Phonemic awareness development and beginning reading: At-risk children in programs of integrated language arts instruction

In this study phonemic awareness development is examined as it occurs among grade one students engaged in learning to read and write in integrated language arts programs.Five children in each of four classrooms were identified by their teachers as at risk for failure to learn to read and write. They were assessed on measures of phonemic awareness, reading, and writing in October and April. To document the nature of the language arts instruction the children received, observations of classroom instruction occurred throughout the year. Teachers were interviewed to provide insight into their theoretical orientation to instruction, and parents were asked to respond to a written questionnaire to describe the home literacy experiences of the children. Finally, the children were asked to share their perspectives of learning to read and write.The data from all sources were reviewed and analyzed to identify the inter-relationships of phonemic awareness, reading, and writing. Writing using invented spelling and reading connected text appeared to contribute to phonemic awareness while at the same time, phonemic awareness facilitates reading and writing. Successful reading and writing was found to be related to the ability to manipulate phonemes, but exceptions were found in individual performances.The classroom programs varied in degree of integration of instruction, in time spent reading trade books and basal reading materials, and in time spent writing. In addition, the home literacy experiences of the children differed in both type and frequency. Reading success was found to be associated with extensive classroom reading and writing experience and frequent home literacy activity.The findings of this study are significant in that they not only corroborate previous research--phonemic awareness is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for reading success--but they make that affirmation concerning the special population of children at risk for failure to learn to read and write in the context of integrated language arts instruction.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio