How Phonemic Awareness Training and Direct Phonics Instruction Effect the Decoding Ability of Children with Reading Problems

The purpose of this thesis was to study how phonemic awareness and direct phonics instruction can effect the decoding abilities of children with reading problems. The importance of having phonics and phonemic awareness in the initial teaching of reading to young children was discussed. A review of the literature indicated that there is causative correlation between phonemic awareness and decoding skills. The research demonstrated that phonemic awareness intervention programs were very effective in increasing reading skills. Finally, the research implied that an effective reading program for young children with reading problems should include both phonological training and phonics instruction. In this thesis study, groups of children instructed in a phonics program called Project Read were compared to another group instructed in both Project Read and phonemic awareness. The results showed substantial gains for all the groups in decoding skills. However, the group with both interventions (Project Read and phonemic awareness) did not show any higher substantial gains than the other groups.