What is Phonology?
Phonology is the study of the sound system of any given language (i.e., the language's distinctive sounds and their relationships to one another). Phonology examines which sounds make up the distinctive consonants and vowels of a language (as well as how they are articulated and perceived), which sounds and sound combinations do not occur in a specific language, and which sounds would just be considered variants of those distinctive sounds (i.e., which linguists call allophones) (Curzan & Adams, 2012).
Languages have distinctive sounds, which are termed phonemes (i.e., the smallest unit of sound). In English, there are about 44 phonemes which are represented by our alphabet's 26 letters. Unlike in other languages (e.g., Spanish), there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the alphabetical letters and sounds in English. In fact, some letters can be used for multiple sounds (e.g., the letter i in "pit," "bite," "rig," and "ski"). Additionally, letters can sometimes represent a sound in some words, but not in other words (e.g., "c" is pronounced /k/ in "cat," but /s/ in city). Moreover, some letters are not pronounced in certain words (e.g., "gh" in night). An individuals ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes is called phonemic awareness and is positively correlated with students ability to read, spell, and comprehend verbal information. There are several types of sound manipulation including:
The production of these sounds can be very complex. For example, the articulation of the English consonant sounds involves the lips, tongue, teeth, and other parts of the mouth. Additionally, consonants can either be voiced (i.e., the vocal cords vibrate) or voiceless (i.e., when the vocal cords do not vibrate). Conversely, the articulation of the English vowel sounds is related to the tongue position (front, mid, or back) and height (high to low). The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), provides a consistent set of symbols for representing the sounds of all the world's known languages. This system allows students to know what the language's sounds are without the needing to know or depend on the languages alphabet, which does not provide one-to-one sound-symbol correspondence (Curzan & Adams, 2012).
Languages have distinctive sounds, which are termed phonemes (i.e., the smallest unit of sound). In English, there are about 44 phonemes which are represented by our alphabet's 26 letters. Unlike in other languages (e.g., Spanish), there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the alphabetical letters and sounds in English. In fact, some letters can be used for multiple sounds (e.g., the letter i in "pit," "bite," "rig," and "ski"). Additionally, letters can sometimes represent a sound in some words, but not in other words (e.g., "c" is pronounced /k/ in "cat," but /s/ in city). Moreover, some letters are not pronounced in certain words (e.g., "gh" in night). An individuals ability to hear, identify, and manipulate phonemes is called phonemic awareness and is positively correlated with students ability to read, spell, and comprehend verbal information. There are several types of sound manipulation including:
- Phonemic identification- identification of beginning, middle, and ending sounds.
- Phoneme matching- matching words with a same phoneme (e.g., feet, hat, and hot, have the same phoneme, /t/)
- Phoneme substitution- substituting one phoneme in a word with another.
- Phoneme blending- blending individual sounds to make a word.
- Phoneme segmentation- segmenting words into individual sounds.
- Phoneme deletion- deleting a phoneme from a word.
- Phoneme addition- adding a phoneme to a word.
The production of these sounds can be very complex. For example, the articulation of the English consonant sounds involves the lips, tongue, teeth, and other parts of the mouth. Additionally, consonants can either be voiced (i.e., the vocal cords vibrate) or voiceless (i.e., when the vocal cords do not vibrate). Conversely, the articulation of the English vowel sounds is related to the tongue position (front, mid, or back) and height (high to low). The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), provides a consistent set of symbols for representing the sounds of all the world's known languages. This system allows students to know what the language's sounds are without the needing to know or depend on the languages alphabet, which does not provide one-to-one sound-symbol correspondence (Curzan & Adams, 2012).
Why are Phonological Principles Important For ELL Students to Understand?
Students phonological skills are directly correlated with their ability to read, spell, and comprehend spoken language. Having phonemic awareness, the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the phonemes of a language, assists students in spelling and reading because they are able to segment words into their constituent sounds, which is the foundation for decoding words (e.g., decipher meaning) and putting words together (i.e., spelling). Additionally, phonemic awareness enables students to decode words in spoken language, which promotes comprehension. Moreover, students awareness of all the sounds in a given language, which can be found in the IPA, assists them in being able to pronounce them correctly.
Challenges for ELLs.
Some sounds do not exist in ELLs native languages and they may try to articulate these sounds in similar ways to other sounds in the native language. Letter-sound correspondence can become another area of interference for ELLs speaking a native language in which letter-sound relation is relatively consistent (e.g., Spanish) (Hong Xu, 2010). It may take these students a long time to learn that the sound of a letter may change based on its position in a word and its combination with other letters. Additionally, some languages may distinguish between sounds while others do not (e.g., Japanese do not distinguish between /l/ and /r/) (Hong Xu, 2010). Similar patterns exist with consonant clusters. Differences in native language's use of tone, stress, and intonation, which are important in conveying meaning, may differ from that of English (e.g., in Chinese tone conveys different meanings, but in English tone is relatively unimportant) (Hong Xu, 2010). Therefore, native speaker of languages with different phonological systems than English may have difficulties producing (e.g., which may lead to mispronunciation) or even perceiving such sounds.
Which SOL Goals May Be Influenced By Students Phonological Skills?
Oral Language
SOL Objective 1- The student will demonstrate an understanding of oral language structure.
SOL Objective 4- The student will orally identify, produce, and manipulate various units of speech sounds within words.
SOL Objective 5- The student will use phonetic strategies when reading and spelling.
SOL Objective 13- The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
SOL Objective 1- The student will demonstrate an understanding of oral language structure.
- Create oral stories to share with others.
- Create and participate in oral dramatic activities.
- Clarify and explain words and ideas orally.
SOL Objective 4- The student will orally identify, produce, and manipulate various units of speech sounds within words.
- Count phonemes (sounds) within one-syllable words.
- Blend sounds to make one-syllable words.
- Segment one-syllable words into individual speech sounds (phonemes).
- Add or delete phonemes (sounds) to make words.
- Blend and segment multisyllabic words at the syllable level.
SOL Objective 5- The student will use phonetic strategies when reading and spelling.
- Use knowledge of consonants, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs to decode and spell words.
- Use knowledge of short, long, and r-controlled vowel patterns to decode and spell words.
- Decode regular multisyllabic words.
SOL Objective 13- The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
What Difficulties May Teachers Observe?
Teachers may find that their ELLs have not yet acquired the phonological skills (i.e., phonemic awareness) for English that enable them to hear, identify, and manipulate the phonemes in a word (SOL Objective 4). Additionally, teachers may observe student's whose native language has different sounds than those found in English struggle to identify and produce these sounds. The inability to pronounce certain phonemes can negatively impact a students ability to communicate effectively (SOL Objectives 1, 2, & 3). Moreover, teachers may observe student's whose native language has different sounds than those found in English struggle to decode and spell words that contain sounds that they are unfamiliar with (SOL Objectives 5 & 13).
Strategies That Can Be Used In The Classroom To Promote Students Phonological Skills.
- Pronounce words correctly. Model correct English for your students so that they can hear what proper pronunciation sounds like and can attempt to emulate it.
- Provide students with opportunities to practice English. The more students encounter the phonemes in a language, the more likely they will be able to identify them, manipulate them, and produce them.
- Read the students material in their native language. Research shows that the phonemic awareness skills a student has developed in their native language carries over to the acquisition of their second language. Therefore, promoting the student's phonemic awareness in their native language may promote their acquisition of English.
- Use materials that draw attention to phonemes. For example, teach the children poetry.
- Talk slowly and avoid idioms. Make instruction as clear as possible.
- Utilize the IPA in the classroom. If students are having difficulty with specific sounds in English, provide them with a copy of the IPA that can assist them in understanding how to produce the sound. Additionally, if students are having difficulty with pronunciation, YouTube provides videos that show students how to produce certain sounds (e.g., how to form their mouth).
Activities That Can Be Use in The Classroom to Promote Phonological Skills.
- Word Building. Play simple word building games so children can practice creating words. Ask children to make a new word by putting a small word and a new sound together (e.g., "c" and "at"). As the children get more comfortable, make the game more challenging by giving them each sound and having them blend them together (e.g. "b", "a", and "t").
- Letter Sorts. Expose children to specific phonemes by having them isolate and identify beginning and ending sounds. Play a matching game by displaying several classroom objects that start with the same letter, and invite students to find other objects that start with the same letter.
- Rhymes. Rhyming is one of the first levels of phonemic knowledge that students acquire. Do activities in which students use rhyming words, or read them stories that play with sounds, such as Dr. Seus.
- Songs. Sing songs that allow students to focus on specific phonemes. Another option is to introduce students to Jazz Chants, which may be a fun way to teach pronunciation, as well as fluency and comprehension.
- Bead Slide. This is a tool for teaching word segmentation.