The Effect of Phonemic Awareness on the Literacy Development of First Grade Children in a Traditional or a Whole Language Classroom

Abstract

This study examined the acquisition of decoding and spelling skills and writing fluency of children with various levels of beginning-of-the-year phonemic awareness. First grade children who began school high and low in phonemic awareness received either whole language or traditional basal instruction. The whole language curriculum included the shared-book experience and extensive writing activities; the traditional basal curriculum included explicit phonics instruction, but very little writing. Beginning-of-the-year level of phonemic awareness was more important than method of instruction in literacy acquisition. High phonemic awareness children outperformed low phonemic awareness children on all of the literacy measures. The role that writing using invented spelling may play in helping low phonemic awareness children understand the alphabetic principle is discussed.

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