Phonics

Phonics is a method of teaching reading that connects written letters and letter groups with the speech sounds they represent.

Grapheme–phoneme correspondence: A relationship between a written letter or letter group and a speech sound. These correspondences are the basic links phonics instruction teaches.
Synthetic phonics: An approach that teaches letter–sound correspondences and has learners blend sounds to read words. It applies phonics by building pronunciations from individual sound–letter units.
Whole language: An approach to literacy instruction that emphasizes meaning-making through engagement with complete texts. Its emphasis on whole texts differs from teaching sound–spelling patterns directly.
Simple view of reading: A model in which reading comprehension depends on both decoding and language comprehension. It identifies decoding, a skill supported by phonics, as one component of comprehension.
Phonemic awareness: The ability to identify and manipulate individual speech sounds in spoken words. It supports the sound analysis needed to connect spoken words with spellings.
Analytic phonics: An approach that teaches letter–sound patterns by analyzing words learners already know. It presents sound–spelling relationships through comparison of familiar words.
Balanced literacy: An approach that combines multiple methods of reading instruction, including phonics and whole-text activities. It situates phonics within a broader mix of literacy practices.
National Reading Panel: A United States panel that reviewed research on reading instruction and issued a report in 2000. Its report helped shape public discussion of systematic phonics instruction.
Decoding: The process of translating written words into spoken forms using knowledge of letter–sound relationships. Phonics knowledge lets beginning readers work out unfamiliar written words.
Embedded phonics: An approach that teaches letter–sound relationships during reading and writing activities. It places phonics instruction within meaningful literacy tasks.

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