Phonological awareness includes

Phonological and Phonemic Awareness: Introduction

Learn the definitions of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness — and how these pre-reading listening skills relate to phonics.

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Phonological awareness and phonemic awareness: what’s the difference?

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate the spoken parts of sentences and words. Examples include being able to identify words that rhyme, recognizing alliteration, segmenting a sentence into words, identifying the syllables in a word, and blending and segmenting onset-rimes. The most sophisticated — and last to develop — is called phonemic awareness.

Phonemic awareness is the ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. This includes blending sounds into words, segmenting words into sounds, and deleting and playing with the sounds in spoken words.

Phonological awareness (PA) involves a continuum of skills that develop over time and that are crucial for reading and spelling success, because they are central to learning to decode and spell printed words. Phonological awareness is especially important at the earliest stages of reading development — in pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade for typical readers.

Explicit teaching of phonological awareness in these early years can eliminate future reading problems for many students. However, struggling decoders of any age can work on phonological awareness, especially if they evidence problems in blending or segmenting phonemes.

How about phonological awareness and phonics?

Phonological awareness refers to a global awareness of sounds in spoken words, as well as the ability to manipulate those sounds.

Phonics refers to knowledge of letter sounds and the ability to apply that knowledge in decoding unfamiliar printed words.

So, phonological awareness refers to oral language and phonics refers to print. Both of these skills are very important and tend to interact in reading development, but they are distinct skills; children can have weaknesses in one of them but not the other.

For example, a child who knows letter sounds but cannot blend the sounds to form the whole word has a phonological awareness (specifically, a phonemic awareness) problem. Conversely, a child who can orally blend sounds with ease but mixes up vowel letter sounds, reading pit for pet and set for sit, has a phonics problem.

44 phonemes

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet that make up 44 speech sounds, or phonemes.

Letters vs. phonemes

Dr. Louisa Moats explains to a kindergarten teacher why it is critical to differentiate between the letters and sounds within a word when teaching children to read and write.

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Phonological and Phonemic Awareness | Reading Rockets

Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language – parts such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes. Children who have phonological awareness are able to identify and make oral rhymes, can clap out the number of syllables in a word, and can recognize words with the same initial sounds like 'money' and 'mother. '

Phonemic awareness refers to the specific ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Phonemes are the smallest units comprising spoken language. Phonemes combine to form syllables and words. For example, the word 'mat' has three phonemes: /m/ /a/ /t/. There are 44 phonemes in the English language, including sounds represented by letter combinations such as /th/. Acquiring phonemic awareness is important because it is the foundation for spelling and word recognition skills. Phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of how well children will learn to read during the first two years of school instruction.

Students at risk for reading difficulty often have lower levels of phonological awareness and phonemic awareness than do their classmates. The good news is that phonemic awareness and phonological awareness can be developed through a number of activities. Read below for more information.

What the problem looks like

A kid's perspective: What this feels like to me

Children will usually express their frustration and difficulties in a general way, with statements like "I hate reading!" or "This is stupid!". But if they could, this is how kids might describe how difficulties with phonological or phonemic awareness affect their reading:

• I don't know any words that rhyme with cat.
• What do you mean when you say, "What sounds are in the word brush?"
• I'm not sure how many syllables are in my name.
• I don't know what sounds are the same in bit and hit.

A parent's perspective: What I see at home

Here are some clues for parents that a child may have problems with phonological or phonemic awareness:

• She has difficulty thinking of rhyming words for a simple word like cat (such as rat or bat).
• She doesn't show interest in language play, word games, or rhyming.

A teacher's perspective: What I see in the classroom

Here are some clues for teachers that a student may have problems with phonological or phonemic awareness:

• She doesn't correctly complete blending activities; for example, put together sounds /k/ /i/ /ck/ to make the word kick.
• He doesn't correctly complete phoneme substitution activities; for example, change the /m/ in mate to /cr/ in order to make crate.
• He has a hard time telling how many syllables there are in the word paper.
• He has difficulty with rhyming, syllabication, or spelling a new word by its sound.

How to help

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn strategies to cope with phonological and/or phonemic awareness problems that affect his or her reading. Below are some tips and specific things to do.

What kids can do to help themselves

• Be willing to play word and sounds games with parents or teachers.
• Be patient with learning new information related to words and sounds. Giving the ears a workout is difficult!
• Practice hearing the individual sounds in words. It may help to use a plastic chip as a counter for each sound you hear in a word.
• Be willing to practice writing. This will give you a chance to match sounds with letters.

What parents can do to help at home

• Check with your child's teacher or principal to make sure the school's reading program teaches phonological, phonemic awareness, and phonics skills.
• If your child is past the ages at which phonemic awareness and phonological skills are taught class-wide (usually kindergarten to first or second grade), make sure he or she is receiving one-on-one or small group instruction in these skills.
• Do activities to help your child build sound skills (make sure they are short and fun; avoid allowing your child to get frustrated):
  • Help your child think of a number of words that start with the /m/ or /ch/ sound, or other beginning sounds.
  • Make up silly sentences with words that begin with the same sound, such as "Nobody was nice to Nancy's neighbor".
  • Play simple rhyming or blending games with your child, such as taking turns coming up with words that rhyme (go – no) or blending simple words (/d/, /o/, /g/ = dog).
• Read books with rhymes. Teach your child rhymes, short poems, and songs.
• Practice the alphabet by pointing out letters wherever you see them and by reading alphabet books.
• Consider using computer software that focuses on developing phonological and phonemic awareness skills. Many of these programs use colorful graphics and animation that keep young children engaged and motivated.

What teachers can do to help at school

• Learn all about phonemes (there are more than 40 speech sounds that may not be obvious to fluent readers and speakers).
• Make sure the school's reading program and other materials include skill-building in phonemes, especially in kindergarten and first grade (these skills do not come naturally, but must be taught).
• If children are past the age at which phonemic awareness and phonological skill-building are addressed (typically kindergarten through first or second grade), attend to these skills one-on-one or in a small group. Ask your school's reading specialist for help finding a research-based supplemental or intervention program for students in need.
• Identify the precise phoneme awareness task on which you wish to focus and select developmentally appropriate activities for engaging children in the task. Activities should be fun and exciting – play with sounds, don't drill them.
• Make sure your school's reading program and other materials include systematic instruction in phonics.
• Consider teaching phonological and phonemic skills in small groups since students will likely be at different levels of expertise. Remember that some students may need more reinforcement or instruction if they are past the grades at which phonics is addressed by a reading program (first through third grade).

More information

Additional resources

See the Reading Issues section on Understood.

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15 Learning Disorder Terms Parents Need to Know

If your child has a speech, reading, or learning or attention disorder, you may have come across these terms on social media, forums, or at professional appointments. .

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Terms such as phonological awareness, auditory processing disorder, auditory accuracy, phonological memory…

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Understanding these 15 terms will help you better organize the help you need for your child:

1. Phonetics

Phonetics - this term refers to the sound structure of the language: the relationship between a letter or a combination of letters (for example: chi, shu, cha, yes) and the speech sounds they represent.

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Phonetics is the foundation of reading and writing skills. Thanks to phonetics, the child decodes written words in the process of reading.

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2. Phonemes

A phoneme is the sound of speech. When we speak Russian, we make 42 different speech sounds. But there are only 33 letters in the Russian alphabet. This is one of the reasons why Russian is difficult to learn.

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3. Phonemic perception

Phonemic perception is the ability to perceive individual speech sounds (phonemes) in words and work with them.

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Learn how to develop phonemic awareness from an early age.

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4. Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness is the awareness that words are made up of smaller parts (such as syllables and sounds).

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The term includes a range of sound-related skills that a student needs to develop reading skills. As the child develops phonological awareness, he/she not only comes to understand that words are made up of small sound units (phonemes), but also learns that words can be broken down into larger sound "chunks" known as syllables. .

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5. Phonological accuracy

Phonological accuracy refers to the ability to correctly distinguish between individual phonemes (e.g., in similar-sounding words that begin with the same sound) or other aspects of phonology (e.g., rhyming, number of syllables).

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Phonological accuracy is key to listening and reading skills. This allows the student to make a clear distinction between similar-sounding words (e.g. "heron" and "saber" or "picture" and "basket"), including morphological differences that can drastically change the word's meaning and/or grammatical function (e.g. " known" and "unknown" or "inserted" and "exposed").

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The ability to quickly and accurately identify speech sounds is critical to learning the rules of phonetics and matching spoken language to text correctly.

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A child with well-developed phonological accuracy will more easily develop decoding skills, understand word and sentence structure, develop vocabulary, follow instructions, and participate more actively in class work.

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Well developed phonological precision helps in:

• Understanding and following verbal instructions

• Listening skills

• Development of reading skills

• Learning the rules of phonetics

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6. Phonological fluency

Phonological fluency is the understanding that words are made up of different sounds and the ability to quickly and accurately identify and manipulate these sounds.

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Phonological fluency is critical to learning to read. This allows the student to memorize sequences of sounds and manipulate them quickly and accurately. This makes it easier to both write words and decode them. The more effectively the reader is able to decode, the more of his cognitive resources (mental abilities) he can focus on understanding the text.

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A student with good phonological fluency will also find it easier to learn new words while reading. When confronted with a new word, a student who can accurately pronounce the word is more likely to recognize and understand its meaning.

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Well-developed phonological fluency helps in:

• Learning the rules of phonetics

• Development of reading skills

• Development of writing skills

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7. Phonological memory

Phonological memory is the ability to retain speech sounds in memory. This is essential for spoken language and tasks such as comparing phonemes and making connections between phonemes and letters. It also helps with listening and reading understanding of sentences, as it allows you to remember the sequence of words in order.

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Phonological memory plays a key role in the development of oral and written language skills. This allows the student to:

• Memorize and manipulate sound sequences

• Associate spoken words with written ones

• Memorize new words by determining their meanings

• Remember the beginning of a sentence by listening to it to the end.

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The ability to remember speech sounds is important for the correct understanding of sentences when changing the order of words in a sentence changes its meaning (for example, "The monkey bites the boy" and "The boy bites the monkey").

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Accurate memory of word order also contributes to building accurate ideas about sentence structure and acquiring knowledge of syntax.

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A student with a well-developed phonological memory develops phonemic perception and decoding skills more easily, knowledge of vocabulary and sentence structure is formed. Such a student follows instructions better and takes a more active part in class work with presentations, etc.

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8. Auditory Processing / Auditory Perception

Auditory processing refers to what the brain does with the audio information it "hears". This includes various skills such as identifying and locating sounds, listening to background noise, and processing what is heard when the sound is fuzzy.

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When a student manipulates the auditory information he has heard, but it doesn't sound right, this is called an auditory processing disorder (or auditory perception disorder).

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This can happen if the child has difficulty understanding speech in background noise or has difficulty identifying where the sound is coming from. Or it could be a problem in distinguishing speech sounds that sound similar.

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Find out 5 common hearing loss (HAI) myths!

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9. Sequencing of audio information

Sequencing of audio information refers to the ability to identify and remember the order in which a series of sounds were presented. This is very important for matching sound sequences to letter sequences in decoding and writing.

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Organizing audio information is critical to developing speaking and writing skills. The ability to identify and remember the order of sounds in words is important for recognizing subtle differences between words (such as "pot" and "top") and for developing phonemic perception and decoding skills.

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A student who has a well-developed ordering of sound information understands and absorbs information better, develops better oral and written speech skills and concentrates attention. Such a student becomes an expert reader and a successful student.

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See also: How do weak cognitive skills affect learning?

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10. Listening word comprehension

Listening word comprehension refers to the ability to accurately identify words heard based on auditory cues alone, without the aid of visual or contextual cues.

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Listening comprehension of words is critical to the development of spoken language and vocabulary, and therefore essential to the development of reading and writing. This skill allows the student to accurately and efficiently identify words in speech and helps him form a correct understanding of the information presented by ear.

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A student with well developed listening comprehension will find it easier to follow instructions and participate in class discussions; it is easier to answer questions, complete tasks and remember information; and it's much easier to become a proficient reader.

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He will also find it easier to carry on a conversation in a noisy environment or when there are distractions.

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11. Hearing accuracy

Hearing accuracy is the ability to accurately identify differences between sounds and correctly identify sound sequences.

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Accuracy in listening is the foundation of speech and reading skills. This skill allows the student to quickly and accurately identify and distinguish between rapidly changing sounds, which is very important for distinguishing between phonemes (the smallest units of speech that distinguish one word from another).

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A student with well-developed listening comprehension will find it much easier to follow instructions and participate in class work; it is easier to remember questions, tasks and information; and it's much easier to become a proficient reader. He will also be able to:

1. Read and write fast

2. Focus on verbally presented information

3. Maintain a conversation in a noisy environment or when there are distractions.

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12. Listening comprehension

Listening comprehension is the ability to understand consecutive sentences and extract meaning from what is heard.

Listening comprehension is one of the foundations of oral and written speech. To develop more complex speech skills, a child needs to develop good listening comprehension. Well developed listening comprehension allows the student to recognize the meanings formed by combinations of words and series of sentences.

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A student with good listening comprehension will find it much easier to respond to assignments and class discussions; it will be easier to answer questions and remember information; and it is easier to become a proficient reader and a successful learner. He will also be able to do well:

• Focus on oral information

• Making sense of history

• Correctly follow verbal instructions

• Correctly understand and answer questions

Problems of mastering foreign language reading in elementary school (English)

In the conceptual documents on the new school, it is noted that at the first stage of education, the formation of the personality of a younger student, the identification and development of his abilities, the formation of his skills and desire to learn. Introducing the teaching of a foreign language from the 2nd, and even from the 1st grade, it is necessary to take into account the age-related psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of younger students. If this is not done, then the problem of the success of mastering a foreign language inevitably arises. Often, clearly seeing the problem, realizing the need to solve it, the teacher cannot find an adequate way to help the student, because he is not able to determine the reason for his failure. Having tried the whole arsenal of traditional pedagogical means, the teacher comes to the conclusion that this child is “not teachable”. And is it really so?

There is a fairly large number of children who have stable difficulties already in primary school (the main of which, as Z.N. Nikitenko notes, are difficulties in auditory perception, difficulties in reading and spelling in a foreign language) and a decrease in interest in the subject “ AND I". The fact of loss of interest, unfortunately, not recognized by everyone, is an abnormal phenomenon, makes us think about its causes and look for possible ways to solve this problem.

Primary school age is a special age with its own psychological and psychophysiological characteristics, which must be taken into account when determining the goals of foreign language education, and when designing the technology of language acquisition in artificial conditions (1, p. 11-14).

Here is the statement of the Director of the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education V.V. Rubtsov, in which we found support for our point of view on the current situation in the field of foreign language education in elementary school. V.V. Rubtsov calls “ignoring by the creators of programs and textbooks of the regularities of the child’s mental development – ​​the sensitivity of different age periods to the formation of certain mental functions and neoplasms, the role of the leading activity in their formation” (2, p. 142)

Taking into account the data of neuropsychological research seems to us important for a correct (from the point of view of a child's development) understanding of the educational process in a foreign language and the process of mastering this language by children of primary school age; to understand the difficulties arising in this case for the student and ways to prevent them by means of nature-friendly, health-saving organization of the initial stage of foreign language education and the use of developing technologies for mastering foreign language speech.

Following Z.N. Nikitenko, we believe that the reasons for children's failures in mastering a new language (which often become a difficult test for both them and their parents) should also be sought in unresolved problems related to the organization of children's mastery of foreign language speech activity during the first year of language acquisition. The effectiveness and efficiency of early school foreign language education largely depends on how the initial stage (first year) of learning a new language is built (N.I. Gez, G.V. Rogova). The English methodologist G. Palmer was the first to draw the attention of the scientific community to this: “Take care of the elementary stage and the rest will take care of itself”.

Solving the issue of the sequence of mastering children's oral speech, reading and writing is of fundamental importance in elementary school, and we are making an attempt to resolve this issue taking into account the psychic-linguistic and neurophysiological patterns of the formation of children's abilities, including the development of speech ability in ontogenesis.

According to Z.N. Nikitenko, the reasons for the poor quality of mastering a foreign language by younger students are methodological.

The new state policy in the field of general primary education, fixed in the federal standard of the second generation, requires new emphasis on foreign language education in primary school. Priority should be given to the moral education and development of a younger student - personal, cultural, speech and cognitive (Concept of Federal State Educational Standards for General Education, 2009; Federal State Educational Standard of General Primary Education, 2009).

The initial stage is considered by us as the first, valuable in itself (according to the definition of VV Rubtsov), the most significant stage of school foreign language education (2, p.155). Here the foundations of educational activity are laid: the ability to see the goal and act in accordance with it, the ability to self-evaluate the process and results of one's activity in mastering a foreign language are formed. As a priority goal of primary foreign language education, the development (spiritual, moral and cognitive) of the language personality of the younger student and the complex of his abilities for successful interaction with the surrounding multicultural and multilingual world in a foreign language is put forward. Among the abilities of Z.N. Nikitenko distinguishes two leading, integrative (including all other cognitive abilities): speech ability for foreign language speech activity and the ability for learning activity - the ability and desire to learn.

So, primary language education, the functions of which are aimed at the personality of the student, the development of his moral qualities and abilities for foreign speech in the process of productive learning activities, we call developing foreign language education - RIO .

The subject of theoretical substantiation of RIO is an ontogenetic-activity model of the development of foreign language speech of younger schoolchildren in the process of educational activity. The proposed model does not copy ontogeny, but takes into account the regularities of the formation of speech ability, reading and writing in ontogeny when organizing the acquisition of foreign language speech by younger students in the process of educational activities.

This model:

-- takes into account the psycholinguistic, neurophysiological and psychological features of the formation of cognitive abilities (including speech) of younger students who master a foreign language in artificial conditions;

- includes the propaedeutic stage of mastering a foreign language (represented by two possible options) as a significant preparatory stage in the development of the sensory perception of a new language in a younger student in the process of oral foreign language communication and a set of abilities necessary for further successful mastery of foreign language speech activity, and especially reading and writing (1, p.19).

Solving the problem of forming foreign language reading skills is especially important for the English language, in which there are great discrepancies between sound and graphic systems, and learning to read in this case is a difficult task even for children whose native language is English.

Technology for mastering the technique of reading in English by junior schoolchildren, developed by Z.N. Nikitenko, implements children's conscious acquisition of reading in a foreign language, taking into account their experience in mastering reading and writing in their native (Russian) language and relying on the communicative core in oral foreign speech (including its phonological awareness). This technology can be called developing, as it provides the leading lines of development of the younger student and contributes to the leading type of activity that has a strategically important impact on both the mental development of the student and the development of foreign language reading abilities.

Extrapolating V.V.Davydov’s ideas about the indicators of developmental education to the subject of our study, we single out the indicators of developmental learning to read in English in elementary school:

2. The main psychological neoplasms that develop in younger students when they master the technique of reading in a foreign language;

3. Development of cognitive abilities that determine the success of the formation of the skill of reading technique in the process of educational activity of a younger student;

4. Singling out learning activities as the leading activity of a given age;

5. The use of developing technologies for mastering the technique of reading in English in the process of controlled learning activities (3, 4).

Thus, the developing technology for mastering the technique of reading in SL, proposed by Z.N. Nikitenko, receives its psychological concretization.

Before we proceed to the presentation of the main content of this technology, let's say a few words about the organization of the initial stage of mastering a foreign language.

The developmental effect, and, consequently, the effectiveness of early school foreign language education largely depends on how the initial stage of the first year of language acquisition is built - the development of which types of speech activity is a priority here. Solving the issue of the sequence of development of oral speech, reading and writing is of fundamental importance for the first year of study, since it is here that the foundation is laid for the formation of all abilities that determine the success of mastering a foreign language in the future. In this regard, the developing technology of mastering the technique of reading Z.N. Nikitenko is presented in the form of a model in which the path of formation of a foreign language speech of a junior schoolchild takes into account the ontogeny of his speech ability, the psychophysiological patterns of the development of cognitive processes, as well as how literacy is mastered in the native language. This model is based on the following provisions.

1. Natural (that is, consistent with the characteristics and possibilities of age - Z.N.) way of developing the ability of a small student to speak in a foreign language (if we are not talking about "learning a language", but about the development of foreign language speech activity) - not the simultaneous mastery of children all types of speech activity, but the consistent development of oral and written speech, when oral speech (listening, speaking) first develops, and then written speech (reading and writing) is connected to oral communication.

2. It is necessary to develop in children the ability to perceive and generate oral foreign language speech, form phonemic hearing and develop phonological consciousness in order to create, taking into account the maturation of brain structures, the "sound" basis of a new language, providing a natural and understandable transition to the conscious mastery of technology for younger students reading (in English based on transcription as a visual orienting basis for the technical operations of foreign language reading).

When substantiating the ontogenetic-activity model of development of foreign language speech in junior schoolchildren, this technology takes into account the results of a study by E.I. imitative and reproductive actions (5). Using the ideas of E.I. Negnevitskaya enriched the psychological component of the nature-based approach to organizing children's mastery of the technique of reading in a foreign language with the following provisions:

1. The path of mastering foreign language reading by children is the path of purposeful formation of speech operations and actions (speech skills and abilities) of foreign language speech, the psychological prerequisites of which are the awareness by younger students of communicative functions and methods of operations and actions and their subsequent automation in the system of exercises;

2. It is necessary to consciously master the skill of reading in foreign language. Conscious mastery is achieved only by comparing the ways of forming the reading skill in native and foreign languages.

Let us turn further to the organization of the formation of the skill of reading technique in a foreign language in the context of developing technology Z.N. Nikitenko. According to Z.N. Nikitenko, sound analysis - letter-sound ratios are the most correct way for children to master the technique of reading in a foreign language (English). The use of this path when mastering foreign language reading in isolation from the natural environment requires the creation of certain conditions similar to those that exist ontogenetically when children learn to read in their native language, namely, the period of oral foreign language communication, which prepares the younger student for reading. These conditions presuppose the development of his speech (including language ability) ability for oral speech - before a younger student begins to learn to read in a foreign (English) language, it is necessary to create a communicative core in his oral foreign language speech

1) or during a course of oral foreign language communication in the 2nd grade (one quarter long), if children start studying the subject "Foreign language" from the 2nd grade;

2) or in the 1st grade of primary school (one year long), if the subject "Foreign language" is studied from the 1st grade at the expense of the school component of the curriculum.

It is also important that in the process of mastering foreign language oral communication by a student, he coordinates articulatory-pronounced actions with auditory images received from the teacher as communication samples.

Note that the idea of ​​an oral introductory course is not new. What is new is the character (developing the language and speech abilities of a younger student in unity), the structure and content of the course, so the author calls it (to show this fundamental difference) an oral course of foreign language communication, which is modeled in relation to the age of 6-7 years, taking into account psycholinguistic and neurophysiological studies of the formation of speech ability in ontogenesis.

The effectiveness of the formation of the communicative core in the oral course of foreign language communication (in both versions) is determined by the use not of the traditional methodology based on the reproduction of speech and memorization of words (such a course is useless for the development of the student's speech ability), but on the technology of developing oral foreign language speech, which is completely eliminates imitation and mechanical (choral and individual) repetition and contributes to the formation of phonological consciousness, children's awareness of the sound composition. Analysis of the research results of E.I. Negnevitskaya and ZN Nikitenko lead to an undeniable conclusion: the success of children in mastering the activity of reading (regardless of the language) is associated with the ability of children to compare the sounds from which various words are built. The first of the domestic psychologists who wrote about the negative impact of the indistinguishability of the sound system of the language and the letter system of writing, the indistinguishability of sounds and letters on all further language acquisition was D.B. Elkonin (6).

When substantiating a model for the development of children's ability to read in a foreign language (English), it is necessary to take into account the psycholinguistic analysis of the reading process proposed by D.B. Elkonin (7, 8). The central element of such an analysis is the orienting basis of the action of reading (P.Ya. Galperin, 1985)

According to D.B. Elkonin, reading (its technical side) is “the process of recreating the sound form of words according to their graphic (letter) model” (9, p. 326)

correct reproduction of the sound form of a word, it is impossible to understand what is being read.

So, extrapolating D. B. Elkonin’s point of view on the process of developing children’s ability to read in a foreign language, Z.N. Nikitenko gives his definition: foreign language reading of a junior schoolchild at the initial stage of formation is an action to recreate the sound form of a word on its graphic (in English - first transcription, and then letter) model (1, p. 190).

In this definition of reading, the material sound side is singled out as the subject content of the reader, that is, "not the letters or their names are the subject content of the reader's actions, but the sound side of speech - phonemes and their sequence" (9, p.329).

Proceeding from this, the tentative part of the action to recreate the sound form of a word is the orientation in the phonemic composition of the language (distinguishing phonemes in words according to their differential features, due to which words are distinguished), which is considered in this technology as an obligatory prerequisite for mastering the technique of reading in any language. foreign language. For the formation of students' orientation in the phonemic composition of the language, a special preparatory stage is used - the formation of the action of the phonemic analysis of words.

The significance of this orienting action lies in the fact that it gives the little student a broad orientation in the sound system of a foreign language, without which it is impossible to learn to read. Defending the idea of ​​the importance of the propaedeutic stage, it is based on the construction of Z.N. Nikitenko sees, following E.I. Negnevitskaya, conscious and meaningful oral-speech activity of a small student. As with learning to read and write in their native language, the course of oral foreign language communication is important not only for mastering reading, but also for all subsequent mastery of a foreign language by children (10).

As another argument in favor of the effectiveness of the proposed model, let's consider phonemic analysis in a practical aspect. The essence of phonemic analysis (as opposed to phonemic perception) is the ability to separate the sound shell of a word from the meaning, isolate further indecomposable units and their order in it, compare the sound forms of words and find out their similarities and differences, correlate the latter in the meanings of words with an unequal phonemic composition.

In order to carry out phonemic analysis (to establish the sequence of phonemes in a whole word), the word must be pronounced and written. Such an analysis is included in the context of gaming activity and is preceded by cognitive tasks (11, p. 16). For example: “Listen and clap your hands when you hear a word with a long sound {i:}”, or “I will name my favorite sounds. Name the foodstuffs in which these sounds are hidden, etc.

Experience shows that schoolchildren have difficulty establishing the order of phonemes in a foreign language. Since children experience similar difficulties even in their native language, “speech must materialize, that is, the word must be depicted graphically” (9, p. 340).

When children learn to read in English, this form of materialization, which models exactly the phonemic structure of the English language, is transcription. According to Z.N. Nikitenko, only after second-graders learn to perform a phonemic analysis of words by ear, and then based on transcription signs and are able to navigate in the phonemic structure of the English language, can one proceed to familiarize themselves with the letters denoting phonemes (which live in special houses - brackets). Acquaintance with English letters is based on mastered phonemes - on transcription signs and on reading rules.

The way of mastering the technique of reading by younger schoolchildren, based on a solid psycholinguistic basis and defining the approach developed by Z.N. years of learning a new language in the 2nd grade. Each stage solves its own problem.

The model of the formation of reading technique in a foreign (English) language among students of the 2nd grade, implemented in the TMC "English" by ZN Nikitenko.

Proposed model for the formation of foreign language reading

- allows schoolchildren to form actions to model such a complex side of reality as the structure of the sound form of a foreign word based on speech experience in their native language;

- provides an opportunity for the student to model the sound structure of a foreign word based on its sound structure;

- creates conditions for independent and conscious reading in a new (English) language.

Summarizing everything about the psycholinguistic side of the ontogenetic-activity model of development of the speech ability for foreign language speech and the ability to read foreign language in younger schoolchildren, we single out, following ZN Nikitenko, the main provisions.

1. The development of linguistic ability provides the younger student of the feelings of the language (in our case of foreign), and the development of speech ability to feel foreign language.

2. Natural and, most importantly, understandable and close to the student, the development of the ability to read in a foreign language is possible only if this development takes into account his experience of mastering reading in his native language. At the heart of the model of development of foreign language reading of a junior schoolchild is the consideration of the ontogeny of the development of speech and reading skills in the native language, the main patterns of which are modeled in the educational activity for mastering a foreign language, hence the name - ontogenetic activity model .

3. The main purpose of this model is the conjugated development of the speech ability of a younger student and all his cognitive processes (intellectual, emotional and mental).

Psycholinguistically correct, as can be seen from the above studies, when a small student first learns to understand foreign speech by ear and speak in the process of oral foreign language communication, and only then, when the communicative core in oral speech is formed, he learns to read in a non-native language.

4. In addition to the natural organization of the initial stage of mastering the skill of foreign language reading, it is necessary to use a complex of developing technologies in order for the ontogenetic-activity model transferred to the educational conditions of the elementary school to “work”.

Returning to the question posed at the beginning of the paragraph, we will answer, using the statement of E.I. Negnevitskaya, that there are no children capable and incapable of mastering the language (12), there are right and wrong technologies.

Literature:

1. Nikitenko Z.N. Developing foreign language education in elementary school. M: Glossa-Press, 2010. - 438 p.
2. Rubtsov V.V. Socio-genetic psychology of developing education: an activity approach. - M., MGPPU, 2008.
3. Davydov V.V. Theory of developmental education // Master, 1996, No. 1.
4. Davydov V.V. The concept of humanization of Russian primary education // innovation and practice. Primary education in Russia. – M., 1994.
5. Negnevitskaya E.I. Psychological conditions for the formation of speech skills and abilities in the second language in preschoolers. Abstract dis. … cand. psychol. Sciences. - M., 1986.
6. Elkonin D.B. Experimental analysis of the initial teaching of reading // Questions of the psychology of educational activity of younger schoolchildren. - M., 1962.
7. Elkonin D.B. Development of oral and written speech of students / Ed. V.V. Davydova, T.A. Nezhnova. - M., Intor, 1998.
8. Elkonin D.B. Psychology of teaching younger schoolchildren // Izbr. psychol. works. - M., 1989.
9. Elkonin D.B. How to teach children to read. In the book: Selected psychological works. - M., Pedagogy, 1989.
10. Nikitenko Z.N. Features of the organization of an oral introductory course in English in grade 2 // Foreign languages ​​at school, 2004, No. 4.
11. Nikitenko Z.

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