A strong predictor of reading achievement at the elementary level is the ability to decode and encode words through an understanding of letter-sound relationships, called phonological or phonemic awareness, and the ability to use phonetic strategies when reading and writing. K-3 teachers can ensure this foundation for literacy by providing direct, systematic phonics instruction, providing opportunities for varied practice, and taking advantage of teachable moments when phonetic strategies may be used understand difficult text.
Direct, Systematic Phonics Instruction
Phonics instruction builds on the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds to understand and create new words. To foster this phonemic awareness, begin with the use and instruction of rhyming words, followed by onset-rime patterns that help students decode words by analogy. For example, in the words cake and make, the initial consonants are the onsets and the -ake is the rime or word family. Children who can decode these two words will soon be able to read words such as shake, fake, and brake as well.
In addition to mastering onset-rime analogies, students should also be learning the short and long vowel sounds and the spelling patterns associated with each, consonant blends, consonant and vowel digraphs, vowel diphthongs and r-controlled vowel sounds. Structural analysis includes a study of prefixes, suffixes and root words and compound words, which is useful for students learning to decode and encode text, too.
Opportunities for Varied Phonics Practice
Along with direct instruction in phonics, children benefit from extensive opportunities for practice of phonetic skills using different materials and a variety of authentic tasks. Above all, children should be encouraged to write daily, using their increasing knowledge of letters and sounds to move first to using invented spelling, and then with practice and continued instruction, toward conventional spelling.
In addition to writing, students may collect and sort objects or pictures according to phonics skills (for example, gluing pictures of things that begin with sh on a poster). They can use dry-erase boards, magnetic letters, stamps, or markers to practice encoding words using a particular sound or skill; and play games matching onsets, rimes, or other sounds to increase phonological awareness, all a part of the literacy-rich environment created by the K-3 teacher.
Teachable Moments in Phonics
When encountering difficult passages, teachers should demonstrate how students can use what they know about letter patterns and sounds to decode unfamiliar words and make sense of text. After a word has been isolated for decoding practice, however, teachers should immediately focus on the meaning of the word within the context of the passage, so that children learn that decoding is not enough, but making meaning strategically is what reading is all about.
Helping children develop the ability to decode and encode words gives them confidence and allows them to become independent readers and writers. While it does not preclude the need for direct instruction in vocabulary and comprehension, phonics instruction does promote fluency and allow students to focus on the concepts and ideas they are trying to understand or express, rather than getting stuck on particular words.
Further Reading
Bear, Donald and others. Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction (4th Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2007.
National Early Literacy Panel. Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute for Literacy, 2008.
Savage, John. Sound It Out: Phonics in a Balanced Reading Program. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.
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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