Phonological awareness skills are developed through a child’s environment. Children are learning what types of words to use for particular situations, based on “modeled” oral language. Children are forming their natural responses to the words heard, based on the responses heard. Children are learning how to form words and sentences based upon what they are hearing throughout their day. I will also argue that children learn how to form verbal responses based on more than their sense of hearing. Children also form language through touching, seeing, smelling, and tasting. Individuals have different types of environmental influence that assist in developing their oral language.
There are different “layers” of influence in developing oral language or verbiage that becomes written language. The first influence is the home. The second influence is where the child spends most of their day—school, daycare, etc. The third layer is those brief encounters with other individuals that may occur during the day, such as listening to a store clerk. In today’s world, “the media/technology” has also become a factor in language development. The amount of exposure/interaction time dictates the amount of influence. The amount of natural phonological awareness skills that a student possesses when entering the formal classroom depends on the exposure within the different layers of language development.
Phonological awareness is the ability to process letter sounds, rhyming words, and segmenting letters within words. These skills may be purposely taught throughout the day before children arrive at school or formal education. Simply stopping and helping a child sound out the correct pronunciation of a word—segmenting each sound, such as /c/ /a/ /t/ is a form of phonological awareness development. Reading a book that emphasizes the alphabet and adding the sound of the letter is another form of phonological awareness development. Reading poetry or books that included rhyming words—Dr. Suess—is a form of phonological awareness development. Formal or purposeful education of phonological awareness is usually woven within a child’s formal education.
