Overview
Phonics is essentially the link between sounds and letters. Phonics instruction helps children learn the relationships between the sounds of spoken language and the letters of written language. In order to read an unknown word, a child must be able to look at the letters (grapheme/s) and connect them to the sound/s they represent (phoneme).
Phonics Instruction
Phonics Instruction is a method of teaching reading and writing that emphasises the relationship between sounds and there written symbols (letters). The English language has 44 speech sounds but only 26 letters. A sound is a unit of speech called a phoneme. The letters that correspond to those sounds are called graphemes.
For Example
In phonics instruction, a child would learn that the letter “m” represents the sound /m/, the letter “a” represents the sound /a/ and that the letter “t” represents the sound /t/.
To read the word ‘mat’ they are taught to blend the sounds together.
To write a word, they are taught to segment a word into its individual sounds. To write the word cat a child must be able to segment it into individual sounds /k/, /a/, /t/, then be able to assign/write the corresponding letters – cat.
What phonics is and how children learn to read using phonics.
Phonics Instruction: Systematic and Sequential
Phonics instruction typically follows a systematic and sequential progression, starting with simple letter-sound correspondences and gradually introducing more complex patterns and spelling rules.
Part of Phonics Instruction is explicitly teaching children to develop phonemic awareness (the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds in words). It provides them with the skills necessary to decode and encode unfamiliar words and become independent readers and writers.
Phonics & The Science of Reading
After decades of debate about how best to teach children to read, finally Australian Government Departments are mandating the move from ‘balanced literacy’ to an ‘evidenced based’ approach based on the principles of ‘The Science of Reading’.
Essentially, the major pedagogical principles for ‘the science of reading’ are as follows:
- Explicit teaching of grapheme-to-phoneme conversion rules (“phonics”)
- With a systematic progression, based on the statistics of the language (start with frequent, regular sound-spelling mappings)
- Careful guidance of visual attention (left-right, systematic)
- Active learning, systematic progression, especially writing. Learning to write helps learning to read.
- Practice to automaticity.
PHONICS then is the core principle from which the Science of Reading is based. The science of reading is founded on the principles of explicitly teaching phonics in a structured and systematic way, providing careful guidance and active learning and practicing to automaticity.
A Valuable Skill
By mastering these fundamentals, children can decode new words with confidence, instead of struggling to recognise them by sight alone. Imagine being able to sound out any word you encounter, regardless of how unfamiliar it looks. Evidence-based instruction equips children with this valuable skill.
