an
existing word.
Phoneme Substitution –
• “Change the /sh/ in ‘shop’ to /m/.
changing one phoneme What’s the new word?” (mop)
in a word to make a • “Change the /g/ in ‘tug’ to /b/.
new word. What’s the new word?.” (tub).
It’s important to understand
that phonemic awareness is a
subset of the more general
term, phonological awareness.
Phonological awareness is an
umbrella term referring to the
work with various sized sound
structures. It includes bigger
chunks of language –
sentences, words, syllables,
rimes, etc. – but it also
includes those individual
sounds known as phonemes.
Phonics
Phonics is the alphabetic code
that enables the brain to
translate written language back
into spoken language and
comprehend the ideas the code
represents.
Phonics instruction involves
emphasizing the relationship
between written symbols
(graphemes) and the sounds they
represent (phonemes).
Examples of phonics skill practice
• “I’ll point to a letter, and you tell
Letter Naming- me what it is.” (K)
identifying individual • “See if you can name all the
letters (rapidly) letters that spell your partner’s
name.”
Letter Formation– • “Here is how you write the letter
writing letters by hand P. Start at the top, go straight
down, go back up and make a
and in effi cient ways loop.” (Model each step as it is
described.)
• “I’m going to call out names of
some letters, and you write each
one on your board. Write the
Examples of phonics skill practice
Encoding-stretching out • “Stretch out the word and
a spoken word and write the spelling foe each
sound in order”
writing (in order) the
graphemes that • Write the word by spelling
represent each sound. each sound one at a time.
In other words, Reread the sounds you have
so far every time you add
translating spoken
another one.” (f, fi, fish).
language into written
language.
Examples of phonics skill practice
Decoding-Translating • “Sound it out.”
individual graphemes
• “Say each sound in the word
into their sounds and without stopping in between
blending those together like this /rrruuunnn/.”
to read a word. In other
words translating • “Blend each sound together
until you can hear the word.”
written language into
spoken language.
Elements of effective
phonemic awareness
vs. phonics
instruction
They are both systematic
• They are built around a gradual
and thoughtful plan (scope and
sequence) for instruction.
The plan builds from simple to
complex.
A common scope and sequence
is shared by all staff across a
building.
They are both explicit
• It is with clear and direct
explanations and opportunities for
practice and feedback.
The teacher consistently uses a
flexible set of brain-friendly
learning routines.
Instruction is provided in large-
group and small-group
settings.
They are both Cumulative
• It is with a plan for review and assessment
of previously taught skills.
There are frequent opportunities for
practice and feedback.
Word lists and decodable texts include
strategic opportunities for cumulative
review.
Weekly spelling dictation includes new
and review skills.
Do’s and dont’s of
phonemic awareness
vs. phonics
Prioritizing
• DON’T LINGER on the more general
phonological awareness tasks
(rhyming, alliteration, syllable level
work).
• Don’t teach phonics through word
families and rhyme.
• These broader skills aren’t
‘prerequisites’ for the more
specific phoneme-level work.
Prioritizing
• DO PRIORITIZE instructional work
at the phoneme level (phonemic
awareness) beginning as early as
Pre-K because it has more critical
and direct implications for
learning to read and write.
preventing
• DON’T NEGLECT intentional
instruction in both phonemic
awareness and phonics.
• Students don’t have to struggle
before you offer extra support.
• Don’t forget to employ simple
formative assessments.
Preventing
• DO FORTIFY your understanding of
effective phonemic awareness and
phonics instruction, including
what makes a task more or less
diffi cult, such as the type of
sounds, word length, and the
position of the phoneme in a
word.
integrating
• DON’T HYPER FOCUS on phonics and
phonemic awareness instruction word
work in isolation.
• Don’t forget to engage students
with the meanings of their
practice words.
integrating
• DO INTEGRATE phonemic
awareness work into your phonics
instruction and vice versa.
• Bring letters into your phonemic
awareness instruction, and work
segmenting and blending into
your phonics instructions.
extending
• DON’T SKIMP on writing! These
foundational skills are most easily
learned when students have the
opportunity to apply them through
writing.
extending
• DO KEEP THE TOOLS and
resources to support and extend
phonics and phonemic awareness
instruction close at hand.
• Select and display consistent
sound-spelling keywords, and
equip yourself with word lists and
decodable texts.
Key takeaways for
teaching
phonemic awareness
vs. phonics
All phonemic
awareness is a
subset of the
broader set of skills
referred to as
phonological
awareness.
All phonemic
awareness work is
a kind of
phonological
awareness, but not
all phonological
awareness tasks
are phoneme-level
Phoneme-level
work has the most
direct impact on
reading and writing
success, so we
should start with
children early.
The other
phonological tasks
(rhyming,
alliteration, syllable
clapping) are not
prerequisites to
phoneme-level
work (reading).
Successful phonics
instruction depends
on the
development of
phonemic
awareness.
Don’t limit phonemic
awareness instruction to
oral practice. Research
shows that bringing
phonemic awareness and
phonics instruction
together as soon as
children have learned a
few sound-spelling is most
Phonemic Awareness vs.
phonics: Untangling some
Rizalina c. labanda
confusion
Thank
you!
Thank
you very
much
