HELP Foundations Learning to Read > Phonics & Decoding

Phonics & Decoding

Phonics is the associations between sounds (phonemes) and the letters (graphemes) that represent those sounds in written language.

What is Phonics?
Phonics refers to the relationship between speech sounds (phonemes) and letters (graphemes) used to represent those sounds in written language.  Phonics knowledge helps readers to decode unknown words by sounding them out.

What is the Alphabetic Principle?
The alphabetic principle is the understanding that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language. Learning that there are predictable relationships between sounds and letters allows children to apply these relationships to both familiar and unfamiliar words, and to begin to read with fluency.

Why Is Phonics Important?
Research from the National Reading Panel (2000), the Institute of Education Sciences, and decades of cognitive science shows that systematic and explicit phonics instruction:
  • Boosts early reading success for nearly all students
  • Prevents reading difficulties for many at-risk learners
  • Builds a strong foundation for reading fluency and comprehension
  • Strengthens spelling and writing skills
What is the Role of Phonics in Learning to Read?
Phonics is the bridge between oral language and print. We learn to the sounds of speech naturally by hearing oral language. To learn to learn to read, we need to know that print is representing the sounds of speech. To learn to read, we need to know the code – specifically what letters are used to represent each speech sound under which circumstances. Likewise, to learn how to spell, we need to know how each sound is represented by one or more letters.
How Do Children Learn Phonics?
Children develop phonics knowledge through a combination of systematic and direct instruction and other experiences where print is connected with spoken language such as during read alouds, playing phonics games, or reading print in the environment.
What is Systematic and Explicit Instruction?
Systematic phonics instruction follows a clearly defined sequence.  It starts with the simplest, most common sound-spelling relationships such as consonant sounds and short vowels and gradually builds to more complex patterns like vowel teams.  Explicit instruction features the teacher directly explaining and modeling each sound-symbol relationship.  As students practice reading, the teacher provides guidance and feedback.
What Methods Are Used to Teach Phonics?
There are several different methods and strategies for teaching phonics.  Regardless of the method, the focus of phonics instruction is to teach how sound-letter associations and patterns can be used to read unknown words.
  • Synthetic phonics shows readers how to blend sounds to sound out words. Children learn how to convert letters or letter combinations into sounds and then how to blend the sounds together to form recognizable words.
  • Analogy phonics teaches readers to use patterns and parts of words they already know to decode.  For instance, decoding the unknown word hat can be done easily if the reader recognizes the word contains the same ending as a known word such as cat.
  • Phonics through spelling teaches students how to segment spoken words into phonemes and to spell words by writing letters to represent each phoneme.
  • Onset-rime phonics teaches readers to identify the sound of the letter or letters before the first vowel (the onset) of one-syllable words and the sound of the remaining part of the word (the rime). For example, readers are taught how to blend /c/ and /at/ to read the word cat.
  • Analytic phonics teaches readers to analyze letter-sound relationships in known words to learn phonics patterns and rules.
  • Embedded phonics teaching letter-sound relationships while reading text.
Which Phonics Teaching Method is Best?
Many teachers rely on synthetic phonics because it is the most familiar and is the most associated with being a systematic and explicit method of teaching phonics.  Yet, any of the above methods can be used to teach phonics in a systematic and explicit manner.  The most effective phonics instruction flexibly combines several methods to best meet the needs of all learners.
What are the Goals of Phonics Instruction?
  • Teach the Alphabetic Principle. Help students understand that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken words. This is the foundation of reading in alphabetic languages like English.
  • Support Decoding Skills. Enable students to “sound out” (decode) new words by blending sounds together based on spelling patterns they know. Decoding helps students read independently.
  • Develop Accurate Word Recognition. Teach students to quickly and correctly recognize familiar words and decode unfamiliar ones. Fluent word recognition frees up mental resources so readers can focus on understanding what they are reading.
  • Enhance Spelling and Encoding. Teach students that understanding how words are built to help them spell words accurately (encoding). Spelling reinforces reading, and both are tied to understanding how sounds and letters fit together.
  • Equip Students to Read Multisyllabic and Irregular Words. Prepare students to use phonics patterns, syllable types, and morphology (prefixes, suffixes, roots) to decode longer or less regular words.