PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS, PHONICS, AND VOCABULARY
Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Vocabulary Intervention with High-Risk Students
Fadia Sadat
University of St. Thomas School of Education
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS, PHONICS, AND VOCABULARY
Phonological Awareness and Phonics Intervention with High-Risk Students
In the early childhood and primary grades of pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and first
grade it is essential for students to acquire phonological, phonetic, and vocabulary skills so they
may become successful readers. Often, schools in low socio-economic areas receive English
Language Learners (ELLs) who do not meet the expectations of these skills upon entering
school. This is a major problem because phonological, phonetic, and vocabulary skills are the
building blocks of reading. If these students are coming to school unprepared with the basic
skills the achievement gap will only widen for them as they go from one grade to the next. I
believe that high-risk ELL students with low socio-economic backgrounds need to receive more
intervention so that they are able to meet the expectations of a successful reader. However, due
to the high pressures of state testing in the upper grades these students are receiving less and less
intervention, other than what they get from the classroom teacher. The upper grades are
receiving more intervention focus because of state testing. The conflict becomes do we work on
the primary students who are coming in unprepared, so that we may get them to the correct levels
by the time they are in the upper grades? Or, do we fix the students in the upper testing grades
that are currently struggling?
Student Response to Intervention
Studies have shown that, “the ISF (Initial Sound Fluency), LNF (Letter Name Fluency), PSF
(Phoneme Segmentation Fluency), and NWF (Nonsense Word Fluency) measures have
demonstrated validity in predicting future reading skills”, (Clemens, 2012). All of these
measures are of phonemic awareness and phonics skills. These skills are fundamental for early
readers to have. Most teachers in the classroom teach these skills to students according to their
individual levels and in a small group setting. However, ELL students with a low socio-
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS, PHONICS, AND VOCABULARY
economic background require more than just the fifteen minutes of small group time provided by
the classroom teacher. If these students are to be successful they must receive extra intervention
support.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is another major aspect of successful readers. Studies have also noticed,
As Stanovich (1986) noted 20 years ago and researchers continue to observe, there is a
reciprocal relationship between volume of reading and vocabulary; i.e., the rich get richer
and the poor get poorer. The difference in quantity of words known by students is large,
increases over time, and is apparent even in very young children. These children tend to
develop fewer word learning strategies in addition to developing smaller funds of word
knowledge. (Filippini, 2012).
All of this evidence continues to show how important these skills are for students to become
successful readers. If these struggling low socio-economic ELLs are not getting the intervention
to fill the gaps in these skills then they will continue to struggle.
Final Thoughts
As diverse populations continue to grow in urban neighborhoods and schools continue to
see low socio-economic ELL students coming to their schools, adjustments must be made to the
way we teach them. There have been substantial studies completed about the advantages and
disadvantages of students coming to school with underdeveloped skills. These critical early
literacy skills are phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary development. Without these
skills students will continue to struggle and the achievement gap will continue to grow. I believe
if they receive intervention along with the teaching of the classroom teacher that we will see
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS, PHONICS, AND VOCABULARY
these gaps close. They will be able to have the opportunity to develop their early literacy skills
and become successful readers in their later educational years.
PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS, PHONICS, AND VOCABULARY
References
Filippini, A. L. F., Gerber, M. M. G., & Leafstedt, J. M. L. (2012). A vocabulary-added
reading intervention for English learners at-risk of reading difficulties. International
Journal Of Special Education, 27(3), 14-26.
Clemens, N. H. C., Hilt-Panahon, A. HP., Shapiro, E. S. S., & Yoon, M. Y. (2012). Tracing
student responsiveness to intervention with early literacy skills indicators: Do they reflect
growth toward text reading outcomes?. Reading Psychology, 33(1-2), 47-77.