The final common pathway in all oral communication for Education and Development for All involves acquisition of phonemic knowledge and the ability to articulate whole words; phonemes are the core of language. It is crucial for children to have the capacity to pronounce isolated phonemes and to have the capacity to read or say words aloud. Reading is the opening door to the world of learning.

        This paper focuses on the relationship between children’s capacity to pronounce isolated phonemes and, children’s capacity to say words aloud. The research question framing the study was: What concept is so basic to speech, spelling, and reading that its presence or absence becomes critical in the processing of these skills? The assessment of children’s Phonemic knowledge and their ability to articulate whole words in the English language: is this an implication for learning to read? Is reading aloud from a standard printed text the best chance of eliciting the best sample of English Phonemes? To find a reliable testing tool to assess children’s ability in these areas.

        Auditory conceptualisation was found to be a critical factor, as all the children from this study were sent for hearing and auditory processing testing and were found to have this “problem with auditory conceptualisation”.

As Leorner and Kline, (2006) reported there are children with learning disabilities at the secondary level who lack the requisite skills needed to meet academic expectations, such as reading, spelling, and mathematics “the key to learning to read is becoming what is known in the field as being Phonologically aware” (Tallai, 2011).  This reinforces this research study, as phonological awareness was found to be a key factor to learning to read.

The importance of teachers being skilled in the teaching of reading, including understanding the child and the reading process is vitally important.  Harwell and Jackson, (2008) found that phonologically based reading disabilities are characterised by difficulties acquiring phonetic reading strategies.

This research is concerned, with the core of language, which is about children’s development of phonemic knowledge and articulation of whole words and the problem of auditory conceptualisation dysfunction.  Why “Words”? Words are concrete signs with encoded meaning, with contained semantic value. They have been socially codified by mutually accepted meanings and by rules of grammar. We are conditioned by words and the word formula of our language; the words we inherit teach us many things. Words have sounds, as the core of language: with out them we cannot speak.

 Phonological knowledge and phonemic awareness are among the most powerful predictors of subsequent reading ability. The core of language (phonemes) is a very important part of human cognition, which distinguishes us from other animals. Language is a tool simple enough for a child grasp effortlessly, yet so complex that we may never completely understand just how genetics and experience interact to produce this most integral human trait. The ability to comprehend and use language is one of the most reliable indicators of the grade of mental development. 

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