Phonics



Phonics consists of the ‘instruction in the sound-letter relationships used in reading and writing’ (Hill, 2006), and understanding the alphabetic principle. This means understanding that the language we speak is made up of different sounds, and that each sound is associated to single or grouped written letters. Early on in childhood, children learn that spoken words can be represented by writing, as they see signs, or watch their parents write. They know that the letters they see as squiggles with no meaning around them tell them the things they need to know everyday. Children imitate the look of communication by drawing squiggles, like the symbols they see all around them. Letters and sounds must be learned through real writing and reading experiences and rhymes.

Our English language is made up of 26 letters. Children remember the letter names from singing the alphabet song; something that is usually learnt before they begin school. For the 26 letters, there are 44 sounds called 'Phonemes'. Phonemic awareness consists of understanding that every word spoken is conceived as a sequence of sounds. However promoting investigation is important. When reading we cannot rely on one specific sound matching to one specific letter, as one letter can sometimes make two sounds. E.g. C as in 'cat', or C as in 'cellophane'.



There are different stages and phases of phonics development, from basic recognition to structure which includes the addition and understanding of words, prefixes, suffixes etc.

STAGES (Hill, 2006, page 212)

STAGE 1: the ability to recognise, say, and write names and sounds of letters of the alphabet.

STAGE 2: the ability to recognise onsets and rimes or word families.

STAGE 3: Blends (phase 1) - understanding initial two letter consonant blends e.g 'cl', 'bl', 'br', 'fl'. (phase 2) - understanding final two letter consonant blends e.g. 'ft', 'ld', ''ly'. (phase 3) - understanding initial three letter consonant blends e.g. 'scr', 'spl', 'spr'.

STAGE 4: Consonant Digraphs. (phase 1) - 'ck', 'sh', 'ch', 'th', 'ph'. (phase 2) - vowel diagraphs e.g. (ai, a-e, ay) (ee ea) (ie iey igh) (oe o-e o oa ow) (ue oo ue) (phase 3) - (ow ou) (oy oi) (or au aw) (phase 4) - air, ear, ure (er ir ur).

STAGE 5: Syllabification: including compound words, prefixes, suffixes and base words.

The easiest way to find out what level a child is at with their reading, is using the phonics approach, where they are able to show you which sounds and letters they know correspond to one another. Children go through different stages towards accurate word reading from pre-alphabetic stage where they are able to decode words using visual cues (Hill, p.223) to the full alphabetic stage where their reading ability becomes more efficient as they analyse the text deeply (Hill p.223).