To be able to teach phonics, you first have to understand what the term phonics represents and why exposure to phonics is essential to a child’s reading and literacy development. When the word phonics is used, commonly this is described as a means of teaching reading and is not associated with writing and spelling, nevertheless phonics is essential to the development of writing, spelling and reading. Children need to learn phonic skills to be able to blend sounds, segment sounds and manipulate sounds, thus enabling them to learn to read, write and spell effectively. Phonics is often described as the reading, spelling and writing of words by the sounds heard (Edwards, 1964). It is the understanding that letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes)
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(Armbruster, Adler, Osborn, Lehr, 2001). The alphabetic principle advocates that each letter of the alphabet should denote only one sound and that phonics is the correspondence between the letters and sounds (Tompkins, Campbell, Green & Smith, 2015). Foreman & Arthur-Kelly (2014) confirms one of the key components of reading is the understanding that words are made up of consistent sounds and the knowledge of the alphabetic principle (p.336). The English language however, is a complex language made up of 26 letters that embody roughly 44 sounds, it is referred to as an irregular phonic language (Hill, 2012). However, phonics is still an extremely important component when teaching literacy, as it encourages children to actively construct one’s own knowledge and understanding of the English language. Even though the English language is so irregular with having different spelling for the same sounds, different meanings and origins of words, the English language is fundamentally an alphabetic code (Moats, 2005). Phonics instruction provide students with a base to begin reading, spelling and writing in English. Tompkins et al. (2015) describes phonics as a “relationship between phonology and …show more content…
Rasinski, Rupley and Nichols (2008) compare phonics to a recipe, calling it the main ingredient required to teach reading. Without the right ingredients a recipe may fail and lose its value, the same can be said for a child’s reading and literacy development. With the right strategies and an accurate phonic orientation, children will develop successful literacy skills, which they will convey throughout their schooling years (Walker, 2006). The beauty of phonics is that students learn to read and write in conjunction with learning phonics, they go hand in hand, as children discover the association between the letters and sounds, they transfer this knowledge as they read and write (Hornsby & Wilson, 2014). Kearns (2010) outlines the need to teach students phonics as the ability to read and write doesn’t come naturally and is something that is taught
(Armbruster, Adler, Osborn, Lehr, 2001). The alphabetic principle advocates that each letter of the alphabet should denote only one sound and that phonics is the correspondence between the letters and sounds (Tompkins, Campbell, Green & Smith, 2015). Foreman & Arthur-Kelly (2014) confirms one of the key components of reading is the understanding that words are made up of consistent sounds and the knowledge of the alphabetic principle (p.336). The English language however, is a complex language made up of 26 letters that embody roughly 44 sounds, it is referred to as an irregular phonic language (Hill, 2012). However, phonics is still an extremely important component when teaching literacy, as it encourages children to actively construct one’s own knowledge and understanding of the English language. Even though the English language is so irregular with having different spelling for the same sounds, different meanings and origins of words, the English language is fundamentally an alphabetic code (Moats, 2005). Phonics instruction provide students with a base to begin reading, spelling and writing in English. Tompkins et al. (2015) describes phonics as a “relationship between phonology and …show more content…
Rasinski, Rupley and Nichols (2008) compare phonics to a recipe, calling it the main ingredient required to teach reading. Without the right ingredients a recipe may fail and lose its value, the same can be said for a child’s reading and literacy development. With the right strategies and an accurate phonic orientation, children will develop successful literacy skills, which they will convey throughout their schooling years (Walker, 2006). The beauty of phonics is that students learn to read and write in conjunction with learning phonics, they go hand in hand, as children discover the association between the letters and sounds, they transfer this knowledge as they read and write (Hornsby & Wilson, 2014). Kearns (2010) outlines the need to teach students phonics as the ability to read and write doesn’t come naturally and is something that is taught