Free Foundations of Reading Study Guide

1. Phonological Awareness and Phonemic Awareness

1.1 Understanding Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness is the broad ability to recognize and manipulate the sound structures of spoken language. It encompasses an entire hierarchy of skills, ranging from recognizing large units of sound such as words within sentences down to individual speech sounds within words. A child who can clap out the beats in the word "butterfly" (but-ter-fly) is demonstrating syllable-level phonological awareness, while a child who can tell you that "cat" and "hat" rhyme is showing onset-rime awareness.

Phonological awareness is an auditory skill — it does not involve printed letters or text. Children can develop these skills through listening and speaking activities alone. Research consistently identifies phonological awareness as one of the strongest predictors of later reading success. Children who enter kindergarten with weak phonological awareness are at significantly greater risk for reading difficulties unless they receive targeted intervention.

1.2 Understanding Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is a subset of phonological awareness. It refers specifically to the ability to identify, isolate, and manipulate individual phonemes — the smallest units of sound in spoken language. English has approximately 44 phonemes. For example, the word "ship" contains three phonemes: /sh/ /i/ /p/. Phonemic awareness tasks require learners to work at this individual-sound level, which is more cognitively demanding than working with syllables or rhymes.

The critical distinction between phonological awareness and phonemic awareness is one of scope: phonological awareness is the umbrella category that includes all sound-level skills (sentences into words, syllables, onset-rime, rhyme, alliteration, and phonemes), while phonemic awareness focuses exclusively on the phoneme level. All phonemic awareness tasks are phonological awareness tasks, but not all phonological awareness tasks are phonemic awareness tasks.

1.3 Distinction Between Phonemic Awareness and the Alphabetic Principle

Phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle are related but distinct concepts. Phonemic awareness is purely oral and auditory — it involves hearing and manipulating sounds without reference to print. The alphabetic principle, by contrast, involves understanding that printed letters represent spoken sounds. A child demonstrates phonemic awareness when they can tell you the three sounds in "map" (/m/ /a/ /p/) without seeing any letters. A child demonstrates understanding of the alphabetic principle when they can look at the letters M-A-P and connect each letter to its corresponding sound.

Phonemic awareness provides the foundation upon which the alphabetic principle is built. Without the ability to perceive individual sounds in words, learners cannot make productive connections between those sounds and the letters that represent them. This is why instruction in phonemic awareness typically precedes or accompanies early phonics instruction.

2. The Continuum of Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Skills

2.1 Phonological Awareness Continuum (Larger to Smaller Units)

Phonological awareness skills develop along a continuum from larger sound units to smaller ones. Instruction should follow this developmental progression:

2.2 Phonemic Awareness Skills (Individual Sound Level)

Phonemic awareness tasks focus specifically on the smallest sound units. These skills also follow a rough progression from easier to more complex:

Key instructional implication: Teachers should assess where each student falls on this continuum and provide instruction at the appropriate level. A student who cannot yet blend syllables is not ready for phoneme deletion tasks. Instruction should be sequential, building from simpler to more complex manipulations.

3. Evidence-Based Instruction in Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

3.1 Principles of Systematic, Explicit Instruction

Research strongly supports systematic, explicit instruction as the most effective approach for teaching phonological and phonemic awareness. Systematic instruction follows a carefully planned sequence that moves from simpler to more complex skills. Explicit instruction means the teacher directly models and explains each skill rather than expecting students to discover sound relationships on their own.

Key characteristics of effective instruction include:

• Teacher modeling: The teacher demonstrates each skill aloud, thinking through the process step by step. For example: "I am going to say a word and break it into its sounds. Watch me: 'mat' — /m/ /a/ /t/. I hear three sounds."
• Guided practice: Students practice the skill with teacher support, receiving immediate corrective feedback. "Now let's try one together. Tell me the sounds in 'sit.'"
• Independent practice: Students practice on their own once they demonstrate mastery with support.
• Corrective feedback: When a student makes an error, the teacher provides the correct model immediately and has the student try again.
• Cumulative review: Previously taught skills are revisited regularly to maintain mastery.

3.2 Effective Instructional Strategies

Several evidence-based strategies support the development of phonological and phonemic awareness:

• Sound sorting activities: Students sort picture cards by initial sound, final sound, or vowel sound. This reinforces the ability to isolate and compare individual phonemes.
• Elkonin boxes (sound boxes): Students push tokens into boxes as they segment a word into its individual sounds. Each box represents one phoneme. This provides a concrete, kinesthetic representation of the abstract concept of individual sounds.
• Blending drills: The teacher stretches out the sounds in a word and students blend them back together. This can be done with continuous blending (holding each sound) or with successive blending (adding one sound at a time).
• Rhyme generation and recognition games: Songs, poems, and games that emphasize rhyming patterns help develop onset-rime awareness.
• Phoneme manipulation activities: Once students can blend and segment, they practice more advanced tasks like deletion ("Say 'plate' without /p/") and substitution ("Change the first sound in 'make' to /l/").
• Multi-sensory approaches: Incorporating movement (clapping syllables, tapping sounds), visual supports (picture cards), and tactile materials (tokens, letter tiles) alongside auditory activities.

3.3 Instructional Time and Grouping

Research suggests that phonological and phonemic awareness instruction is most effective in small-group settings with focused sessions lasting approximately 15-20 minutes. Brief, daily practice is more effective than longer, infrequent sessions. For students who struggle, additional targeted intervention in even smaller groups (2-3 students) may be necessary.

4. Concepts of Print

4.1 What Are Concepts of Print?

Concepts of print refer to the foundational understandings about how written language works. Before children can decode words, they need to understand several fundamental ideas about print:

• Print carries meaning: The marks on a page represent words that convey information, stories, and ideas. This is the most fundamental concept — understanding that print is not random decoration but a communication system.
• Relationship between spoken and written language: What a person says can be written down, and what is written can be spoken aloud. This speech-to-print connection is foundational.
• Directionality: In English, text is read from left to right across a line and from the top of the page to the bottom. At the end of a line, the reader's eye sweeps back to the left side and down to the next line (return sweep).
• Spacing: Words are separated by spaces. This helps readers identify where one word ends and the next begins.
• Letter sequences form words: Letters are arranged in a specific order to make words. Changing the order changes the word or produces a non-word.
• Book handling: How to hold a book, where the front and back covers are, how to turn pages, and the difference between pictures and text.
• Punctuation awareness: Marks like periods, question marks, and exclamation points signal meaning and guide how text is read aloud.

4.2 Evidence-Based Strategies for Teaching Concepts of Print

Effective strategies for building these understandings include:

• Shared reading with big books: The teacher reads aloud from a large-format book while tracking the print with a finger or pointer. This allows students to observe directionality, return sweep, word spacing, and the connection between spoken and written words.
• Print referencing: During read-alouds and daily activities, the teacher explicitly draws attention to features of print. "Watch where my finger is going — I start here on the left and read across to the right."
• Language experience approach: The teacher transcribes students' dictated stories or sentences, demonstrating that spoken language can be captured in writing. Students watch as their spoken words become print.
• Environmental print activities: Using labels, signs, menus, and other real-world print to demonstrate that print is everywhere and carries meaning.
• Interactive writing: Teacher and students compose text together, with the teacher sharing the pen and explicitly pointing out spacing, directionality, and punctuation as the text is constructed.
• Concept of word activities: Students practice pointing to individual words in familiar, memorized texts (such as nursery rhymes), matching spoken words to printed words one at a time.

5. Letter Knowledge

5.1 Components of Letter Knowledge

Letter knowledge includes the ability to recognize and name both uppercase and lowercase letters and to form letters through writing. Research identifies letter-name knowledge as one of the best predictors of future reading achievement. There are three main components:

• Letter recognition: The ability to visually identify a letter when it is shown. This includes recognizing the same letter in different fonts and contexts.
• Letter naming: The ability to say the name of a letter when shown its written form. Students must learn the names of all 52 letter forms (26 uppercase, 26 lowercase).
• Letter formation: The ability to write letters legibly with proper stroke sequence. This includes both manuscript (print) and, later, cursive forms.

5.2 Evidence-Based Strategies for Promoting Letter Knowledge

• Explicit letter instruction: Introduce letters systematically, teaching letter name, sound, and formation together. Many programs begin with high-utility letters (those that appear frequently in text) rather than strict alphabetical order.
• Multi-sensory letter practice: Students trace letters in sand, form them with clay, write them in shaving cream, and use textured letter cards to build tactile associations.
• Letter sorting: Students sort letter cards by visual features (straight lines vs. curves, tall letters vs. short letters) to develop visual discrimination.
• Alphabet books and songs: Familiar alphabet songs and books with strong letter-picture associations reinforce letter names in meaningful contexts.
• Name-based instruction: Using students' own names as a starting point for letter learning leverages personal relevance and motivation. The letters in a child's name are often the first ones they recognize and write.
• Distinguishing similar letters: Explicit instruction in discriminating commonly confused letters (b/d, p/q, m/n) using verbal cues and consistent formation routines.

6. The Alphabetic Principle

6.1 Understanding the Alphabetic Principle

The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters and letter combinations represent the speech sounds of spoken language, and that these sound-letter relationships are predictable and systematic. It is the conceptual bridge between phonemic awareness (working with sounds orally) and phonics (applying sound-letter relationships to read and spell).

A child who understands the alphabetic principle grasps two key ideas:

1. Letters represent sounds: Each letter or group of letters corresponds to one or more speech sounds. The letter m represents the sound /m/; the letters sh together represent the sound /sh/.
2. The relationship is systematic: The same letter or letter combination usually represents the same sound across different words. The letter b typically makes the /b/ sound whether it appears in "bat," "ball," or "cub."

6.2 Evidence-Based Strategies for Teaching the Alphabetic Principle

• Sound-letter mapping: After students learn to identify a phoneme, immediately connect it to its written letter. "The sound /s/ is written with the letter S."
• Keyword associations: Pair each letter with a keyword and picture (A — apple, B — bear) so students have a memory anchor for the sound-letter connection.
• Phoneme-grapheme correspondence charts: Display charts showing each phoneme alongside the grapheme(s) that represent it. Reference these during reading and writing activities.
• Decodable texts: Provide reading material that uses only the letter-sound relationships students have been taught. This allows students to practice applying the alphabetic principle in connected text.
• Word building with manipulatives: Students use letter tiles or magnetic letters to build words, reinforcing the idea that specific letters in specific sequences create specific words with specific sounds.

7. Letter-Sound Correspondence and Beginning Decoding

7.1 The Connection Between Letter-Sound Correspondence and Decoding

Letter-sound correspondence is the knowledge that specific letters map to specific sounds. When students have this knowledge, they can begin decoding — the process of translating printed letters into spoken words. Beginning decoding involves blending letter sounds together sequentially to read a word. For example, a student who knows that s = /s/, a = /a/, and t = /t/ can blend those sounds to decode the word "sat."

The interrelationship works in both directions: stronger letter-sound knowledge supports decoding, and practice with decoding reinforces letter-sound knowledge. This reciprocal relationship means that instruction in letter-sound correspondences should be closely integrated with opportunities to apply those correspondences in actual reading.

7.2 Evidence-Based Strategies for Letter-Sound Correspondence

• Systematic phonics instruction: Teach letter-sound relationships in a planned, sequential order, beginning with the most common and consistent relationships. Start with consonants and short vowels that allow students to build many simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words quickly.
• Blending instruction: Explicitly teach students how to blend sounds together. Two effective approaches are:
  • Continuous blending: The student holds each sound and slides into the next (/mmmmaaaaat/)
  • Successive blending: The student blends sounds two at a time (/ma/ → /mat/)
• Word chains (word ladders): Students read a word, then change one letter to create a new word (cat → bat → bit → sit). This reinforces the idea that changing a single letter changes the sound and meaning.
• Connected text reading: Apply letter-sound knowledge to decodable books and sentences that feature the patterns students have learned, building fluency and confidence.
• Encoding practice (spelling): Have students spell words using their letter-sound knowledge. Spelling reinforces the sound-to-letter direction of the alphabetic principle.

8. Developmentally Appropriate Strategies for Supporting Emergent Literacy

8.1 Oral Language Strategies

Oral language is the foundation upon which all literacy skills are built. Evidence-based strategies for developing oral language in early learners include:

• Rich classroom conversations: Engaging students in extended discussions that build vocabulary, sentence structure, and reasoning skills.
• Vocabulary instruction: Explicitly teaching word meanings during read-alouds and conversations, particularly tier-two vocabulary words that appear frequently in academic texts.
• Storytelling and retelling: Students practice organizing and expressing ideas by retelling familiar stories or creating their own narratives.

8.2 Reading Strategies

• Interactive read-alouds: The teacher reads aloud while pausing to ask questions, make predictions, and discuss vocabulary. Students are active participants, not passive listeners.
• Shared reading: Using enlarged text (big books or projected text), the teacher and students read together. The teacher models reading behaviors while students follow along and join in.
• Modeled reading: The teacher reads aloud fluently, demonstrating prosody, expression, and comprehension strategies while thinking aloud about the reading process.
• Independent reading: Providing time and access to books at appropriate levels so students can practice the skills they are developing.

8.3 Writing Strategies

Writing and reading development are deeply interconnected. Writing activities that support emergent literacy include:

• Phonetic (invented) spelling: Encouraging students to write words by listening to the sounds and writing the letters they hear. This practice directly reinforces phonemic awareness, the alphabetic principle, and letter-sound correspondences. A child who writes "KT" for "cat" is demonstrating growing knowledge of sound-letter relationships.
• Modeled writing: The teacher writes in front of students while thinking aloud about letter formation, spacing, and sound-letter connections.
• Interactive writing: Teacher and students share the pen, collaborating to compose text. The teacher scaffolds the writing process, drawing attention to sounds, letters, and print conventions.
• Journals and drawing with labeling: Students draw pictures and attempt to label them using whatever letter knowledge they have, progressing from scribbles to recognizable letters to phonetic spelling.

9. Factors Affecting Language and Emergent Literacy Development

Multiple factors influence how children develop language and early literacy skills. Effective teachers assess and respond to each of these factors:

10. Oral Language and Literacy Development Interrelationships

10.1 The Five Components of Literacy

Oral language development is deeply intertwined with reading and writing. The five components of the literacy system — speaking, listening, reading, writing, and language — are reciprocally connected. Growth in one area supports growth in the others. For example, a child who develops a rich speaking vocabulary will have a larger bank of words to recognize in print. A child who writes frequently develops a stronger awareness of how sounds connect to letters, which supports reading.

10.2 Evidence-Based Strategies for Meaningful Oral Language and Literacy Experiences

11. Differentiated Instruction and Classroom Interventions

11.1 Principles of Differentiated Instruction in Emergent Literacy

Effective teachers provide differentiated instruction that meets the diverse needs of all learners. In the context of emergent literacy, differentiation means adjusting the content, process, product, and learning environment based on each student's current skill level, language background, and learning needs. Assessment drives all differentiation decisions.

11.2 Strategies for Specific Student Populations

English Learners:

• Identify phonemes that exist in the student's first language and build on those strengths. Many phonological awareness skills transfer across languages.
• Provide explicit instruction in English sounds that do not exist in the home language, with additional modeling and practice opportunities.
• Use visual supports, gestures, realia, and picture cards to support comprehension during literacy instruction.
• Provide extended oral language development activities to build the English vocabulary foundation needed for reading comprehension.
• Value and incorporate the student's home language as a resource, not a barrier.

Students with Disabilities:

• Provide more intensive, frequent, and explicit instruction. Break skills into smaller steps with more practice at each step.
• Use multi-sensory approaches consistently — combine auditory, visual, and kinesthetic channels.
• Increase the amount of guided practice before expecting independent application.
• Monitor progress frequently using curriculum-based measurement to ensure the intervention is working and adjust as needed.
• Collaborate with special education professionals to align classroom instruction with IEP goals.

Struggling Students (At-Risk but without Identified Disabilities):

• Provide supplemental small-group instruction targeting the specific skill deficit. A student who struggles with phoneme segmenting needs more time on segmenting, not a repeat of syllable-level activities they have already mastered.
• Increase opportunities for practice with corrective feedback.
• Use diagnostic assessment to pinpoint exactly where on the phonological awareness continuum the student needs support.
• Implement progress monitoring to track response to intervention.

On-Grade-Level Students:

• Provide systematic instruction that follows the typical scope and sequence.
• Ensure ample practice with grade-level text and activities.
• Monitor for any emerging difficulties and intervene early if a student begins to fall behind.

Highly Proficient Students:

• Provide enrichment activities that deepen and extend literacy skills rather than simply assigning more of the same work.
• Offer more complex texts, creative writing opportunities, and projects that allow students to apply their advanced skills.
• Use flexible grouping so advanced students can sometimes work together on challenging tasks while also contributing to heterogeneous groups as peer models.
• Compact the curriculum for skills already mastered and use the freed time for enrichment.

11.3 Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS/RTI Framework)

Many schools use a multi-tiered framework to organize differentiation and intervention:

• Tier 1 (Core Instruction): High-quality, evidence-based instruction for all students. This should meet the needs of approximately 80% of learners.
• Tier 2 (Targeted Intervention): Small-group supplemental instruction for students who are not making adequate progress with Tier 1 alone. Sessions are typically 20-30 minutes, 3-5 times per week, in addition to core instruction.
• Tier 3 (Intensive Intervention): Highly individualized, intensive instruction for students who do not respond adequately to Tier 2 intervention. This may involve one-on-one instruction, specialized programs, and referral for evaluation.

At every tier, progress monitoring data guides instructional decisions. Teachers use assessment results to determine whether a student's intervention is effective and to adjust instruction accordingly.