North Columbus News

Reading difficulties remain a significant public health concern, affecting many children, especially those from marginalized backgrounds. A common issue is the lack of phonemic awareness—the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sound units in words.

While extensive research has established the importance of phonemic awareness for reading, less is known about effective teaching methods. Scholars debate whether instruction should focus on phonemic awareness or larger sound units like compound words.

A new project, "Optimizing Early Phonological Awareness Instruction to Support Reading and Spelling Acquisition," aims to explore this under the leadership of Shayne Piasta, a professor at Ohio State University. Collaborating with Beth Phillips, Chris Schatschneider, and Lakeisha Johnson from Florida State University, the team will work on identifying best practices for developing phonemic awareness in young children.

This study is supported by a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health over five years. It will involve preschool and kindergarten students in Columbus City Schools and other local schools in Ohio and Florida.

Selected students will receive 6-12 weeks of additional instruction during school hours. The instruction will either start with phonemic awareness or focus on manipulating larger sound units.

The researchers will track these children through first grade to assess impacts on reading and spelling outcomes. They aim to determine when phonemic awareness instruction is most effective.

“I am thrilled to collaborate with Columbus-area schools and my FSU colleagues on this research,” said Piasta. “Together, we will not only provide extra early literacy instruction to students but also answer important questions about how and when to teach phonemic awareness. The findings will directly inform classroom literacy practice.”

The project’s results are expected to enhance understanding of how children learn sounds in words and its impact on their reading skills. This could influence learning standards, teaching methods, and support programs aimed at preventing reading difficulties.

Curriculum developers and teachers can use these insights to help struggling readers achieve fluency. Piasta's research group operates within the College of Education and Human Ecology Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at Ohio State University.