This is a presentation I created for my Queen's University Masters Course (PME 841 Critical Foundations of Literacy) all about Phonemic Awareness, Phonetic Awareness and Reading Engagement.

1. Literacy Leader Presentation
For Primary Teachers teaching Grades K-3, Struggling
Readers and students new to English
By: Michelle Hobbs

2. Phonological Awareness
What is it?
Phonological awareness is often confused with phonemic awareness, however
phonological awareness is the umbrella term that phonemic awareness falls under.
Phonological awareness includes: “words within sentences, rhyming units within words,
beginning and ending sounds within words, syllables within words, phonemes or sounds,
within words (phonological awareness) and features of individuals phonemes such as how
the mouth, tongue, vocal cords and teeth are used to produce the sound”. (Eldredge,
1995 as found in Blevins, 2017, pg.47) Phonological awareness refers to the oral sound,
while phonics refers to how the sounds appear in writing. (Phonological and Phonemic
Awareness: Reading Rockets)
Phonological awareness umbrella image from
The Dyslexia Classroom

3. Phonological Awareness
Why is it important?
Phonological awareness is important if we wish for students to explore the sounds and
patterns within oral language and then eventually translate that into reading and
understanding written language. “Phonological awareness is critical for learning to read
any alphabetic writing system. And research shows that difficulty with phoneme
awareness and other phonological skills is a predictor of poor reading and spelling
development.” (Moats & Tolman, Reading Rockets) Phonological awareness makes
students more aware of a language, it’s sounds and how the language operates orally.
What is Phonological Awareness from “Teaching
with Jillian Starr”

4. Phonological Awareness
Instructional Practices
There are many aspects of sounds, words and sentences that can be placed under the auspices of
“phonological awareness” as the image above suggests. One activity specific to phonological awareness is
explained on the YouTube Channel “Learning at the Primary Pond.” For this activity students say the
name of all of the pictures. They then identify which picture on the right is a rhyming word for the
picture on the left. After they identify the word on the right that is the rhyming word, they take a clothes
pin and pin it on the rhyming word. Not only is this activity engaging for young learners who need to
learn through play and manipulating materials, it helps them to further their understanding of rhyming
and teachers may observe how students are doing in this activity as a type of assessment. (Learning at the
Primary Pond, 5 Center Activities for Practicing Phonological Awareness)
Right image is from “Phonological Awareness Recipe” from Clever Classroom. Left image is a screenshot from the YouTube Channel
Learning at Primary Pond, 5 Center Activities for Practicing Phonological Awareness.

5. Phonemic Awareness
What is it?
“Phonemic awareness is the understanding or insight that a word is made up of a series of discrete (separate)
sounds. Each of these sounds is called a phoneme. This awareness includes the ability to pick out and
manipulate sounds in spoken words.” (Blevins, 2017, pg. 47) Phonemic awareness is about the individual
isolated sounds. According to Reading Rockets, Phonemic awareness is usually the last skill to develop under
the umbrella of phonological awareness. In order to easily think of the difference between phonological
awareness and phonemic awareness, one might think of a “phoneme” this is the smallest individual sound in
the English language such as “m” or “ee” or “ch”. Phonemic awareness is thus an oral awareness of the
individual sounds of words. Phonics refers to the translation of that knowledge to writing.
Phonological awareness umbrella image from
The Dyslexia Classroom

6. Phonemic Awareness
Why is it important?
Phonemic awareness is the pre-requisite needed to build upon phonics knowledge
through instruction. Phonemic awareness involves students orally being aware of
sounds in words and how to manipulate those sounds. It involves students being able
to segment and blend words orally. Without phonemic awareness phonics instruction
is not going to make much sense, but phonemic awareness can be taught. A number
of studies show that with intervention in phonemic awareness, students are able to
learn and master the skills needed to learn how to read. The purpose of these
interventions is to help students understand the connection between the sounds of
words (oral English) and written words. (Blevins, 2017, pg. 54-55)
Image from Hanging around in Primary – Tales
from a First Grade Classroom

7. Phonemic Awareness
Instructional Practices
Firstly if you know or suspect that a child is struggling with phonemic awareness you may choose to use a
phonemic awareness screener such as that found in the book Phonics from A to Z a practical guide or from the
blog Hanging around in Primary - Tales from a First Grade Classroom. (resources listed at the end). This might give
you more information about the specific aspects of phonemic awareness the child is struggling with.
In terms of a specific instructional practice, students must play with oral language in order to make students
aware of the sounds in oral language. In a video on the blog post How to Build Phonemic Awareness in a Fun Way.
The Dyslexia Classroom a teacher demonstrates how she works with a student one on one with picture cards.
That student is looking at the pictures in front of them and stretching out the sounds of the words such as s-
n-a-ke. He puts down tokens each time he says a sound. This is a good introduction to segmenting and
blending sounds that will later occur when the child learns how to read. (Harrison, Casey) It can also connect
to the use of Elkonin boxes later on, when phonics are introduced.
Left is a screenshot from How to Build Phonemic Awareness in a Fun Way from The Dyslexia Classroom. Right image is from All About
Elkonin Boxes from Literacy Learn.

8. Reading Engagement
What is it?
“Reading engagement refers to an individual’s actual involvement in
reading, as reflected in behavior, affect, or cognition (Guthrie, Wigfield, &
You, 2012 as quoted in Barber and Klauda 2020).” Reading engagement is
related to immersing oneself fully in the text whether out of interest, or for
some greater purpose such as research or getting good grades. Reading
engagement drives readers to read more, out of their desires and
motivation. Reading motivation tends to produce reading engagement. This
is why it is important to try to motivate students into reading more.
As a teacher I talk to parents at the beginning of the year and make it clear
that: 1. Good readers read, 2. students need to engage in reading activities
at home daily but also that 3. We want to keep students motivated to read,
so don’t push them to read ridiculous amounts daily if reading is not their
personal interest.

9. Reading Engagement
Why is it important?
Students need to buy into reading. If students aren’t engaged in reading, or motivated
to read, they are likely to read less. If they read less or find the process of reading
boring or frustrating or develop anxiety surrounding the activity, then they are more
likely to fare poorly when it comes to academics, as so much of what is done
throughout school and in life comes down to Literacy.
Reading is important to access both fiction (research has shown that people who read
more fiction tend to be more empathetic as it expands their ability to take on new
perspectives – Schmidt, 2020) and to read non-fiction in order to learn more.

10. Reading Engagement
Instructional Practices
Engaging read alouds, modeling the enjoyment of reading and teaching students strategies for the selection of
“just right” books that they are interested in, are all paramount in increasing student reading engagement.
This past year whenever I could manage to do so in the classroom, I would have students go “book shopping”
and put books in their book box. I taught them strategies for how to choose a “just right” book, using The Daily
Five model of PICK (Purpose, Interest, Comprehension, Know the Rules) and The 5 Finger Rule. Students were
also taught to look at the cover, read the back, read the first page and browse the pictures inside to try to figure
out if it was a book they would be interested in.
As the books students were choosing from came from the library, when I was selecting new books for our
classroom library, if I saw a book that I thought would appeal to a certain student based on their interest, as
happened one day when I came across a book called “We Don’t Eat Our Classmates” I will take that book out
of the library, add it to our classroom library, and try to direct students that I feel will enjoy that book, towards
that particular book. In this way, students will find reading more engaging and fun as they continue to develop
their reading engagement and reading stamina skills.
Quote from author Neil Gaiman

11. References
• Barber, A. T., & Klauda, S. L. (2020). How Reading Motivation and Engagement Enable Reading Achievement: Policy Implications. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7(1), 27–34.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732219893385
• Blevins, Wiley. (2017) Phonics from A to Z A Practical Guide. (3rd Ed.) Scholastic.
• Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2006). The Daily Five. Stenhouse.
• Christina. Phonological and Phonemic Awareness – What is the Difference? Hanging Around in Primary – Tales from a First Grade Classroom.
https://www.hangingaroundinprimary.com/2017/07/what-is-the-difference-between-phonological-and-phonemic-awareness.html
• Emma. (2016, May 19) What is Phonological Awareness? Clever Classroom. https://jillianstarrteaching.com/what-is-phonological-awareness/
• Harrison, Casey. (2022, April 1) How to Build Phonemic Awareness in a Fun Way. The Dyslexia Classroom. https://www.thedyslexiaclassroom.com/blog/20how-to-build-phonemic-awareness-
in-a-fun-way
• Katie. (2022, October 18). All About Elkonin Boxes (Sound Boxes). Literacy Learn. https://literacylearn.com/all-about-elkonin-boxes/
• Starr, Jillian. What is Phonological Awareness? 5 Key Parts to Know. Teaching with Jillian Starr.
• Learning at the Primary Pond. 5 Centers for Practicing Phonological Awareness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwC9ll0gUq4
• Moats, Louisa & Tolman, Carol. Why Phonological Awareness is Important for Reading and Spelling. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/early-literacy-
development/articles/why-phonological-awareness-important-reading-and
• Phonological and Phonemic Awareness – An Introduction. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-101-learning-modules/course-modules/phonological-and-
phonemic-awareness
• Schmidt, Megan. (2020, Aug 2020) How Reading Increases Empathy and Encourages Understanding. Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-reading-fiction-increases-empathy-and-
encourages-understanding