Phonological awareness is one of the levels of language awareness, and concurrently one of the nine cornerstones of reading literacy. Many authors and their studies see the ability of phonological awareness as the most reliable predictor of subsequent success in learning to read and write. It is therefore very important that before starting to learn to read and write, students have well-developed phonological awareness skills, especially the ability of phonetic analysis and synthesis, which are most important for reading and writing. In order to offer appropriate incentives for the development of phonological awareness, it is essential to know its importance and level of development, as this is the only way we can offer adequate activities that will enable children to progress at an individual level, and consequently get greater opportunities for more successful subsequent learning of reading and writing. Research from abroad finds that the majority of teachers who work with pupils during the period of learning to read and write, have insufficient or just basic knowledge of phonological awareness. The aim of the study was to find out what the theoretical knowledge of phonological awareness is like among Slovenian teachers of the first educational period (hereinafter EP), how and to what extent they include the development of phonological awareness of pupils in their work, and how often they check pupils' phonological awareness skills before starting to learn to read and write. In the research, a quantitative research approach with a descriptive and causal non-experimental research method was used. The method of sampling was purposive. We created our own electronic questionnaire, which was sent and distributed to the Slovenian teachers of the first EP. 136 teachers responded to the invitation. The results of the research showed that the majority of Slovenian teachers of the first EP do not have fully adequate knowledge about phonological awareness. Mainly, their knowledge of higher, more complex levels of phonological awareness is insufficient. Almost all Slovenian teachers of the first EP attribute great or immense importance to the ability of phonological awareness for learning to read and write; however, only slightly over half of them have sufficient knowledge of phonetic synthesis and analysis, which are the most crucial for learning to read and write. The years of service of the Slovenian teachers of the first EP do not affect the greater or lesser knowledge of phonological awareness and the knowledge of the importance of phonological awareness for learning to read and write. Slovenian teachers of the first EP, who have more knowledge about phonological awareness, statistically significantly include exercises for its development in their lessons more often. The vast majority of teachers of the first EP in Slovenia include exercises for the development of phonological awareness at least once a week in their lessons for the first grade; with the increase of the teaching grade, the frequency of including exercises for the development of phonological awareness decreases. Most often, the exercises for the development of phonological awareness are carried out for the whole class simultaneously and are extensively unsystematic. The majority of Slovenian teachers of the first EP check the pupils’ ability of phonological awareness only at the beginning of the first grade, but do not check the pupils’ ability at all levels of phonological awareness. Based on the obtained data and researched information, we have formed Guidelines for the development of phonological awareness amongst pupils in the first EP.
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