English Language Development

It is essential that children develop phonological awareness early in the elementary school years,
with the goal of attaining phonemic awareness, the most difficult and important level, by the end
of grade one, if not well before (RF.1.2). The reason phonemic awareness development is crucial
is that English is predominantly an alphabetic orthography, one in which written symbols represent
phonemes. Children are best positioned to understand the logic of and gain independence with the
English written system when they are aware that spoken language consists of phonemes. Phonemic
awareness is crucial for developing an understanding of the alphabetic principle, which is that
individual sounds in spoken words can be represented by letters or groups of letters in print. The
relationship between phonemic awareness and success in reading acquisition is well documented
(NICHD 2000).

Figure 3.8. Phonological Units of Speech

Phonological

Unit

Definition Example

Syllable* A unit of speech consisting of one uninterrupted

vowel sound, which may or may not be flanked

by one or more consonants, uttered with a

single impulse of the voice

The spoken word man has

one syllable: /man/

going has two syllables:

/go/-/ing/

computer has three syllables:

/com/-/pu/-/ter/

information has four syllables:

/in/-/for/-/ma/-/tion/

Onset The part of a spoken syllable (consonant or

blend) that precedes the vowel

Some syllables do not have an onset.

/bl/ in the spoken word black

/st/ in stop

/r/ in run

There is no onset in the

syllable on.

Rime The part of a spoken syllable that includes the

vowel and any consonants that follow

All syllables have a rime because all syllables

have a vowel sound.

/og/ in the spoken word dog

/on/ in on

/and/ in sand

Phoneme The smallest unit of sound in speech

English consists of about 43 phonemes.**

/p/ /ă/ and /n/ in the spoken

word pan

/th/ /r/ and /ē/ in three

/ŭ/ and /p/ in up

*The six syllable types in written English are described in chapter 4.

**The number of phonemes in English identified by linguists varies depending upon the phonetic description used

(Moats 2000).

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