An Overview of the Notion of Phonemic Awareness

Hello! I’m guessing that if you landed on this page on purpose then you are looking to find out more about the teaching method used in the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read what led to its development. Well, as you most likely already read, the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read program uses a method of teaching referred to as phonics which hinges on developing the reader’s phonemic awareness.

What is Phonemic Awareness?

There have been extensive scientific studies about the subject and it would take me a good deal of pages to communicate all the findings, so I’ll just cut right to the chase. As you probably know, the language we speak is made up of basic sounds referred to as phonemes. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, interpret and manipulate English phonemes.

How the Phonics Method of Teaching Works

To make a long story short the phonics system aims to allow beginning readers to decode and identify written words by sounding them out, which in the system’s terms is referred to as blending sound spelling patterns.

Ideally, as the child builds up their phonemic awareness they begin to be better manipulators of the English language, recognizing the certain words rhyme or that others share a similar structure for example. In other words, it will give them a much better grasp of how the language works and all the ways in which it can be manipulated.

The Benefits of a Developed Phonemic Awareness

Apart from making your child into a better reader, developing their phonemic awareness will make school much easier for them as they will write freely with more creativity and confidence. In addition to that, it will also increase his or her speech fluency as well as their ability to understand any types of text.

How the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Integrates the Phonics Learning Method

As you probably are already aware of it, the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read program has a pre-kindergarten level that was developed based on scientific studies which support the importance of phonemic awareness. More precisely, the first two levels of the program contain a lot of content based on the Phonics teaching system.

If you would like to learn more about the Hooked on Phonics system itself, then you can take a look at my Hooked on Phonics Review.