All About Phonics Instruction

By: Mary Kaish

Phonological Awareness and its Role in Phonics

• The reading process can be described as a developmental continuum on which children are first able to listen to sounds, rhyme, manipulate syllables (phonological awareness), differentiate individual sounds within words (phonemic awareness), and eventually associate these sounds with letters (phonics).

• Phonological Awareness is the earliest stage of students learning to read through phonics and can be defined as the awareness of sounds in words.

3 Stages of Phonological Awareness

1. Syllables- largest sound unit in a word.

2. Onset and Rime- Onset is the initial consonant sound. Rime is the vowel sound followed by the consonant.

3. Phonemes- individual sounds that are heard in a word.

Alphabetic Principle• The idea that in words, each letter

represents a sound• At a young age, students are taught these

letter sounds so that they can use them as they begin to read and write words

• Many suggest that the alphabetic principle is simply acquired and students automatically begin using it in reading

• When reading with phonics, students decode unknown words based on these learned letter-sound correspondences and letter patterns they see in the word

Consonant Patterns

• In general, each consonant makes one sound but there are exceptions

• One consonant pattern is known as a blend. A blend is when two or more consonants blend together to make one sound. Example: “grass” “spring”

• Another consonant pattern is known as a digraph. A digraph is when two letters are next to each other but neither one represents their own sound. Example: “shell” “chair”

Vowel Patterns

• Unlike consonants, each vowel represents more than one sound depending on how it is used in the word

• One vowel pattern is known as a diphthong. This occurs when two vowels next to each other glide together to make one sound. Examples: “house” “boy”

• Another vowel pattern is known as a digraph. This is when two vowels together represent one sound. Examples: “nail” “soap”

Consonant & Vowel Patterns• In teaching reading and writing through

phonics, it is very important that these patterns be identified.

• Otherwise, when students are sounding out words using the letters they know, they will incorrectly identify the sounds these letters are making.

• But if they are familiar with the patterns, they will automatically be able to determine the sound they are representing in the word.

• In terms of writing, students need to be aware of the patterns when trying to determine the order of the letters. This however may take more time to achieve than it would in reading. Still, it is critical that it is taught.

Debate over Phonics• Many educators believe phonics is ineffective in teaching

students how to read. They argue there are too many rules and exceptions and students learn whole words better.

• However those who believe it is effective argue that understanding letter sounds and patterns are critical in reading texts and identifying words.

• Despite this debate, it is important that phonics be included in a comprehensive literacy program, particularly in the primary grades.

• Just like all reading components, when taught with a balance, phonics provides students with skills and strategies they need to become good readers.

5 Approaches to Teaching Phonics

1. Analytic programs begin by teaching children some words and then helping children ‘analyze’ those words. Through analyzing they learn phonics rules and make generalizations based on those words. Example: Writing a word on the board and the teacher would say, “This word is fit. It has a short /i/ sound in the middle”.

2. Synthetic phonics, or blended phonics, where the lesson begins by teaching the students an individual sound/letter relationship first.

5 Approaches to Teaching Phonics

3. Spelling based approach to teaching phonics is centered on learning word patterns and has a focus on word study. Example activity: Word sorting

4. Analogy based phonics is centered on teaching students to decipher unknown words by looking at the spelling patterns and using those patterns to help read the word. Example: if you can read cat, you can read rat, sat, fat, etc.

5. Embedded phonics which can be described as teaching lessons from the reading of children’s literature as well as writing.

Comprehensive Phonics Approach Summary & Conclusion

• Phonics instruction fits in a comprehensive program in multiple ways including: whole-class instruction, guided reading instruction, individual instruction and in some cases, extra tutoring help.

• Reading and writing workshops are also a wonderful way to include phonics instruction in the classroom.

• This comprehensive approach to literacy is promising in that the readers’ needs as a whole are being met

• The teacher must understand the phonics instruction alone is not the most effective way of teaching reading; rather, phonics integration coupled with reading and writing instruction as a whole is much more effective.

Comprehensive Phonics Approach Summary & Conclusion cont.

• A teacher who uses a comprehensive approach will provide multiple opportunities for their students to engage in phonics instruction while incorporating other reading skills such as content, vocabulary and comprehension

• The use of phonics instruction in a comprehensive literacy program is most beneficial to teaching an emergent reader.

• All in all, phonics instruction through the use of a comprehensive literacy program is a wonderful way to reach all students in the classroom and meet the needs of emergent literacy students in today’s classrooms.

The End!