Technology and Phonemic Awareness in Early Literacy Development

Introduction to Literacy Development

The ideal means of cultivating reading skills among children is by utilizing instruction that combines multiple techniques. In the current educational setting, phonological awareness, together with phonics, forms a key element of instruction in this area. Phonics represents a grasp of spoken sounds (phonemes) and alphabets, graphemes or spellings characterizing sounds, and alphabet combinations. Both elements prove crucial to decoding — for instance, using phoneme manipulation, spelling, rhyming, pronunciation, and work with vowels and consonants (Cavanaugh, 2007).

Touch-Interactive Technology in Reading Instruction

Radio frequency (RF) technology features among the most interesting novel advances in the field of primary reading initiatives, enabling books to speak. With the application of this technology, all parts of a given page may be rendered touch-interactive, permitting learners to read particular letters and terms, enunciate decodable words, or read complete pages. This technology aids pupils in cultivating a grasp of syllables, phonemes, word boundaries, and other print conventions. When learners glide styluses along individual words, they develop the understanding that words have a beginning and an ending — an awareness that is then applied in tracking print (Teaching Children to Read Using Technology, 2015).

NearTouch, the patented technology of LeapFrog SchoolHouse, applied in the LeapPad platform, constitutes one example of touch-interactive technology. The LeapPad platform forms a component of the Leap into Literacy Center of LeapFrog SchoolHouse, a multisensory, interactive Pre-K through Grade 2 curriculum. This preliminary reading initiative adopts phonemic awareness as a fundamental building block for teaching reading to children. It encompasses the following interactive platforms for learners: LeapDesk, LeapPad, and LeapMat, along with an evaluation component and wide-ranging, research-based curricular material aimed at educators (Teaching Children to Read Using Technology, 2015).

Phonemic Awareness as a Foundation for Literacy

Learners require broad comprehension of spoken language and word sounds before they can connect graphemes with phonemes — this constitutes the foremost step in literary skill acquisition. A pupil capable of transforming phonemes into graphemes will find it easier to combine them into words, which in turn assists with decoding new terms. The skill of phonemic awareness facilitates both children's differentiation between verbal language sounds and meaning, and their manipulation of phonemes to form words. Pupils with a sound phonemic knowledge base and a solid grasp of the link between written and spoken language will be capable of improving their reading proficiency. Thus, implementing phonemic awareness initiatives proves crucial to educating emergent readers (Radell, 2012).

Developing sound literacy skills with attention to phonemic awareness may help determine children's long-term reading achievement. Phonemic and phonological understanding associated with later reading proficiency have been used effectively to predict early childhood spelling and reading ability. Children who have mastered phonemic awareness find it easier to read compared to less proficient peers, and a strong phonemic awareness ability is a proven predictor of sound literacy development in the future. Conversely, school-age children without the requisite abilities for segmenting and combining phonemes show an increased likelihood of becoming poor readers in higher grades. Moreover, phonemic awareness is vital to honing other reading skills: the capability of spontaneously recognizing words — possible after developing sound phonemic awareness — directly impacts reading comprehension and fluency (Radell, 2012).

Conclusion

Numerous factors impact literacy and phonemic awareness skill development. Teachers' instructional mode and personal knowledge can both impede and aid learners' literacy development. Teachers have noted that instructional programs sometimes fail to offer an adequate grounding in phonics knowledge or phonemic awareness, leaving them without sufficient confidence to deliver detailed phonics and phonemic awareness instruction in the classroom. Awareness of technology's potential advantages in honing literacy abilities does not imply that a computer program or technological tool replaces teachers and their instruction. It simply means that literacy initiatives ought to be introduced as a supplement — for increasing learners' literacy knowledge and honing their literacy skills (Radell, 2012).

References

Cavanaugh, T. (2007). Technology and phonological awareness. Retrieved from Florida Reading Association:

Feature Column: Technology that makes phonics fun. (2017). Retrieved from Teaching Community: http://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/1906-feature-column-technology-that-makes-phonics-fun

Radell, A. (2012). How does the use of phonemic awareness skill-building software in conjunction with an in-school literacy program benefit students' literacy skills? Fisher Digital Publications.

Teaching children to read using technology. (2015). Retrieved from THE Journal: https://thejournal.com/Articles/2001/04/01/Teaching-Children-to-Read-Using-Technology.aspx?Page=1