Phonemic Awareness Which Uses to Better Children Reading Skills - Essay Example

Task Introduction Since ancient times, there have been many changes revolving around the education sector. These have been seenin the methodologies utilized in teaching children. Children have been edified on how to recognize unfamiliar words and identifying how sounds correspond to letters. There has been immense concern in edifying children to become knowledgeable and the use of phonemic methods, which help children in their natural environment. Phonemic Awareness has been used to better children reading skills. Phonemic Awareness is the capability of a child to categorize and control sounds in spoken words. Children should understand sounds first before they learn how to write. It is important to know that terms are fabricated by individual sounds. Phonemic Awareness is significant because it helps students read better and to comprehend words without any problems. Phonemic Awareness can be developed through the mixing of words, removing and adding words, replacing sounds to make new words. It is helpful when children are taught how to control phonemes using alphabetic letters. Children should be taught how to control few phonemes because it leads to straightforward understanding of words than controlling many phonemes (Moustafa, 2008) Phonemic should be taught by encouraging children to identify words that start with a similar sound, picking out the first and last sound and joining the sounds to make a word. Since early times, children understanding in reading have gone through diverse changes. These changes are the basic factors that guarantee either the malfunction or success of children in learning how to read. Long ago, people suggested that children learnt how to read by understanding letters. This old methodology was used in teaching learning skills to children. There are challenges that are accompanied by use of letters in teaching reading skills. A German researcher suggested the use of words in teaching reading skills instead of using letters. This is because words provide meaning and make sense while letters provide parts of the idea. It is because of this reason that both parents and teachers are debating whether to use the letter approach in teaching reading skills or use of word approach in teaching reading skills. Some researchers conducted experiments that proved the Whole Word Approach to be advantageous to the Letter Approach. It was proven that identifying a five-letter word is easier than identifying five random letters. He also suggested that it takes a long time to identify random words than it takes to identify a sentence (Moustafa, 2008). It is unfortunate that even after it was proven that Whole Word Approach is better than Phonemic Approach; people still use Letter Word Approach. Teachers who taught children using letter approach recommended children to read text that was manipulated with letters while those who utilized Whole Word Approach recommended children to read text that is controlled by words. At the start of the twenty first century educationist recommended the combination of both Whole Word Approach and Letter Approach. It was after these encounter that educationist in America emphasized on the use of Whole Word Approach and discouraging the use of Phonic Approach. Children were given storybooks to read, and this was supposed to improve their reading skills. The books contained pictures that were used for understanding of the story, the words did not contain the story line but the pictures did. Researchers argued that phonic contributed to illiteracy because it does not give instruction. It is because of this reason that teachers are advised to teach children on the different sounds of letters. This enables learners to read and understand effortlessly (Moustafa, 2008). Even though there is great difference in letter approach and whole word process approach, the two have the same principle. The two processes assume that teaching to read is part of the whole process, in that as children study to read letters and words they are able to learn the whole process. Use of distorted language instead of natural language makes reading more difficult to children. It should be understood that pronouncing text does not involve understanding the text. Children are taught first to pronounce print then later they are taught to understand text. It has been noted that children learn more than what they are taught hence they add to their learning by energetically participating in the learning process. Reading is not only pronouncing and saying words, but also understanding the text. For example, saying words that are written in a language that one does not understand is not considered as reading. Understanding and saying the language is what is considered as reading. Children should be taught to pronounce and understanding words for betterment of their reading skills. It has been noted that early readers read efficiently in a language they are familiar with than in a language they are not familiar to. Children’s reading is affected by the experience and type of material they are reading. When children read material that they are interested in, their reading skills are improved as opposed to reading uninteresting material. It is due to this fact that teachers should provide learners with interesting materials. When children are engaged in shared reading of predictable stories, they are able to grasp the letter word easily. It has been proven that whole word approach process is more effective than phonic instruction method. For teachers to ensure effective reading, they should have knowledge and appropriate materials for passing instructions. Children should be given books with predictable stories and the books should be suitable for their age. For effective reading skills to be impacted to children, the politicians and press should support the discoveries made on the new methods of reading and get rid of the traditional ways. This will advocate for teachers with the knowledge of affecting better reading skills. We are in a situation where teachers and parents are not aware of the new discoveries made in reading skills. Those who use traditional methods for passing instructions are making the reading process to be ineffective. To attain effective reading skills, the policy makers should reach out to consult organizations that are interested in improvement of reading skills. It is important to help the policy makers and public in realizing the new discoveries that have been made in order to bring efficient reading skills. This can be achieved by providing courses that teach on effective reading skills. If possible, there should be a program in high school that educates parents on the new methods of teaching reading skills. Conclusion Phonemic awareness is very significant as it helps children to blend words in order to come up with a word that has meaning. Children are able to isolate the beginning sound and the last sound. Children with reading problems are not able to segment words to produce sounds. Children who are able to control phonemes are able to gain the necessary skills for efficient reading. References Constance, W. (2000). Practicing What We Know. Urban: National Council of Teachers of English. Gordon, W. (2001). The Meaning Makers. Portsmouth: Heinemann. Hebert, K. (2000). The Discipline of Hope: New York. New Press. Jacks, K. (2003). Peters Chair. New York: Puffin Books. Moustafa, M. (2008). Beyond Traditions. Portsmouth: Heinemann Educational Books. Scieska, J. (2000). The Book That Jack Wrote. New York: Puffin Books. Read More