5.5: Considerations for English Learner Students and Students with Disabilities, and Additional Resources

This section describes general principles and strategies for teaching phonological awareness to English learner students and students with disabilities. These children may need more time to practice with teacher feedback, more explicit instruction, or another modified strategy. Teachers working with students who have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) should consult the plan and work in concert with a specialist (preschool special education teacher or speech-language pathologist). If a teacher suspects a child should be screened for a possible disability or delay, they should consult an administrator.

Making Instruction Accessible to All Children

It is important to approach teaching with the goal of meeting the needs of every child in the classroom. If you design instruction from the start to be responsive to all children’s needs—including those with a wide range of cognitive and sensory abilities, those with limited prior exposure to phonological awareness concepts, and those with developmental disabilities and delays—you will need to make fewer on-the-spot adaptations later when you implement it. In other words, you can build features that support all children directly into material selection, activities, and the manner in which you interact with children while guiding their learning during those activities.

For example, if there are children in your classroom who have difficulty using their fingers to pick up small objects or picture cards, you can add magnets to these items; then, during the activity, these children can fully participate by using a magnet wand to manipulate the objects or picture cards. As another example, if there are children in your classroom who have hearing impairments, you can select a location for small-group instruction that is quiet, so that those children can better hear you and their peers model saying words and sounds and can get the most out of the instructional opportunity.

Planning ahead to enhance accessibility can make all the difference. Of course, this does not mean that you will not need to monitor how children are engaging with your instructional activities—being responsive in the moment is very important, too.

Providing regular feedback is an important aspect of accessible and adaptive instruction. The discussion below describes some aspects of instruction that you should consider when designing accessible instruction that you can adapt to different children’s needs. Many of these will look familiar because they have been already described as part of high-quality, explicit instruction.

Scaffolding

Scaffolding is a key element in accessible, differentiated instruction. Providing feedback to a child’s incorrect response—in other words, providing cues so that the child can successfully complete the task—is scaffolding instruction. One way to scaffold instruction is to provide supportive verbal prompts and more modeling. For example, if a child who is asked to say the two parts of the compound word popcorn responds, “Popcorn,” that response needs to be scaffolded. The teacher might say, for example, “The word is popcorn. If the first part is pop, then the second part is ___________?” An example of a non-scaffolded response is “Try again” or “Listen again; the word is popcorn.”

Do you notice the difference in the two examples? In the first example the teacher provided a cue to the child by providing the first part of the word, pop. In the second example the teacher is simply asking the child to try again, which is not helpful. An important part of scaffolding is immediate corrective feedback, so children do not practice or get reinforced for incorrect responses to a task, which can confuse them. Providing frequent positive feedback for even partially correct responses or good efforts is especially important for children’s motivation and attention.

Accept Nonverbal Responses

Although verbal responses should be encouraged, children can demonstrate knowledge of phonological awareness with nonverbal responses. You can elicit nonverbal responses in a variety of ways. For example, to determine whether children can segment syllables in words, you can ask them to clap each word part. You can also use pictures during phonological awareness instruction—for example, showing a child a picture of a bird, a cat, and a dog and asking children to point to the picture that begins with /b/. For children with very limited oral language, you may stay with pointing activities for a long time. However, always encourage children to talk. In the previous example, you might ask the child to repeat, “Bird starts with /b/. Say it with me, bird.” For other children, you can change expectations from accepting nonverbal responses to encouraging verbal responses as instruction progresses.

Use Pictures and Prompts

Using pictures to support understanding is an excellent strategy for all children, even those who readily give verbal responses. However, it is especially important to ensure that children with language impairments or English learner children know the names of pictured objects or actions before you ask them to use it in a phonological awareness activity. Take a minute to briefly point to each picture or item and clearly say its name before continuing with the planned activity. Have children repeat it to you so that they hear themselves say it. This will ensure that children with less advanced English language skills are not confused.

Adjust Pacing and Scaffolding

During small-group instruction, one way teachers differentiate is by changing the pace of instruction. You can move faster for groups that are completing tasks successfully and slower for groups that need more practice and feedback. More scaffolded instruction, or more support, is provided for groups that need it and fewer scaffolds for groups that do not.

Simplify Instruction

You may have some children who are progressing slowly in mastering phonological awareness. For these children, in addition to providing consistent scaffolding and a slower pace, it can be helpful to further simplify the instruction. For example, you may typically conduct small-group activities using four or six different words in a lesson. For children having difficulty understanding the specific phonological awareness task, try simplifying to just two different words at a time. That way, you can scaffold by asking children a forced-choice question that can be easier for them to answer correctly.

For example, if your task is to blend compound words, you might show pictures of a football and a birdhouse. Label the two pictures, and then say, “Listen, bird (long pause) house….is that football or birdhouse?” Once children can master this version of activities, you can slowly scale up to using more words at a time and asking children to produce the correct responses themselves. Young children frequently repeat the last word heard. So, vary the placement of the correct response (first, second, or last).

Accelerate When Needed

You may also have children who are progressing more quickly across the phonological awareness continuum than others. Providing more complex phonological awareness activities at different levels (moving to syllable, onset-rime, and phoneme level skills) is appropriate for those children. Children who demonstrate skill at tasks using onset-rime, for example, may be ready for phonemic awareness activities such as blending and segmenting phonemes, or individual sounds, in two- or three-phoneme words. For example, “I’m going to say a word one sound at a time, then you tell me the word. Listen. /m/ /ē/. What word?” The children respond, “Me.” A slightly more complex task is asking children to say each sound they hear in the word am. The correct response is /ă/ /m/. Notice in the first example, the children blended, or put together, the sounds they heard in the word me. The second example is more complex because the children were required to segment, or take apart, the sounds in am.

Another way to accelerate learning is to include some activities that bring together the letter name and letter sound knowledge children have been gaining in their print knowledge lessons with the phonological awareness skills they have been gaining in separate lessons. Using letters for which children already know the sounds, you can ask children to complete onset segmentation or deletion activities, onset-rime blending activities, or phoneme blending activities using letter tiles or magnets. For all of these activities use only simple consonant-vowel-consonant words such as sat, mug, and pin. Avoid words with complex consonant clusters at the beginning or end such as drip, throw, milk, or duck.

The Importance of Sound Pronunciation

Children can struggle to develop phonological and phonemic awareness because they have learned incorrect ways to pronounce letter sounds. It is important to correctly pronounce sounds and avoid common mistakes such as adding /uh/ (the schwa sound) after a consonant. For example, in an effort to ensure the whole class can hear her saying each sound, sometimes a teacher will say /suh/ instead of /s/ for the letter sound for S, and /tuh/ instead of /t/ for the letter sound for T. This distortion of letter sounds may confuse children when the teacher says, “I’m going to say each sound in a word and you tell me the word: /suh/ /ă/ /tuh/. What word?” Most of the time, children will respond, “suhatuh,” and it is unlikely that they will say “sat.” Instead, the teacher should say, “I’m going to say each sound in a word and you tell me the word: /s/ /ă/ /t/. What word?” The idea of pronouncing sounds clearly and correctly applies to every level of phonological awareness. For example, at the onset-rime level, say /f/-/ast/ instead of /fuh/ /ast/. So, when children blend the onset and rime, they will say fast as opposed to fuhast.

To effectively teach phonological awareness skills, teachers must pronounce letter sounds correctly and understand that there are two ways that sounds can be categorized: continuous/stop sounds and voiced/unvoiced sounds.

A continuous sound can be pronounced for several seconds without any distortion. For example, the letter sound for M is /m/. You can hold /m/ for several seconds, and the sound will remain the same. Continuous sounds are the easiest sounds for children to produce and blend. A stop sound is a quick sound that can be correctly pronounced for only an instant. For example, /b/ or /t/. It is very important not to say /buh/ or /tuh/, adding the schwa sound.

A voiced sound is one that makes the vocal cords vibrate, such as /v/ or /j/. Place your hand on your throat at your vocal cords and say /v/. Do you feel the vibration? An unvoiced sound is one that does not make the vocal cords vibrate, such as /s/ or /f/. Place your hand on your throat at your vocal cords and say /s/. There is no vibration, so it is an unvoiced sound. Learning the differences between these sounds will help you become more conscious of the way phonemes sound and feel.

Review the sound pronunciation guide in the table below and practice accurately saying sounds.

Table 5.5.1 Sound Pronunciation Guide

Sound	Key Word	Continuous or Stop	Voiced or Unvoiced
/b/	big	stop	voiced
/a/	apple	continuous	voiced
/p/	park	stop	unvoiced
/t/	top	stop	unvoiced
/d/	dog	stop	voiced
/v/	van	continuous	voiced
/e/	Ed	continuous	voiced
/f/	fan	continuous	unvoiced
/g/	go	stop	voiced
/k/	cat	stop	unvoiced
/i/	it	continuous	voiced
/z/	zoo	continuous	voiced
/s/	sell	continuous	unvoiced
/o/	octopus	continuous	voiced
/m/	mat	continuous	voiced
/n/	net	continuous	voiced
/r/ not /er/	run	continuous	voiced
/u/	up	continuous	voiced
/l/	log	continuous	voiced
/y/	yes	continuous	voiced
/w/	wet	continuous	voiced
/h/	hat	stop	unvoiced
/qw/	quit	stop	unvoiced
/j/	jump	stop	voiced
/ks/	fox	continuous	unvoiced

Spanish

Some teachers may choose to also complete phonological awareness activities using Spanish words. There are a few key considerations to note when planning for these activities. First, compound words are much less common in Spanish than in English, so it can be more challenging to find words to use in activities. There are certainly some to try such as lavaplatos (dishwasher), cortarcésped (lawnmower), saltamontes (grasshopper), and girasol (sunflower). Second, in general, Spanish has fewer monosyllabic words than English. This means that the types of words selected for use in phonological awareness activities will typically have more syllables and more phonemes than the words one would usually select in English.

Additional Resources

This section includes additional evidence-based instructional resources and articles to enhance phonological awareness instruction and extend knowledge about effective early childhood instruction. The resources and articles in this section were free and readily available when this document was finalized.

Phonological Awareness Instructional Resources

• Voluntary Prekindergarten Learning Center Activities developed by a team of teachers and researchers at the Florida Center for Reading Research. Under the title Phonological Awareness, you will find activities that address rhyme, syllables, compound words, and onset and rime. https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities/pre-kindergarten
• Reading Rockets (readingrockets.org) creates and disseminates free, evidence-based resources and information about reading.
  • Letters vs. Phonemes - Reading researcher Dr. Louisa Moats explains to a kindergarten teacher why it is critical to differentiate between the letters and sounds within a word when teaching children to read and write. https://youtu.be/J608Dbhs6J8
  • The Importance of Visual Input - Reading researcher Dr. Louisa Moats demonstrates to a kindergarten teacher how modeling the making of sounds helps children firmly establish letter sounds. https://youtu.be/k-28Mdl0I_M
  • Development of Phonological Skills - Moats, L., & Tolman, C. (2009). The development of phonological skills. This resource describes the milestones for acquiring phonological skills. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/development-phonological-skills
  • Six Syllable Types - Moats, L., & Tolman, C. (2009). Six syllable types. This resource describes the six types of syllables, why it is important to teach syllables, and the sequence students learn about spoken and written syllables. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/six-syllable-types
  • Importance of Phonological Awareness for Later Reading and Spelling - Moats, L., & Tolman, C. (2009). Why phonological awareness is important for reading and spelling. This resource helps describe the link between phonological awareness and later reading success. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/why-phonological-awarenessimportant-reading-and-spelling
  • Targeting Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Problems - Learn some of the ways phonological and phonemic awareness problems articulate from a child, parent, and teacher perspective. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/whyphonological-awareness-important-reading-and-spelling
• Colorin Colorado! (colorincolorado.org) creates and disseminates free, research-based information and activities about supporting English learner students.
  • Supporting English Learner Students - Describes early literacy instruction in dual language preschools (Spanish/English). https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/early-literacy-instruction-dual-language-preschools-spanishenglish

Related Articles

• Anthony, J. L., & Francis, D. J. (2005). Development of phonological awareness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14(5), 255–259. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254081715_ Development_of_Phonological_Awareness
• Baker, S. K., Beattie, T., Nelson, N. J., & Turtura, J. (2018). Improving literacy brief: How we learn to read: The critical role of phonological awareness. Washington, DC: National Center on Improving Literacy. https://improvingliteracy.org/sites/improvingliteracy1.uoregon.edu/files/briefs/how-we-learn-to-read-the-critical-role-of-phonological-awareness.pdf
• Chard, D. J., & Dickson, S. V. (1999). Phonological awareness: Instructional and assessment guidelines. Intervention in School and Clinic, 34(5), 261–270. http://www.ldonline.org/article/6254
• ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation. (1995, December). Beginning reading and phonological awareness for students with learning disabilities. http://www.ldonline.org/article/6280/
• Schuele, C. M., & Boudreau, D. (2008). Phonological awareness intervention: Beyond the basics. Language, Speech, & Hearing Services in Schools, 39(1), 3–20. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6363/7fb9f282a7b3bc71a9e17149bd00a6c8b137.pdf
• U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, What Works Clearinghouse. (2012, June). Early childhood education interventions for children with disabilities: Phonological awareness training. Washington, DC: Author. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionReports/wwc_ pat_060512.pdf
• Wilson, T., Nabors, D., Berg, H., Simpson, C., & Timme, K. (2012). Small-group reading instruction: Lessons from the field. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 40(3), 30–39. https://www.rcboe.org/cms/lib/GA01903614/Centricity/Domain/11936/Dimensions_Vol40_3_Wilson.pdf