Phonemic Awareness, Literacy,

and Students who are DHH

Rachel Friedman Narr, Ph.D.California State University, Northridge

Deaf Educationrachel.narr@csun.edu

Part II Application for developing phonological awareness with

Deaf/Hard of Hearing students:

~HOW TO~

• Speechreading• Speech Production• Use of residual hearing; audition• Spelling; Fingerspelling; Orthography;

Morphography • Visual representation of English sounds

– Cued English – Visual phonics

GOAL: to build INTERNAL phonological representations

Remember VOCABULARY!

You will need to CONSISTENTLY AND MEANINGFULLY teach vocabulary

WHILE you teach decoding strategies.

MANY DHH children lack the English lexicon to associate word meaning with

English print.

Strategies for Decoding

• Syllabication • Rhyming• Phonic Analysis• Structural Analysis

– Visual configuration

• Context Cues– Semantic, syntactic, picture

• Dictionary• Assistance from others

The brain is a pattern seeker, you learn by analogy.

Chunking words helps working memory and decoding by breaking words into meaningful pieces

Consistent, systematic, and direct instruction is best for these skills

Clap, Tap, Jump, the Number of...

• Words in sentences

• Syllables in words

• Phonemes in words

Word Structure

easy

complex

cattruck base ball tel e phone

el e phantSyllables are auditory because rhythm is low

frequency information.Syllables are visual because vowels make you

open your mouth if you “mouth” the word.

Syllables are POWERFUL because they tell about the shape of a word.

Syllabication- breaking words into syllables

Syllabication• When fingerspelling

Provide spelling information using natural breaks in words (SYLLABLES)

• This process– enhances WORKING MEMORY skills– aids retention of spelling words– capitalizes on “rhythm” of words

El e phant

Onsets & Rimes and Rhyming

Chunking beyond the syllable, but before the phoneme

C A T T O P S L I D EThe ONSET is the initial consonant or

consonant blend.The RIME is the ending spelling pattern.Onsets are the most visual part of the

word- they are usually easy to lipread.

rain ice snowmaingaintraingrainstainstrain

 

ricedicespicevicetwicesplice

bowmowslowglowcrowknowthrow

If you can spell rain, then you can spell train.

~Using Onsets & Rimes~Words You Know facilitate independence

• Pick three or four familiar words that have a RIME (spelling pattern) which is utilized by many words.

• Place each word at the top of a chart column. Students also copy this chart.

• Discuss the spelling patterns in each word. Show students several one syllable words utilizing the patterns.  Students place the words in the correct column and then read the word.

• Have students explain the reason for placing each word in a specific column.

• Discuss the spelling patterns in each word. TIE INTO CONTEXT

Procedure

Phonic AnalysisTeach how sounds map to letters

Select a “special” sound to emphasize during the week. How many ways is that sound spelled? How many times can you find the word in print? Can you use those words in language (spoken or signed)?

phone cough

flag traffic

elephant stuff

Link phonics instruction to structural analysis

Capitalize on spelling patterns, word shapes, morphemes, and

affixes.

Examples of Structural Analysis Activities

• Have children read and write predictable books, stories, and poetry that highlight a specific phoneme or word pattern.

• Have children construct word family houses and ladders.

• Have children move letter patterns or letters to create new words

(ex: Making Words Activity).

Word ShapesOrthographic Cues

elephant

f i sh

Letter combinations

• Use letter combos to teach PATTERNS• Think about their frequency of

occurrence in the books you are reading(phone, elephant, cold, told, hold)

• Some are auditorally and visually similar(sh, ch, oa, oo, ou, and r-controlled vowels ar, er, ir, or)

THE BRAIN IS A PATTERN SEEKER

Teaching letter combinations

• use letter combinations that can be used to build words

Sample sequence for introducing letter combos.1. th 5. wh 9. ar 13. ai2. er 6. qu 10. ea 14. ch3. ing 7. ol 11. oo 15. or4. sh 8. oa 12. ee 16. ay

Structural analysis skills

includes • learning about letter

combinations• VC-e patterns (make, bite, hole)• VC-e derivatives (named, hoping)

Strategic Color Coding to show word parts

• Green: phonically regular words (ex: cat, swim)

• Yellow: irregular but frequent pattern ( ex: night)

• Red: irregular, need to memorize (ex: once)

Making Words• making words with letter tiles• sorting words by patterns, word families• making words quickly• extension activities (writing stories,

word wall, etc)

Cunningham, P.M., & Hall, D.P. (1994). Making Words. Torrance, CA: Frank Schaffer Publications.

Making Words Procedure

• Tell how many letters• Tell which letter/sound to change

– first, last, vowel

• Tell when to change the order of the letters/sounds

• Tell when to start from scratch

Make-a-Word Bingo

ake at ail ar old

end

For more information or further discussion on this presentation, please contact

Dr. Rachel Friedman Narrrachel.narr@csun.edu