Phonological knowledge - Focused teaching years 3-6 (ages 9-12)

Phonological knowledge is important for both word recognition skills and reading comprehension. Students who demonstrate difficulties in these areas may not automatically recognise and use frequently occurring sound patterns which restricts their ability to read written words.

The focused teaching strategies provided can be used to support the development of students’ phonological knowledge. The strategies are presented in a developmental sequence to systematically teach the following aspects of phonological knowledge:

Manipulating sounds within words

Deleting sounds in words

This activity can be repeated to allow students to practise deleting sounds in words.

  • Show the student the words brag and bag on flashcards. Read the words and point out that removing the ‘r’ sound from ‘brag’ leaves the word ‘bag’.
  • Say to the student: 'Now I’m going to say some other words, and I want you to make new words by taking out a sound. You choose what sound to take out.' Provide examples of single syllable words, for example:  'drug',  'spit'  and 'plot'.  If the student has difficulty identifying a new word repeat the original word and indicate the sound to be deleted.
  • For each pair of words show the student how the words are written and point out the differences in spelling.
  • Vary the activity by using words where the sound to be deleted is in a different location. For example, deleting the first sound in ‘grim’, ‘flag’ and ‘bend’ or deleting the last sound in ‘rant’, ‘mend’ or ‘card’.
  • Provide additional practise using words with two or more syllables. For example, by deleting ‘n’ from ‘never’, ‘r’ from ‘rafter’, ‘l’ from ‘flavour’, ‘r’ from ‘trickle’. Provide support where needed by indicating the sound to be deleted.

Inserting sounds in words

This activity can be repeated to allow students to practise inserting sounds in words.

  • Say to the student: 'I am going to say two words. I want you to tell me what the extra sound is in the second word.'
  • Say the word ‘pot’ then ‘plot’ then ask the student: 'What was the new sound I added to pot?'
  • Say to the student: 'What will the new word be if I put a "c" sound at the front of lip?'
  • Show the student how the words are written, ask them to read the words and point out the differences in spelling.
  • Repeat the activity with other words and other sounds. Indicate where the new sound should be inserted. Vary the location of the insertion. For example, add the sound ‘l’ after the ‘b’ sound in bend, add the sound ‘d’ at the end of ‘fun’.

Substituting sounds in words

This activity can be repeated to allow students to practise substituting sounds in words.

  • Say to the student: 'If I change the "b" sound in blame to an "f" sound I get the new word "flame". Now I’m going to ask you to do this.'
  • Ask the student to replace the ‘c’ sound with a ‘b’ sound in the word ‘crown’.
  • Repeat with other words where the substitution takes place at the beginning of the word for example ‘hold’ and ‘bold’.
  • Show the student how the words are written, ask them to read the words and point out the differences in spelling.
  • Repeat with other words where the substitution takes place at other locations. For example, replace the ‘g’ sound with a ‘t’ sound in ‘flag’, replace the ‘m’ sound with a ‘p’ sound in ‘slim’.

Identifying and analysing sound patterns in words

This activity can be repeated to allow students to practise identifying and analysing sound patterns in words. Students first identify a common sound in a series of words, then listen for the sound patterns in another series of words to identify the ‘odd one out’.

  • Show the student the following words written on flashcards: brown, bring, break and brain.
  • Read out the words, then ask the student to read them and identify the common sound and the letters used to represent that sound.
  • Say to the student: 'Now I’m going to show you some more words. I want you to tell me which word doesn’t have the sound.'
  • Show the student the words bright, brim, boat and brick written on flashcards. Ask them to read out the words and identify the ‘odd one out’.
  • Repeat with word sets where the common sound occurs in a different position, for example, chop, stop, crop, flop, drop or with word sets with different numbers of syllables for example, sand, landmark, handkerchief.

Manipulating sound patterns by segmenting words into phonemes

This activity can be repeated to allow students to practise manipulating sound patterns by segmenting words into phonemes.

  • Provide students with flashcards of two-syllable words where the emphasis is on the first syllable for example:  plastic, frantic, typist, impact.
  • Ask students to read out each word segmenting it into syllables and stressing the appropriate syllable. For example: plas-tic.
  • Repeat the activity with words where the second syllable is stressed. For example: decide, command, attack, explode.
  • Repeat the activity with three-syllable words. For example: carnival, enemy, industry.

Adding syllables to words

This activity can be repeated to allow students to practise adding syllables to words.

  • Show the student a list of one-syllable words written on flashcards. For example: hard, fast, gold, soft, short.
  • Ask the student to read the words then discuss the meaning of each.
  • Provide the student with a flashcard showing a suffix such as ‘en’.
  • Ask the student to say new words that can be made joining ‘en’ to the words on the cards. For example, harden, golden, shorten, soften.
  • Repeat with other words and other suffixes or prefixes, for example help-ful, wonder-ful, mis-take, mis-understand.