Phonics is the first step that all of the oral work with language takes toward building a strong relationship with written language. The word phonics is based on the root phon or phone which means sound. You may remember from my post on Phonemic and Phonological Awareness that the suffix -ic means “having to do with or in regards to”. That means at its “root” (pun intended!!) Phonics just means having to do with sound. And that is what it is. It is teaching children what sounds each letter makes. ALL of the sounds each letter makes (long and short vowel sounds, soft and hard c and g sounds, or multiple sounds for a digraph). It is also what sounds different digraphs, trigraphs, quadgraphs, diphthongs, and vowel teams make.

Here is some more information about what each of those letter combinations are. Di-, tri- and quad graphs are just letter combinations that make a new/different sound. Di is a root that means two, so these are the two letter combinations of sh, ch, wh, and ph. Tri means three so that includes combinations like igh, tch, dge. Quad means four so that means a four letter combination like eigh. Diphthongs are vowel or vowel and consonant combinations that make a blended or new sound. Some examples of these are ou, ow, oi and oy. Vowel teams are two vowel combinations that follow the rule of “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and says its name”. The term vowel team is used for various combinations in different programs and trainings, but to me there are only 6 true vowel teams because they include only vowels and they follow the above rule. They are ea, ee, oe, oa, ai, and ie.

Once learners have mastered with BOTH accuracy and automaticity the sounds of the letters, they can start using their Phonemic Awareness skills to put those sounds together to sound out AND spell words. This is a key thing to remember. True phonics should include instruction in both decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) words. Learners do not have to have all the letter combinations mastered before starting to use phonics to read and spell. In fact they can begin using their Phonological skills to read and write as soon as they have mastered with accuracy and automaticity as few as two letter sounds like /a/ and /m/ or /o/ and /n/. As learners are working on and mastering their letter sounds they should be using them to read and write as soon as possible. Doing this will help their learning in two ways. First, it will help them see the value of what they are learning and help them remain engaged in the learning. Second, it will help ingrain their learning deeper as they practice applying their new knowledge in different ways.

This is essentially all that Phonics is. It is teaching learners explicitly the sounds that go with each letter symbol and then giving them as many and as varied opportunities to use/apply that information in BOTH reading and writing. There are just a few more things I would like to mention though, that strengthen a good phonics foundation.

One of those things is the rules that govern many of the sounds letters make. Although, typically these rules are more important for spelling, they do affect reading skills as well. One of the rules that affects reading is the type of syllable you are reading. A closed syllable (one that ends in a consonant) uses a short vowel sound. An open syllable (one that ends in a vowel) uses a long vowel sound. Recognizing and understanding this will help readers gain efficiency because they no longer have to try both vowel sounds, they can just read the correct sound the first try. There are between six and eight syllable types depending on the program you are using or learning from. Each of these syllable types gives specific information to help with reading and spelling. A strong foundation in Phonemic Awareness is again important here because it will allow children to know where words break between syllables. Other rules like an a says /o/ when it follows a w or comes before an l, help with both reading and spelling. Words like want are no longer just sight words, they are words that follow a specific rule. This is an example of how, although there are certainly exceptions to the rules in the English language, there are fewer than many of us think or thought, once we learn the rules that govern our language. I am only now starting to feel like I know about more of these rules than I don’t thanks to a mentor of mine who is a Dyslexia interventionist and whose original degree was not in teaching, but in English itself. It is vital that there is instruction in these rules that govern our language within Phonics instruction to ensure students can read AND spell unknown words based on rules and sounds, not just the words included in the lessons or weekly spelling list or the word list in the back of their decodable reader.

The other is the VITAL importance of teaching spelling as a part of Phonics instruction. Yes, this series of posts is about the pillars of Reading, but without using Phonics for spelling you are taking half of the equation and ability from the learners. Students will progress more quickly with reading the letter sounds they are being instructed in than they will in spelling them. However, once they have mastered letter sounds and practiced applying that knowledge in reading they need to be given the opportunity and expectation to use that same knowledge in writing/spelling. If they cannot use the known letter sounds correctly and consistently in spelling and writing, both scripted like a spelling test and free like journal writing, it should not be considered a mastered skill and more practice must be given.

Here are some things to remember about Phonics:

It is the explicit instruction of letter and letter combination sounds

It must include application practice in BOTH decoding/reading and encoding/spelling

It must include instruction and drill of the rules that govern which letter/letter combination sound OR letter/letter combination to use when spelling a sound (i.e. both ch and tch say /ch/, but are used in different words and places in words)

If you have any great tips to share about teaching Phonics to your students please share in the comments so that we can all learn from you! What has been your best resource for learning the rules that govern our language? What questions do you still have about Phonics? I look forward to hearing from you.