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The articles on these pages are taken from SPECIAL NEEDS INFORMATION PRESS,
a magazine published in the U.K. by and for Special Needs teachers.
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ONSET AND RIME
BY Stephanie Smith

WHAT?
Onset and Rime are technical terms used to describe phonological units of a spoken syllable. A syllable can normally be divided into two parts: the onset, which consists of the initial consonant or consonant blend, and the rime which consissts of the vowel and any final consonants. So in the word "strap", "str" is the onset and "ap" is the rime. Words which share the same rime will also rhyme, but the spelling will be constant and not vary as it does with rhyme.

WHY?
Most children will be aware of onset and rime before they begin school and certainly before they learn to read. This is clear by the interest they show in nursery rhymes and in their ability to create their own verses/chants using rhyme and alliteration . It would seem that young children can group words on the basis of sound.

The significance of an awareness of onset and rime in learning to read and later in learning to spell has been well documented by Goswami (1986, 1988); and studies by Bryant and Bradley (1983, 1985) support the idea that teaching children to attend to onset and rime will have a positive affect on their literacy skills.

Research shows that many dyslexic children learn to spell by analogy and that to begin with, the most frequent analogies are based on spelling patterns that reflect rime. The analogies are made about words which share the  same sound. If a child can read "bake" they can use this knowledge to decode and read "cake" and "lake" because they use the same rime. Being able to divide a syllable into its constituent onset and rime and to group words that end in the same sound is an important aspect of phonological awareness. It has been shown by Wise, Olson and Treimain (1990) that children are more successful at decoding words divided on the onset-rime border than any other division. So "str...and" is easier to link and decode than "stra...nd"

Children who have difficulty learning to read and spell often have poor phonological awareness and do not naturally use analogy. These are skills which must be taught. Teaching children the concept that words which share common sounds often share spellings is a powerful tool to help them on their way to literacy.

HOW?
Whichever approach is taken to teach reading and spelling through onset and rime, multisensory structured methods must be used. These should include large amounts of kinaesthetic reinforcement so that sound>symbol>written>symbol>motor pattern is well established. The same target rimes will normally have to be taught and revised several times, so the more varied the programme the better! Short lessons every day will be more valuable than one long lesson once a week.

For those beginning - or failing - to acquire literacy, it may be advisable to use an existing resource as the structure or scaffold on which to build the programme. Alternatively it is possible to work diagnostically from the child's own work and pick out those patterns which have not been learnt. The rimes can vary, from basic, as in "at",  to sophisticated, as in "ight", and can incorporate simple spelling rules such as magic-e, or when to use "dge".

In the lessons, try to use technical language so the pupils become familiar with, and know the meaning of, terms such as syllable, short/long vowel, consonant. onset and rime, etc. Make sure that the single letter sounds are known, and when rimes are first first introduced spend time exploring the sound they make. Is the sound made in the front of the mouth or the back? With the lips or with the teeth? Feel the difference between ACK and ANK, etc. For children with phonological difficulties, differentiating between vowel sounds often presents problems and training may be needed.

 

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SUGGESTED STRATEGIES

• Use lower case foam letters (with different coloured vowels to build the rime initially.      

Demonstrate how a word can be made by adding an onset and ask the pupil to choose another letter and make a new word. This is a very graphic, concrete illustration of the principle of onset and rime. Continue until four or five words have been made.

• Write a list of made words, using cursive script, spelling each word aloud as it is written.

Try to encourage a rhythm in the writing and spelling so that the rime is said as a unit. Read the list.

• Underline the shared rime in one colour.

Illustrate the words with simple drawings. Make a word web with the rime in the centre.

• Draw attention to how words are built, and encourage the use of blends in the onsets, e.g. tap>trap>strap   

Point out that the chunk of the rime is always the same and therefore does not need sounding out.

For blend onsets, and rime chunks...
Have   a look at Initial Blends   

• Use IT.

Many computer programmes allow own word lists to be added to their games and some are based round onset and rime. Use talking word processing packages so that as a word is typed, pupils can hear what they have written. Spellcheckers can be used  to check that the made word is real and the words can be entered and used in games.

• Test the pupil regularly with word lists and test sentences.

• Make "own voice" tapes of the lists of words with a short dictation. This uses the teacher's pronunciation as a model.

• Play games which incorporate the target onset and rime.                   

There are some excellent card games available. Play pairs, snap, bingo etc. Have a look at our digital phonics downloads!                      

• Play games which will encourage phonological awareness like "Odd Man Out" .

Recite a list of words that end in the same rime but throw in an odd one. Or "Find the Pair" - recite a list containing two words that share the same rime.

• Read materials which incorporate the learnt rimes to give the pupils the experience of seeing them in print.
                                                

Use this material  to scan for the learnt words or to find words which end in the same rime Encourage pupils to divide unfamiliar words into onset-rime as a word attack strategy

• Tie in handwriting practice to the rimes currently being worked on and use cursive script wherever possible.

These are just a few ideas you may find useful. There are many more.

The extensive  and positive research that has been carried out in this area is a strong argument in favour of using onset and rime as a tool for teaching children to read and spell, and enhancing phonological skills. More importantly onset and rime does work in the classroom and that is the strongest argument of all.