K-3 teachers are responsible for all children learning to read fluently and with understanding. One necessary component of an early reading program is phonics instruction. Building on a child's naturally developing phonemic awareness, quality phonics instruction can help children crack the code of written language, leading to a more satisfying reading experience and a stronger motivation to read for pleasure.
Because beginning teachers may not have a clear understanding of what phonics is, they may be less effective when teaching phonics strategies to early readers. Without a thorough understanding of what they are teaching and why they are teaching it, teachers may inadvertently keep phonics exercises separate from actual reading events, with children never learning to transfer the use of phonics strategies from their worksheets to their interactions with authentic text.
Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Instruction
Phonics instruction builds on the fundamentals of phonemic awareness which develops through the preschool and very early primary years. Phonemic awareness occurs when children learn to hear and manipulate sounds in oral language so that they may then transfer their knowledge of sounds to the corresponding letters and letter combinations as a foundation for learning written language.
Once children begin to hear and manipulate separate sounds, they are ready to begin using the alphabet to both decode (read) and encode (write) words. Successful early readers and early writers both rely on basic phonetic concepts, which teachers must also understand well in order to effectively teach them to young students, and to demonstrate their use as strategies that fluent readers automatically use.
Important Phonetic Concepts and Terms
Though children may not learn these terms, teachers should know their meanings and why they are taught. The alphabet is comprised of 26 vowels and consonants, with some letters acting as both. The vowels (a, e, i, o, and u; w and y when used at the end of syllables or words) represent at least two sounds, long or short, such as the a in cake and cat. The rest of the letters are consonants.
Consonants are used individually or in combination with each other to form unique sounds. Consonant blends are comprised of two or three consonants where each sound is individually heard as in the beginnings of the words blew or straw. Consonant digraphs are also comprised of two or more consonants, but the sounds are different from those represented by the individual consonants, such as the beginning sounds of chair or shed.
Vowels may also be paired with each other or with consonants to make unique sounds. Vowel digraphs occur when two or more vowels make a single sound, such as in the words snail or treat. Vowel diphthongs are comprised of two vowels that together make a sound unique to the combination, such as in the words house or coil.
Onsets are the beginning consonants in one-syllable words or word parts, and rimes are the vowels and other consonants that follow. In the word cat, /c/ is the onset and /at/ is the rime. These "word families" are taught to children as they manipulate letters and sounds to read and write: cat becomes bat with the change of the onset; and bat becomes boy with the change of the rime.
It is essential that new teachers have a strong understanding of the concepts they are teaching so that children do not become confused about why they are learning to manipulate letters and sounds. While these are the basics, teachers may find reading textbooks or online resources helpful as they plan lessons for beginning readers and writers who will use phonics strategies to assist with the decoding and encoding of written language..
Further Reading
Fox, Barbara. Phonics and Structural Analysis for the Teacher of Reading (10th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2009.
Barbara Abromitis - Barbara Abromitis, Ed.D. is a freelance writer and educational consultant, with degrees in reading education and educational psychology, ...
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