Fluency 5 Phonemic Awareness

Reading & Writing Quarterly, 17: 25–51, 2001 Copyright Ó 2001 Taylor & Francis 1057-3569 /01 $12.00 1 .00

A N A NA LYS IS OF PHONOLOGICA L A W A RE NE S S INS TRUCTION IN F OUR KINDE RGA RTE N B A S A L RE A DING PROGRA MS S y lv ia B . S m ith , De b o r a h C . S im m o n s , Ma r y M. G le a s o n , Ed w a r d J. K a m e ’e n u i, S c o tt K . B ak e r , Ma r ily n S p r ic k , B a r b a r a G u n n , C a r r ie L. Th o m a s Un iv e r s ity o f Or e go n , US A Da v id J. C h a r d Un iv e r s ity o f Te x a s a t A u s tin , US A Ju d ith P la s e n c ia -P e in a d o a n d R ic h a r d o P e in a d o Un iv e r s ity o f Or e go n , US A

In th is s tu d y , w e e x a m in ed th e k in d e rg a rten le v el o f fou r c om m er cia l b a sa l r e a d in g p ro g r a m s p u b lish e d in 1991 a n d 1993 to d eter m in e th e a d eq u a cy o f p h on olo g ic a l a w a r en e ss in str u ctio n fo r lea r n e rs a t r isk for r ea d in g d is a b ilities a n d d e lay s. C r iter ia fo r th e in str u ction a l a n a lys is w e re d er iv ed fr o m th e r e se a rc h o n in s tru c tio n a l d e sig n a n d p h o n olo g ic a l a w a re n es s. P h o n o log ica l a w a re n es s a ctiv ities in e a ch p ro g r a m w er e c od e d fo r (a ) th e p r es en c e o f p h o n o log ic a c tivities , (b ) d im en s io n s o f p h on o lo g ic a l a w a re n e ss (i.e ., m eta lin g u is tic s k ills), (c ) th e c on s p ic u ou sn e ss o f in s tru c tion , (d ) th e p re se n ce o f s ca o ld s to s u p p or t s tu d en t le a rn in g , a n d (e ) in s tru c tio n a l a n d p r a c tice e x a m p le s. Fin d in g s in d ica ted co n sid er a b le s im ila rity a m o n g b a s a l p ro g r a m s re g a r d in g th e ty p e o f p h on olo g ic a l a w a r en e ss a c tivities a n d im p licitn e ss o f in str u ctio n a l p ro ce d u r es . S p ec i c a lly , a ll b a sa l p r og ra m s in clu d ed p h on olo g ic a l a w a re n es s a c tivities . How e ve r, th e a c tivities d id n ot a d d re ss d im e n sio n s o f p h on o log ica l a w a re n e ss m os t h igh ly co rr e late d w ith e a rly r ea d in g a c q u is ition (i.e ., b le n d in g a n d s e g m e n tin g ) a n d d id n o t p ro v id e su fficie n t tas k s , m a ter ials , a n d te a ch e r s ca ffold in g . F in d in g s fu r th er re ve a le d c on s id er a b le v a r iab ility a m o n g p r og ra m s in th e n u m b er a n d r a n g e o f p h o n o log ica l a w a re n es s e x a m p le s. A n a ly se s re ve a le d th a t th e p h on o lo g ic a l a w a re n es s in str u c tion a l p ro ce d u re s in th e fo u r b a sa l r e a d in g p r og ra m s fa iled to in te g r a te c ritica l n d in g s fro m em p ir ica l r es ea rc h . Address correspondence to Sylvia Smith, IDEA, College of Education, 1211 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1211. E-mail : syl vias [email protected] This document was s upported in part by the Office of Special Education Programs , U.S. Department of Education, under Contract number HS96013001. This material does not neces sarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, nor is the material necess arily endorsed by the Federal Government. 25

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S . B . S m ith et a l. In s tru c tio n a l d es ign im p lica tio n s r ela tiv e to a d d r es sin g th e n e e d s o f stu d e n ts w ith d iv e rs e le a r n in g n e ed s a r e p r es en ted .

Increas ed complexities of s chools (Hedges & Waddington, 1993 ; KameÄenui & Carnine, 1998) and the ÃÃs pectacular changes that have occurred in the nature of children who come to s choolÄÄ (Hodgk ins on, 1991, p. 10) exact extraordinary demands on the des ign of textbook s and educational materials us ed to promote and ens ure s ucces s ful beginning reading acquis ition and experiences (Hodgk ins on, 1991 ; 1992). For example, more children with divers e learning and curricular needs are being educated in general education clas s rooms than ever before (Fuchs & Fuchs , 1994 ; McLes k ey & Pacchiano, 1994). The inclus ion of thes e s tudents in the educational mains tream re ects both the realities of an increas ingly divers e s tudent population and the ideological commitment to educating ÃÃallÄÄ s tudents in general education clas s rooms (Kame Äenui, 1998).

B asal R eading P rograms A primary tool to develop early reading acquis ition in general education is the commercial bas al reading program (Ho man et al., 1994 ; Tyson-B ernstein, 1988). More than a decade ago, Os born, J ones , and Stein (1985) argued that ÃÃbecause publis hed textbook programs are s o pervas ive in American s chools and becaus e they often, in e ect, cons titute a curriculum, it s eems important for educators to rais e s ome ques tions about thes e programs ÄÄ (p. 9). The in uence of bas al reading programs notwiths tanding, few content analyses have been conducted on their adequacy for the full range of learners . A review of content analys es of bas al reading programs from the 1960s –1990s s howed that analys es ranged acros s prereading, decoding, language arts, vocabulary, and comprehens ion s k ills from k indergarten through the s ixth grade. A number of the analys es were conducted primarily on rs t-grade materials , beginning with ChallÄs (1967) s eminal large-s cale review of beginning reading programs . B eck and McCaslinÄs (1978) examination of beginning reading programs was one of the rs t to focus on the needs of learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays . The quality and adequacy of these tools for s tudents with divers e learning and curricular needs are relatively unk nown and empirically unexamined des pite the common us e of commercial educational tools in clas s rooms . Few bas al content analys es have focus ed on the implications of ins tructional des ign for learners at ris k for reading

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dis abilities and delays (Chambliss , 1994 ; J itendra & KameÄenui, 1988 ; Tyree, Fiore, & Cook, 1994), and fewer s till have focus ed on the adequacy of bas al reading programs us ed with learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays for early literacy ins truction (B eck & McCaslin, 1978 ; Schumm, Vaughn, Haager, & Klingner 1994). Three s tudies have examined k indergarten-level bas al reading programs (Durk in, 1990 ; Hiebert & Papierz, 1990 ; Templeton, 1986). However, none of thes e s tudies has focus ed on phonological awarenes s , a prereading s k ill of s igni cant importance to s ubs equent reading achievement. The purpos e of the pres ent s tudy was to examine the quality of the ins tructional des ign and pedagogical features of four prominent k indergarten bas al reading programs with particular emphas is on phonological awarenes s ins truction for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays .

P honological Aw areness And R eading Ac quisit ion One of the mos t cons is tent ndings to emerge from beginning reading res earch is the important relations hip between phonological awarenes s and early reading acquis ition (Lyon & Chhabra, 1996 ; Snow, B urns, & Griffin, 1998 ; Torges en & Hecht, 1996). A growing and converging res earch bas e indicates that many learners with identi ed reading dis abilities experience primary difficulties in phonological awarenes s (i.e., the ability to manipulate and us e the s ounds of language in the abs ence of print). Moreover, thes e delays in phonological awareness have been identi ed as a root caus e and unique de cit of s tudents with reading dis abilities (Lyon & Chhabra, 1996 ; Swank , 1994). Several decades of phonological awarenes s res earch with young children provide converging evidence to guide the des ign of phonological awarenes s ins truction. A res earch s ynthes is of the relations hip between phonological awarenes s and reading o ers the following ins tructional guidelines , which have direct application to s tudents with divers e learning and curricular needs (Smith, Simmons , & KameÄenui, 1998a and 1998b) : 1. Phonological awarenes s ins truction s hould begin prior to formal reading ins truction for children at ris k for reading delay. However, the bene t is not limited to children at ris k for reading delay. All children bene t from phonological awarenes s ins truction prior to formal reading ins truction. 2. Phonological awarenes s is a multi-dimens ional cons truct in which s ome dimens ions are more important than others for reading acquis ition (i.e., phoneme detection, blending, and s egmenting).

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3. Phonological awarenes s is promoted by attending to ins tructional des ign variables that include, for example, the us e of conspicuous s trategies to facilitate awarenes s and the us e of s ca olding acros s a continuum of tas k s . 4. Features important to s ca olding include s ize of the phonological unit, pos ition of phonemes in words , and phonologic properties of s ounds (e.g., continuous s ounds that can be elongated, s top s ounds , and clus ters of s ounds ). Thes e ins tructional guidelines indicate that the s chedule of phonological awareness ins truction and the quality of ins tructional des ign are critical for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays, which in turn guided our examination of the k indergarten-level bas al reading programs . B as ed on thes e guidelines , the pres ent s tudy was des igned to examine the extent to which four bas al reading programs at the k indergarten level incorporated ins tructional des ign and pedagogical features re ective of the current res earch on phonological awarenes s . The present s tudy is the rs t bas al content analys is to focus on the adequacy of phonological awarenes s ins truction for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays.

F R AM EWOR K FOR STUD Y Two primary s ources were us ed to develop the proces s and criteria for evaluating the quality of phonological awarenes s ins truction in commercial reading programs . Firs t, three principles of ins truction (Kame Äenui & Carnine, 1998) were us ed as the ins tructional framework : big ideas , cons picuous s trategies , and mediated s ca olding. Thes e three principles represent minimum criteria for des igning tools for s tudents who may need additional s upport in learning to read. Second, content criteria were derived from a phonological awareness res earch s ynthes is and integrated within the three principles of ins truction to produce an ins tructional framework to analyze phonological awarenes s adequacy (Smith et al., 1998a). Thes e content criteria s erved as the conceptual and pedagogical framework for the coding s ys tem and analys is of k indergarten bas al reading programs . In the next s ection, we de ne each ins tructional principle and identify its s peci c application in phonological awarenes s . In a s ubs equent s ection, we des cribe the s peci c coding procedures , criteria, and res ults for each principle. 1. B ig id e a s are impor tant k ey concepts that facilitate the mos t efficient and broades t acquis ition of a s k ill or k nowledge, s uch as

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reading. They are foundational s k ills that warrant ins tructional priority. One big idea in beginning reading is phonological awarenes s , or the awarenes s and unders tanding that words are compos ed of s ounds . Phonological awarenes s is compris ed of multiple dimens ions , s uch as rhyme, phoneme detection, blending, s egmenting, and phoneme deletion. Furthermore, not all dimens ions are equally important to reading acquis ition. Res earch (s ee, e.g., B yrne & Fielding-B arnsley, 1989 ; Wagner & Torges en, 1987) documents three dimens ions that are critical prerequis ites for beginning reading s k ills : (a) detection of phonemes , (b) blending, and (c) s egmenting. In our analys is, we rs t as k ed ÃÃDoes the program addres s the big idea of phonological awarenes s , and, more s peci cally, to what extent does it incorporate thos e dimens ions highly related to reading acquis ition ?ÄÄ 2. C o n s p ic u o u s s tr ate g ie s are s equences of teaching events and teacher actions that mak e explicit the s teps required to s olve complex problems , s uch as hearing and manipulating s ounds (Kame Äenui & Carnine, 1998). Phonological awareness ins truction s hould be explicit and not left to either natural development or inference by the learner for two reas ons . Firs t, phonemes are not eas y to is olate becaus e we s eldom hear pure phonemes . Rather, phonemes are coarticulated (i.e., merged and not pronounced as dis crete s ounds ) and s ubject to dis tortion (s uch as the addition of vowels ; for example /duh/ ins tead of /d/) when produced orally (B all & B lachman, 1991 ; Spector, 1995). Therefore, researchers s ugges t that identi cation of phonemes requires an arti cial analys is rather than dis crimination of a naturally perceived acous tical unit (B all & B lachman, 1991). Similarly, developmental work in phonological awarenes s s ugges ts that identi cation of phonemes is neither natural nor acquired in the abs ence of ins truction for many children (Liberman & Shank weiler, 1985). Thus, cons picuous s trategies are neces s ary to mak e phonemes prominent in childrenÄs perception and attention. Features of cons picuous s trategies common acros s s tudies included direct teaching of phonological detection and manipulation, which involves : (a) teacher modeling of s peci c s ounds , (b) s tudents producing s peci c s ounds , and (c) mak ing mental manipulations of s ounds overt with concrete repres entations . 3. Me d ia te d s c a o ld in g is external s uppor t provided by the teacher, tas k s , or materials during the initial learning of s trategies for cons cious ly hearing and manipulating s ounds . Decades of research have documented that the problematic as pect of language for

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many children is the phonological component. When ins truction is s ca olded (e.g., s upporting the learner during difficult parts of a tas k ), the problematic as pect of reading (i.e., phonological features of language) is mediated and s ys tematically diminis hed (Stahl & Murray, 1994). The s upport can tak e the form of tas k adjus tment, materials variations , or teacher s upport. For example, tas k s can be adjus ted by focus ing on linguis tic factors s uch as (a) the number of phonemes in a word (e.g., m u g is eas ier than s t a r); (b) the s ize of a phonological unit (e.g., compound words are easier than phonemes ); (c) phoneme pos ition in words (e.g., initial s ounds are eas ies t and medial s ounds are mos t difficult); and (d) phonological properties of words (e.g., continuants, s uch as /s /, are easier than s top s ounds , s uch as /d/). Students with divers e academic back grounds and s k ills need more mediated s ca olding, while higher performing s tudents need les s . Teacher ins truction and curriculum programs s hould provide s ca olding that is adequate for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays by giving teachers the option of mediating the level of s upport without having to redes ign or rewrite a les s on to enhance the program. In the next s ection, we des cribe the procedures for analyzing the phonological activities in four bas al k indergarten reading programs .

M ETH OD M aterials All the volumes in the teacher editions of four k indergarten-level bas al reading programs were analyzed : Harcourt B race J ovanovichÄs Th e Tr e a s u r e Tr e e (Farr et al., 1993), Houghton MifflinÄs Level K1 A ll A b o u t Me and Level K2 Le t’s B e F r ie n d s (Pik uls k i et al., 1991a, 1991b), Macmillan/McGraw HillÄs Te ll a S to r y /S in g a S o n g (Aok i et al., 1993), and Scott Fores manÄs C e le b r a te R e a d in g (Allington et al., 1993). Only the teacher editions of the k indergarten-level programs were analyzed, as they repres ent the mos t commonly us ed res ource for teachers . Many publis hers s upplement activities in teachers Ä guides with ancillary materials s uch as work book s and black line mas ters . We did not analyze thes e materials becaus e our purpos e was to as s es s the primary ins tructional activities des ignated by publis hers to addr ess phonological awarenes s . Activities within the k indergarten-level programs that publis hers des ignated with phonologic objectives were

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reviewed. Terminology varied acros s programs ; however, we reviewed activities with headings s uch as P h o n e m ic A w a r e n e s s (Mac millan/McGraw-Hill, 1993), S o u n d A w a r e n e s s (Houghton Mifflin, 1991), He a r th e S o u n d fo r th e Le tte r (Scott Fores man, 1993), or Un d e r s ta n d R e la tio n s h ip s B e tw e e n Le tte r s a n d S o u n d s (Harcourt B race J ovanovich, 1993). One hundred percent of the activities in the phonological awarenes s s ections of each bas al program were copied for a total of 221 activities acros s the four programs . For purpos es of coding less on activities , phonological awareness was de ned as the awarenes s that words are compos ed of s ounds , demons trated by the ability to hear and orally manipulate s ounds in s pok en language (e.g., words , s yllables , ons et-rimes , and phonemes ).

P rocedure f or Analyzing Teacher M anuals Activities were reviewed to determine whether the activity actually contained phonological awarenes s tas k s . If reviewers determined that the actual objective was either phonologic or integrated (i.e., letter and s ound), an analys is of the activity was conducted. If activities were coded as letter or other, the analys is was dis continued. Each activity was coded by two independent coders . Prior to independent coding, members of the coding team met week ly to re ne codes , conduct reliability check s , and reconcile dis crepancies . Code development and re nement continued for s ix months until reliability criteria exceeded .80 for all major coding categories . A major purpos e in coding was to examine the magnitude of phonological awarenes s examples us ed by the teacher during ins truction and by the children in respons e to ins truction. B ecaus e phonological awarenes s activities are auditory activities in contrast to paper and pencil activities , frequency data on thes e two levels are important to depict the relative richnes s of ins truction, as de ned by the number of examples , and the relative amount of s ca olding provided for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays . For other categories , we either tallied the pres ence or abs ence (e.g., cons picuous nes s of s trategies ) or the number of examples (e.g., number of words containing continuous s ounds as a means of s ca olding the tas k ) of s peci c activities .

C oding C ategories Categories for coding the bas als were bas ed on the alignment of the three ins tructional des ign principles (i.e., big ideas , conspicuous s trategies, and mediated s ca olding ; KameÄenui & Carnine, 1998) and the ins tructional implications derived from a phonological awareness

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res earch s ynthes is (Smith et al., 1998b). The general coding categories including dimens ions of phonological awarenes s , as de ned by the number of ins tructional and practice examples , and the pres ence or abs ence of the three ins tructional principles . Explanations for each of the categories and the research ques tions are provided in the following s ections .

Cat e g o r y De n it io n : Dim e n s io n s o f P h o n o lo g ic A c t iv it ie s To examine the quality of phonologic activities , programs were analyzed for both the dimens ion (e.g., rhyming, word match, s egmenting) and degree of phonological awareness tas k s (e.g., the number of examples with phonological tas k s ). For example, the coding of the b ig id e a s of phonological awareness activities required coders to identify and tally the number of examples that the les s on provided along s everal phonological awarenes s dimens ions . Separate tallies were coded for teachers and learners . Codes within the phonological awarenes s dimens ions category included : 1. R h y m in g . Saying words that have the s ame ending s ounds (i.e., the ending group of s ounds that includes a vowel), but not neces s arily the s ame letters . 2. Wo r d . Tas k s within the word code involved phonologic matching tas k s at the word level. Task s within this code included (a) matching s ounds in s imilar pos itions in tw o or more words , even if the letters in thos e pos itions were not the s ame (e.g., ÃÃWhich words have the s ame rs t s ound : c a t, k ite , d o g ?ÄÄ); and (b) choos ing two or more words in which the s ounds match (e.g., ÃÃWhich words s tart the s ame : b u g , b e d , or kite ?ÄÄ). Neither letters nor s ounds are pronounced in is olation from the words . Speci c examples include the following : ÃÃpainting pictures ÄÄ is a phras e that contains two words that begin with the s ame s ound ; b a b y and b a n a n a s tart with the s ame s ound ; c a t and n ig h t end with the s ame s ound ; and the teacher s ays , ÃÃClap when you hear a word that begins with the s ame s ound as d o g : d e e r , m o o s e , d o c to r .ÄÄ 3. Iso la tio n . Three codes were us ed to capture the types of activities that required children to proces s s ounds or letters in is olation : Iso la te d -S o u n d , Is o la te d -Le tte r , and Iso la te d -C a n ’t Te ll. a. Iso la te d -S o u n d , a s ingle s ound is identi ed and s eparated from a larger context (e.g., s yllable, word). Identi cation or s eparation can tak e the form of oral production or concrete manipulation. Speci c examples include : ÃÃThe rs t s ound in r o s e is /r/ÄÄ (no printed text provided), and ÃÃthe rs t s ound in r o s e is /r/ÄÄ (printed text provided). The teacher pres ents the child with a

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s equence of colored tiles and s ays , ÃÃThis is c at. Move the tile that s tands for /a/.ÄÄ b. Iso la te d -Le tte r involved the identi cation of a letter either in is olation or as part of a larger context and paralleled Is olatedSound, except it involved print. c. Th e Iso la te d -C a n ’t Te ll category was us ed when coders were unable to determine whether the res pons e required teachers or children to pronounce a s ound or name a letter. 4. B le n d in g . The ability to combine s ounds or word parts to pronounce a whole word without reference to letters . Speci c examples include the following : The teacher s ays , ÃÃ/f/ /a/ /t/ is fa t.ÄÄ The teacher s ays , ÃÃ/door/ /bell/ is d o o r be ll.ÄÄ 5. S e g m e n tin g . The ability to s ay the s ounds or indicate having heard the s ounds that compris e a word without reference to letters . This ability can range from break ing words into big chunk s (e.g., s aying the initial s ound and the res t of the word as in ons et-rimes ) to break ing a word into each dis crete s ound. Speci c examples include : the teacher s ays , ÃÃWhen I s ay c a t, you tell me the s ounds in c a t.ÄÄ The teacher s ays , ÃÃTell me the parts in d o o r b e ll.ÄÄ 6. Oth e r . Any other manipulation of s ounds , not letters , s uch as deleting, counting, revers ing, or s ubs tituting. Speci c examples include : telling what word is left after s ounds are deleted ; counting the number of s ounds in a word ; putting a phoneme in a di erent pos ition and s aying the word.

Cat e g o r y De n it io n : Co n s pic u o u s S t r at e g ie s Cons picuous s trategies were de ned as the explicit s teps us ed to s olve problems or tas k s . Conspicuous teaching activities were de ned as overtly s howing how to implement a phonological s trategy in a manner that meets the Publis herÄs Objective for the activity ; if the target s k ill is a s ound, the s ound mus t be explicitly pronounced in is olation. Speci c examples of cons picuous teaching include the following : the Publis her Objective is hearing the s ound /p/. The teacher is told to explain that the s ound /p/ is the s ound you hear at the beginning of the word p e r fe c t. Many other words als o begin with the s ound /p/, s uch as p a r k , p a n ts , and p izza . An activity was coded as cons picuous if the teacher was required to think aloud to mak e a thought proces s overt. A s peci c example included the following : the Publis her Objective is learning to rhyme. The teacher s ays , ÃÃLis ten to the s ounds at the end of thes e two words , h o t and s p o t. They both end with o t, s o thes e words rhyme. Now think

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of other words that s ound the s ame way at the end.ÄÄ The teacher is told to explain that when we hear a word, we can us e what we k now to s ay another word that rhymes with it. To be coded as cons picuous , the ins truction had to occur prior to the time s tudents were as k ed to perform the tas k . No n -c o n s p ic u o u s te ac h in g activities were de ned as telling or noting what s omething is . However, the activity did not provide an explicit teacher model and required the s tudent to mak e inferences about what to do, s uch as how to pronounce a s ound in is olation or what the ending s ounds of rhyming words s ound lik e in is olation. Speci c examples include the following : the Publis her Objective was learning to rhyme. The teacher was to s ay the words h o t, s p o t, n o t, and fo r g o t and explain that the words rhyme or have the s ame ending s ounds . The Publis her Objective was developing phonemic awareness of /gr/. The teacher was to s ay the words g r a b , g r ip , and g r ap e and explain that thes e words have the s ame beginning s ounds . In neither example does the teacher demons trate explicitly the s ounds in the words that rhyme or having the s ame ending or beginning s ounds . Rather, s tudents are required to identify on their own the s ounds that rhyme or have the s ame ending or beginning s ounds .

Cat e g o r y De n it io n : Me diat e d S c a o ldin g Mediated s ca olding was de ned as the provis ion of temporary s upports to accommodate the needs of learners and to promote s ucces s ful completion of a tas k . This category cons is ted of the following ve dimens ions of mediated s ca olding : 1. R e s p o n s e r e q u ir e m e n t. Coders tallied all activities that required s tudents to a tte n d (e.g., s tudent expected to watch and/or lis ten to the phonemic awarenes s tas k s , but no other res pons e is required), r e c o g n ize (e.g., s tudent expected to dis criminate or perform phonologic tas k s without orally producing the information or target s k ill), or p r o d u c e (e.g., s tudent expected to actively carry out a phonological awarenes s s trategy or demons trate s k ill or k nowledge—in all cas es , s tudents mus t pronounce s ounds or manipulate s ounds orally) a res pons e. Finally, a c a n ’t te ll code was us ed to record activities that were ambiguous and didnÄt t the codes des cribed previous ly. 2. S o u n d r e p r e s e n ta tio n . This category referred to the medium in which a phonological awarenes s tas k was pres ented. Speci cally, types of repres entation in each activity were coded as (a) a n e u tr a l r e p r e s e n ta tio n , in which a neutral object lik e blank tiles or colored

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block s repres ented a s ound, (b) an o r a l r e p r e s e n tatio n , in which the teacher pres ented s ounds or words without look ing at print (e.g., the teacher as k s , ÃÃWhatÄs the rs t s ound in r o s e ?ÄÄ and the s tudent ans wers /r/), or in which s tudents s aid whole words without look ing at print but mentally attended to an isolated s ound or s ounds (e.g., the teacher s ays , ÃÃPumpk in, tell me if the word begins with the s ound for p ÄÄ), (c) p r in t r e p r e s e n ta tio n , in which a letter was us ed to s tand for a s ound (e.g., the teacher s ays , ÃÃThe rs t s ound in p o t is /p/ÄÄ and the teacher points to the letter p ), (d) p ic tu r e r e p r e s e n ta tio n , in which a picture was us ed to s tand for a s ound (e.g., the teacher holds up a picture of a bee and s ays , ÃÃThe rs t s ound in b a s k e t is the s ame as the beginning s ound for this wordÄÄ), and (e) o th e r , in which the activities involved a mental repres entation that cannot be veri ed by another pers on (e.g., the teacher as k s s tudents to produce the s ound in their head). 3. S ize o f p h o n o lo g ic a l u n it. All of the teacher and learner examples were then coded for their phonological/linguis tic s ize. This category cons is ted of the following dimens ions : (a) s e n te n c e s were de ned as complete s entences beginning with a capital letter and ending with an end mark , (b) c o m p o u n d w o r d s were coded if a s ingle word compos ed of two words that could s tand alone as s ingle words were identi ed (e.g., s u n o w e r , b a th tu b , s n o w a k e ), (c) s in g le -s y lla b le w o r d s were de ned as words with only one s yllable (e.g., c at), (d) m u lti-s y lla b le w o r d s included words that when pronounced contained more than one s yllable (a s yllable was de ned as a s ingle vowel or group of phonemes that included a vowel—ÃÃthe s malles t unit of s peech that can be produced in is olationÄÄ (Adams , 1990, p. 300 ; e.g., r u n n in g cons is ts of two s yllables ; e le p h a n t cons is ts of three s yllables , and c a t cons is ts of one s yllable), (e) o n s e t-r im e referred to two-par t divis ion of words into units that were s maller than s yllables (ons et is the rs t divis ion with a s ingle phoneme or consonant clus ter preceding a vowel, /br/ in b r ig h t ; rime is the las t divis ion with multiple phonemes , /ight/ in b r ig h t), (f ) p h o n e m e , which was de ned as an individual s ound and the s malles t unit of s ound (e.g., /c/, /a/, /th/), (g) le tte r was de ned as an individual letter, and (h) c a n ’t te ll was us ed to record activities that were ambiguous and didnÄt t the codes des cribed previous ly. 4. P o s itio n o f p h o n e m e o r p h o n e m e c lu s te r s . In this category, coders were required to determine where s ounds or groups of phonemes were located in words . The pos ition of phonemes in all examples were coded as b e g in n in g (i.e., rs t or initial s ound), m id d le (i.e., s ounds not located at the beginning or end of the word ; /e/, /f/, /o/

36

S . B . S m ith et a l.

TA B LE 1 Phonological Awareness Tas ks : Total Number of Teacher and Student Examples by Publisher Harcourt B race J ovanovich (n a 5 27)

Houghton Mif in (n a 5 39)

Macmillan McGraw-Hill (n a 5 132)

Scott Foresman b (n a 5 23)

128.5 27

80 12.5

0 0

95.5 25

64 14

506.5 103.5

243.5 23

0 0

1 1

3.5 3.5

0 0

41 23.5

23 8.5

11.5 8

16.5 12.5

5 5

48.5 11.5

9 9

28.5 19.5

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

Teacher Examples Rhyming Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Word Total Examples Total Activities with Example Is olated-Sound Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Is olated-Letter Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Is olated-CanÄt Tell Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Segmenting Total Examples Total Activities with Examples B lending Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Other Total Examples Total Activities with Examples

18 3

Student Examples Rhyming Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Word Total Examples Total Activities with Examples

8 2

84.5 26

85 13.5

0 0

85.5 24.5

24 8.5

286.5 73

282 23

37

P h o n olo g ic a l A w a re n es s

TA B LE 1 C o n tin u e d

Is olated-Sound Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Is olated-Letter Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Is olated-CanÄt Tell Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Segmenting Total Examples Total Activities with Examples B lending Total Examples Total Activities with Examples Other Total Examples Total Activities with Examples

Harcourt B race J ovanovich (n a 5 27)

Houghton Mif in (n a 5 39)

Macmillan McGraw-Hill (n a 5 132)

Scott Foresman b (n a 5 23)

0.5 0.5

2 1

0.5 0.5

0 0

2 2

7.5 6.5

2.5 2.5

0 0

38.5 24

14.5 9.5

2 1.5

7 2

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

Note : The number in the rs t row by tas k represents total examples ; the number in the second row repres ents total number of activities in which examples occurred. Only s peci c examples were counted. Extended examples (opportunities for teacher to elaborate) were not included in the total. a n 5 total number of activities coded in the k indergarten bas al s eries. b The ÃÃRhyme Posters ÄÄ activities were not included in the analysis.

are the middle phonemes in b e fo r e ), and e n d (i.e., the nal s ound of the word). 5. P h o n o lo g ic a l p r o p e r tie s . In this category, coders clas s i ed the property of the type of phoneme coded in the category, p o s itio n o f p h o n e m e . Only the words or s ounds that repres ented the primary focus of the les s on were coded for phonological properties . The properties included the following : (a) c o n tin u o u s , de ned as a s ound that can be extended (e.g., /s h/, /s /, /f/), (b) s to p , de ned as a s ound that cannot be extended (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k /), and (c) c lu s te r , de ned as consonants joined in a s equence in any pos ition of the

38

S . B . S m ith et a l.

TA B LE 2 Cons picuousness of Primary Instructional Strategies Across Activities by Publisher

Teaching Con spicuous Non-conspicuous

Harcourt B race J ovanovich (n a 5 27)

Houghton Mif in (n a 5 39)

Macmillan Mcgraw-Hill (n a 5 132)

Scott Foresman b (n a 5 23)

0 27

0 40

0 116

0 22.5

Note : Dimensions were coded only once if present within an activity. Numbers represent the presence of dimensions across activities. This applies across Tables 3–7. a n 5 total number of activities coded in the k indergarten bas al s eries. b The ÃÃRhyme Posters ÄÄ activities were not included in the analysis.

TA B LE 3 Student Response Requirements Across Activities by Publis her

Student Attends Opportunities to Respond Activities with Opportunities to Respond Student Recognizes Opportunities to Respond Activities with Opportunities to Respond Student Produces Opportunities to Respond Activities with Opportunities to Respond Unclear Opportunities to Respond Activities with Opportunities to Respond

Harcourt B race J ovanovich (n a 5 27)

Houghton Mif in (n a 5 39)

0 0

0 0

Macmillan McGraw-Hill (n a 5 132)

Scott Fores man b (n a 5 23)

6.5 1.5

0 0

2.5 1.5

62.5 23.5

184 18

110.5 26

119 39.5

247.5 68

33 20

11 6.5

26.5 14.5

46 10

77 23

15 4

No te : The rs t number represents the number of opportunities to respond. The second number represents the total number of activities in which s tudents had an opportunity to respond. * The number in the rst row by task represents total examples ; the number in the second row represents total number of activities in which examples occurred. Only speci c examples were counted. Extended examples (opportunities for teacher to elaborate) were not included in the total. a n 5 total number of activities coded in the k indergarten basal series. b The ÃÃRhyme Pos terÄÄ activities were not included in the analysis .

39

P h o n olo g ic a l A w a re n es s

TA B LE 4 Sound Representation Across Activities by Publisher Harcourt B race J ovanovich (n a 5 27)

Houghton Mif in (n a 5 39)

Macmillan McGraw-Hill (n a 5 132)

Scott Fores man b (n a 5 23)

0 26 26 25 2

0 37 38 7 0

0 115 22 11 1

0 23 22 23 0

Neutral Oral Print Picture Other a b

n 5 total number of activities coded in the k indergarten basal series. The ÃÃRhyme Pos terÄÄ activities were not included in the analysis.

word (e.g., /nd/ was coded as a clus ter in the word te n d ). For the clus ter code, groups of letters s uch as /wr/, /wh/, /th/, /s h/, /ph/, /k n/, and /ch/ were not coded as a clus ter becaus e they are cons idered one phoneme. TA B LE 5 Size of Phonological Unit for Teacher and Student Examples Acros s Activities by Publisher SingleS yll able Words

Sen tence

Compou nd Words

Ha r co urt Brace J o va n ovic h (n a 5 27) Ho ug h ton Mif in (n a 5 39) Ma cmilla n Mc Gr aw -Hill (n a 5 132) S co tt F or esman b (n a 5 23)

0

7

1

4

36

1

21

0

8

Ha r co urt Brace J o va n ovic h (n a 5 27) Ho ug h ton Mif in (n a 5 39) Ma cmilla n Mc Gr aw -Hill (n a 5 132) S co tt F or esman b (n a 5 23)

0

6

1

2

32

0

16

0

10

a b

MultiSy llable Words

On s et Rime

P hone me

Let t er

0

0

25

7

19

0

0

6

14

100

88

0

4

7

4

23

22

0

0

13

20

0

1

1

22

16

0

1

6

11

68

59

0

1

2

5

22

23

0

0

0

1

Teache r Examples 23 22

Studen t E xample s 23 19

n 5 to ta l number of a ctiv i ties code d i n th e k in de rg arten basal s eri es . The ÃÃRh yme P os tersÄÄ acti vi ties were n ot in clu ded in t h e a nalysis .

Ca nÄt Te ll

40

S . B . S m ith et a l.

TA B LE 6 Pos ition of Tar get Phoneme in Words Across Activities by Publisher

Harcourt B race J ovanovich (n a 5 27) Houghton Mif in (n a 5 39) Macmillan McGraw-Hill (n a 5 132) Scott Foresman b (n a 5 23)

Beginning

Middle

End

25

0

0

14

0

0

104

0

1

23

0

0

a n 5 total number of activities coded in the k indergarten basal series. Discrepancy in total number of activities re ects rhyming activities not coded in this category. b The ÃÃRhyme Pos ters ÄÄ activities were not included in the analys is.

R esearch Questions We examined the following res earch questions to determine the adequacy of phonological awarenes s for s tudents with divers e learning needs . Firs t, the following two-part ques tion was examined : ÃÃWhich of the phonological awarenes s dimens ions are included mos t frequently during ins truction ?ÄÄ and ÃÃWhat is the relative frequency of more important dimens ions (e.g., s ound detection, blending, and TA B LE 7 Phonological Properties of Tar get Phoneme(s) Acros s Activities by Publisher

Harcourt B race J ovanovich (n a 5 27) Houghton Mif in (n a 5 39) Macmillan McGraw-Hill (n a 5 132) Scott Foresman b (n a 5 23)

Continuous

Stop

Cluster

16

16

0

7

8

0

56

53

1

12

13

0

n 5 total number of activities coded in the k indergarten basal s eries. b The ÃÃRhyme Posters ÄÄ activities were not included in the analys is. a

P h o n olo g ic a l A w a re n es s

41

s egmenting) compared to les s important dimens ions (e.g., rhyming)?ÄÄ The data for ques tion 1 are found in Table 1. The s econd res earch ques tion we examined was , ÃÃDo the bas al reading programs us e s trategies that are cons picuous to s upport the ins tructional needs of learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays ?ÄÄ The data for ques tion 2 are found in Table 2. The third res earch ques tion was , ÃÃDo programs vary by the degree or k ind of s ca olding us ed to s uppor t s tudent learning ?ÄÄ The data for ques tion 3 are found in Tables 3–7.

R ESULTS AND D ISC USSION

Question 1 Table 1 indicates the total number of teacher and s tudent examples, res pectively, for each dimens ion of phonological awareness across activities by publis her. The number in the rs t row of each dimens ion repres ents total examples ; the number in the s econd row repres ents total number of activities in which examples occurred. Only s peci c examples were counted. Extended examples (e.g., oppor tunities for teacher to elaborate) were not included in the total as it was impos s ible to project the number of examples teachers would add. For example, in Table 1 (which reports the total number of teacher examples by publis her), the rs t two numbers under the rhyming dimens ion category for Harcourt B race J ovanovich (1998) 18 and 3, indicate that teachers had the oppor tunity to provide 18 examples to children, and that thos e 18 examples occurred in 3 activities . The dimens ions and number of phonologic examples di ered cons iderably acros s the four programs . As the data indicate, word and rhyming activities were frequently employed to develop phonological awarenes s . In contrast, s egmenting and blending, two phonological awarenes s dimens ions that are highly correlated with word recognition, were n e v e r repres ented (e.g., Muter, Hulme, Snowling, & Taylor, 1997 ; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987). This pattern held for teacher examples and s tudent examples . We note that our analys is did not include the s ection, ÃÃRhyme Pos ters ÄÄ in the Scott Fores man program (1993) that accounts for an abs ence of rhyming activities at the teacher and s tudents levels for that program. B ecaus e the ÃÃRhyme Pos ters ÄÄ

42

S . B . S m ith et a l.

s ection us ed a poem as a vehicle for oral language conceptual development with s cant attention to the rhyming features of words , it was not coded. Ins tead, we elected to code the ÃÃhear the s ound for the letterÄÄ s ection, which focus ed on the development of phonological awarenes s . The abs ence of blending and s egmenting oral activities , the two activities mos t highly correlated with reading acquis ition, repres ents a gap between phonological awarenes s intervention res earch and the ins tructional des ign of bas al readers (Smith et al., 1998a). Identifying the mos t pars imonious combination of phonological tas k s for optimum e ect on the development of phonological awarenes s and reading acquis ition has been a res earch is s ue for decades (e.g., Fox & Routh, 1984 ; OÄConnor, J enk ins , & Slocum, 1995 ; Torgesen, Morgan, & Davis , 1992). Converging evidence indicates that s ubs tantial growth in phonological awarenes s for s tudents low in s uch awareness comes from ins truction in s egmenting and blending at the phoneme level in combination (Smith et al., 1998a). For example, in a s tudy with k indergarten s tudents low in phonological awarenes s , OÄConnor and colleagues (1995) indicated that the pars imonious combination of blending and s egmenting is as e ective as a more varied approach, that is to s ay, teaching an array of phonological awarenes s s k ills s uch as blending, s egmenting, rhyming, and word-to-word matching. Pars imony is an important factor when time for ins truction and practice is limited. Importantly, within the activities coded, there was little attention allocated to hearing or producing the phonemes of language, as indicated by the data in the Is o la te d -S o u n d category of Tables 1 and 2 where the range of number of examples was 0–3.5. Although activities at the word level provide ins truction in s ound detection, an important res earch-bas ed pre-reading s k ill (B yrne & Fielding-B arnsley, 1989, 1993), the word level often requires inferred detection (e.g., ÃÃwhich words begin with the s ame s oundÄÄ), in contras t to the is olated s ound level that explicitly models s ound detection. In addition, all bas al programs us ed a s izeable amount of Is o la te d -Le tte r examples , in contrast to Iso la te d -S o u n d , indicating a s tronger emphas is on alphabetic unders tanding than phonological awarenes s . We o er a caveat to thes e data. B ecaus e publis hers Ä conventions for des ignating s ounds and letters varied acros s programs and activities , we coded phonemes only in cas es where the directions clearly indicated for teachers or learners to p r o d u c e th e s o u n d . Ins truction and res pons es that were unclear were coded us ing the Iso late d -C a n ’t Te ll code. Therefore, ndings in the ÃÃis olatedÄÄ s ub-category are confounded by the large proportion of Iso la te d -C a n ’t Te ll coding in the

P h o n olo g ic a l A w a re n es s

43

Houghton Mifflin and Scott Fores man bas al programs . This coding convention may have under-coded the actual number of opportunities publis hers intended for children to have to produce s ounds . Given the lack of clarity, however, it is not dis cernable that us ers of the program would actually have children produce s ounds . It is important to note the dis crepancy in the number of examples and dimens ions of phonological awarenes s acros s programs . Speci c programs s uch as Macmillan McGraw-Hill (1993) and Scott Fores man (1993) included a s izably greater number of word examples . In contrast, Harcourt B race J ovanovich (1993) and Houghton Mifflin (1991) relied on fewer examples . In fact, the data involving both teacher and learner examples indicate that although Scott Fores man (1993) had the fewes t number (i.e., 23 teacher) of activities coded, the program provided very s izeable opportunities (i.e., 243.5 teacher examples and 282 s tudent examples ) involving phonological awarenes s tas k s at both the teacher and s tudent level. We als o examined the number of examples acros s teacher and s tudent levels , becaus e fewer teacher examples than s tudent examples may indicate more as s es s ment than teaching. However, res ults of our analys is did not indicate more as s es s ment than teaching for any of the programs . Similarly, fewer s tudent rather than teacher examples would indicate little opportunity to practice, which als o was not indicated by our analys is . For example, total examples for the word category were 95.5 for the teacher and 85.5 for s tudents in the Harcourt B race J ovanovich program (s ee Table 1.) Thus, we found a fairly clos e corres pondence between number of teacher examples and s tudent examples acros s publis hers , indicating a reas onably balanced format between ins truction and res pons e (Kame Äenui & Carnine, 1998).

Question 2 Table 2 indicates that ins truction was s imply n o t cons picuous across the four programs , a nding that contras ts with e ective teaching practices for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays (Kame Äenui & Carnine, 1998 ; Torges en, Wagner, & Ras hotte, 1997). Typically, children were encouraged to lis ten to words and note a s amenes s or identify letters prior to a formal teacher demons tration or model. A typical example of incons picuous teaching in Harcourt B race J ovanovich (1993) as k ed teachers to ÃÃRead the rs t line of the poem and repeat the words h o p and s h o p . As k children how the words are the s ameÄÄ (vol. I, p. T188). This s equence of reading a poem or s et

44

S . B . S m ith et a l.

of examples to children, as k ing them to note a s ameness , and then as s es s ing their unders tanding of phonologic awarenes s was consis tent acros s publis hers . As the data in Table 2 indicate, on no occas ion did directions reques t teachers to explicitly model the critical feature of the phonological awarenes s tas k . Ins tead, a consis tent nding was the tendency of all programs to have children apply s k ills and s trategies without cons picuous ins truction.

Question 3 Consis tent s upport was found for the importance of mediated s ca olding in phonological awarenes s intervention res earch (Smith et al., 1998b). We dis cus s the ndings for each of the mediated s ca olding categories s eparately.

R e s po n s e R e q u ir e m e n t

As indicated in Table 3, data within this category re ect learners Ä res pons e requirements to phonologic tas k s . As s ugges ted by the data, res pons e requirements di ered acros s the four programs . While the data for all the programs indicated a dis tribution of res pons e forms (e.g., recognition and production), the data for the Harcourt B race J ovanovich (1993), Houghton Mifflin (1991), and Macmillan McGrawHill (1993) programs indicated that s tudents were reques ted to p r o d u c e a res pons e (a higher level of res pons e requirement) more often than they were reques ted to r e c o g n ize a res pons e (a lower level of res pons e requirement) 7 to 1, 40 to 1, and 4 to 1 respectively. Thes e data are in contrast to the ratio in the Scott Fores man program (1993), which required 1 production respons e for every 6 recognition res pons es . Intervention res earch provides converging s upport for the bene t of children producing the phonemes in is olation (Smith et al., 1998a).

S o u n d R e pr e s e n t at io n in S t im u lu s The intent of this category of analys is was to capture the tas k requirements for beginning readers . B ecaus e phonological awareness is an ability to hear and manipulate the s ounds of language in the abs ence of print, we cons idered it important to identify whether children were given oppor tunities to work with the s ounds of language or whether tas k s required the proces s ing of both s ounds and letters . As noted by the data in Table 4, activities involved the com-

P h o n olo g ic a l A w a re n es s

45

bination of print, s ound, and pictures cons is tently acros s publis hers , which means that the focus was not s trictly phonological but rather alphabetic. The data indicated a s imilar dis tribution acros s the Harcourt B race J ovanovich (1993), Houghton Mifflin (1991), and Scott Fores man (1993) programs , whereas the Macmillan McGraw-Hill program (1993) provided a greater number of oppor tunities to res pond orally. The Harcourt B race J ovanovich (1993), Houghton Mifflin (1991), and Scott Fores man (1993) programs provided comparable opportunities to work with phonologic tas k s acros s print and s ound. This nding is important, as the activities s elected for coding were des ignated by publis hers as ones to develop s ound or phonological awarenes s . However, in the early les s ons , there may be an expectation in the current des ign of bas als that children will read and bene t from s imultaneous emphas is on s ounds a n d letters . This expectation does not align with the res earch that recommends combining exclus ive phonologic ins truction with concurrent, but s eparate letters ound corres pondence ins truction (e.g., B all & B lachman, 1991 ; B yrne & Fielding-B arnsley, 1989 ; Smith et al., 1998a ; 1998b).

S iz e o f P h o n o lo g ic al Un it Table 5 reports data on the s ize of the phonological unit us ed in k indergarten-level programs . For both teacher and learner examples, the data mak e clear that examples typically are at the word level, becaus e n o e xa m ple s were given acros s the four programs for the category of ons et-rime, and only four examples were recorded for the category of phoneme in the Macmillan McGraw-Hill program (1993). Within the word-level category, the examples cons is ted primarily of both s ingle-s yllable and multi-s yllable words . Data in the C a n ’t Te ll category re ected the us e of either letter- or s ound-level units without clear s peci cation as to which s timulus was us ed. The pattern of word-level phonologic tas k s was consis tent across publis hers and within activities . This pattern indicated limited utilization of phonologic tas k s pres umed to be important to the developmental acquis ition of phonological awarenes s . Speci cally, res earch has s uggested that the ons et-rime level may s erve as a necess ary s tep for children low in phonological awarenes s (e.g., Liberman & Shank weiler, 1985 ; Stahl & Murray, 1994 ; Vandervelden & Siegel, 1995). Moreover, research interventions that als o provided ins truction at the phoneme level for k indergarten children low in phonological awarenes s , res ulting in s ubs tantial growth in phonological awareness (OÄConnor, J enk ins , Leices ter, & Slocum, 1993 ; OÄConnor et al., 1995 ;

46

S . B . S m ith et a l.

Torges en & Davis , 1996), further highlight the gap that the pattern of word-level phonologic tas k s repres ents . Finally, becaus e ÃÃ[t]he core de cit respons ible for the majority of cas es of reading dis ability is at the mos t bas ic level of the language s ys tem—the level of the phonemeÄÄ (Lyon, 1995, p. 3), it is important to provide s ufficient ins truction and practice at the phoneme level.

P o s it io n o f P h o n e m e The data in Table 6 indicate that with the exception of one example in the Macmillan McGraw-Hill (1993) program, all activities focus ed on the s ound in the in itia l p o s itio n of words . Res earch indicates that the initial pos ition is the eas ies t pos ition for phonological tas k s , and that learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays bene t from explicit ins truction acros s all features of complexity, particularly thos e that are more difficult, s uch as the nal and middle pos itions (e.g., B all & B lachman, 1991 ; B yrne & Fielding-B arnsley, 1989 ; Lie, 1991). The abs ence of explicit ins truction and guided practice for the more difficult levels of phoneme pos ition repres ents a gap in the alignment between intervention research and the des ign of the bas als for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays .

P h o n o lo g ic al P r o pe r t ie s Table 7 illus trates that the phonological properties of words involved both continuous and s top s ounds . The Macmillan McGrawHill (1993) program provided one example that involved clus ters . Attention to the continuum of difficulty (i.e., continuous , s top, clus ter) may provide s igni cant bene t for children who s truggle with phonological awarenes s ins truction. Although res earch indicates that continuous s ounds are easier than s top s ounds (i.e., continuous s ounds can be elongated to give children more time to lis ten, whereas s top s ounds dis appear immediately upon production ; s ee e.g., B all & B lachman, 1991 ; Spector, 1995), our analys is was not s et up to s how s equential levels of s ca olding acros s time. Ideally, more continuous s ound examples s hould be us ed in initial ins truction of tas k s with gradual introduction of more difficult s ounds , s uch as s top s ounds and clus ters .

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SUM M AR Y AND C ONC LUSION Each of the four bas al reading programs that we evaluated included activities devoted explicitly to developing phonological awarenes s in young children prior to and concurrent with beginning reading ins truction. Inclus ion of phonological awarenes s activities in bas al readers re ects ack nowledgment of the conclus ive evidence that ins truction in phonological awarenes s prior to and concurrent with beginning reading ins truction is critical for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays and provides bene t to normally achieving s tudents . Initially, core ins truction in a bas al program is des irable for all s tudents , and then additional, more intens ive phonological awarenes s ins truction may be needed by learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delay. In a core bas al program, the inclus ion of activities and examples , however, is an ins ufficient criterion. It is the quantity and quality of ins truction that largely determine its e ectiveness for children with divers e learning needs . Regarding quantity, all the programs o ered s imilar proportions of examples in which children could receive ins truction and practice. Requiring oral res pons es (i.e., production res pons es) promotes phonological awarenes s , and three of the four programs reques ted production res pons es more often than recognition res pons es . We noted, however, that the bene t of generous attention to production res pons es was weak ened by the fact that acros s all programs , res pons es were required at the word level, rather than at the ons etrime level for initial s ounds or the phoneme level for s ounds across all pos itions . Attention to the details of ins tructional des ign repres ents a negrained res pons e to phonological awarenes s intervention res earch, critical for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays who are typically low in phonological awarenes s and lack rich emergent literacy experiences . The s cant attention to ins tructional des ign principles of cons picuous s trategies and s ca olding acros s the four programs was notable. Intervention res earch is in the proces s of es tablis hing that careful attention to ins tructional des ign principles enhances the bene t of ins tructions for all learners . This attention is particularly important for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays and could mak e the di erence in whether or not thos e learners bene t from the very ins truction they need in order to learn to read s ucces s fully (Smith et al., 1998b). Therefore, we encourage practitioners and publis hers to optimize their res pons e to res earch by attending to the following ins tructional

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des ign features : · include ins truction in the ÃÃbig ideas ÄÄ of blending and s egmenting as auditory tas k s —particularly at the phoneme level, · s ys tematically s equence tas k s , · provide examples of explicit ins truction to increas e the cons picuous nes s of s trategies , · increas e opportunities to produce s ounds at the phoneme level, and · provide generous s uggestions for s ca olding of tas k s , materials , and the amount of teacher as s is tance. Thes e ins tructional des ign features have been common across decades of phonological awarenes s intervention res earch, rs t for normally achieving learners and more recently for learners at ris k for reading dis abilities and delays (Smith et al., 1998a, 1998b).

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