2.+Phonics

= = = __Phonics__ = = = Phonics is an important and initial ingredient of the learning process for children to read and write. Phonics is thought to be ‘an approach to instruction as well as a strategy for’ (Hill 2006, p.208) identifying words and their spelling. It is a system of sounding out letters and syllables whilst having an understanding of the alphabetical principle. The phonic system includes five stages along with additional phases.In the English alphabet there are twenty-six letters, which make up forty-four sounds or phonemes.For example the letter ‘c’ makes a /c/ sound like in //cat//, but we have to remember that this is not always true because this letter can also make a sound like a /s/ like in //cent//. Thus investigation is a vital part in learning and understanding the alphabetical principle. (Hill 2006, p.208)

Single letters and letter combinations represent sounds in the English language. For example the word //stop// has three sounds /st/ /o/ /p/, the /st/ makes one sound; these are the words’ phonemes. Although the English language is not a regular phonetic language, like Turkish, (http://www.isec2000.org.uk/abstracts/papers_g/girgin_1.htm) it does have a relationship between its letters and the sounds they make.This relationship is especially helpful in the beginning stages of literacy.Most children will have an understanding of the alphabetical principle before they can identify all the letters and sounds.

‘Letter identification is a part of the alphabetical principle, and readers and writers in the early stages of literacy are gaining an understanding of this principle as they learn how sounds represent in print’ (Hill 2006, p.209), and they gain this understanding from following the contents of phonics in its five sequential stages. media type="youtube" key="V8uoxWwwB0Y&hl=en" height="355" width="425"

Stage one: Letter of the alphabet, is when a child can ‘recognise, say and write the names and the common sounds’ of the lower case and upper case letters of the alphabet.For example the child can identify the letter ‘d’ along with its /d/ sound from the word //dog//. (Hill 2006, p.213)

Stage two: Onset and rimes or word families, involves the child recognising onset and rimes and word families which are letter pairs of vowel and consonant and three letter words in a consonant - vowel- consonant order for example c-a-t or d-o-g. (Hill 2006, p.214)

Stage three: Blends, this stage has three phases. First is a two letter initial consonant blend such as bl, br and sc. Second, a two letter final consonant blends like ft, ng and st. Third, is a three letter initial consonant blend for example scr, spr and str. (Hill 20006, p.216)

Stage four: Digraphs and other letter combinations, this stage has four phases. Phase one, consonant digraphs, for example ck, sh and th.Phase two, vowel digraphs, which include ai, ee and ea. Phase three, are sounds from the following letter, ow, ou, oy, oi, au and aw. Lastly, phase four are all other letter combination such as air, ear and er. (Hill 2006, p.219)

Stage five: Structural analysis is syllabification, including compound words, prefixes, suffixes and base words. (Hill 2006, p.221)



= __Teaching Phonics__ =

There is more than one approach to teaching phonics. Teachers will use several of these methods to teach the sound-letter relationship.Nonetheless, the most important idea when teaching phonics is to promote the exploration of the phonics puzzle. (Hill 2006, p.227)

Blending individual letters to make a word is called the //synthetic phonic approach//.This works by sounding out each individual letter to make the word, for example the word cup, when the children say /c/ then /u/ and last /p/ they blend it together and it sounds like ‘cup. (Hill 2006, p.227)

// VAKT phonic // is another approach and means visual, auditory, kinaesthetic and tactile senses.Theses are used to directly teach individual letters and sounds by saying, writing, making with plasticine and tracing each letter. (Hill 2006, p.228)

Begin the //analytic phonic// approach by writing a word in front of the children; show them how it can be broken up into its component parts.For example the word ‘leg’, you can say the middle of the word has a short ‘e’ sound.Then with the children list other words that also have this short ‘e’ sound. (Hill 2006, p.228)

// Analogy: key words // are used to teach children how to use certain words as analogies to help them identify unfamiliar words. There are one hundred and twenty key words. The teacher s introduces five to six new words per week along with instruction on how to use the key word as an analogy to interpret other words. (Hill 2006, p.228)

Another //analogy// approach called ‘//guess the covered word//’ (Cunningham, hall and defee 1998) is done by writing four or five sentences on the board and then covering one word from each sentence. The children are to guess what the missing word could be and then these guesses are listed on the board. The teacher can uncover parts of the word to see if the guessed words match any letters.This also helps students become sensitive to word length. (Hill 2006, p.229)

A spelling approach called a //word study// is when children categorise words and word patterns by cataloguing words and pictures in correspondence to their common orthographical pattern. In this approach the teacher will base their instruction on words the children are finding confusing but are still using in their writing. (Hill 2006, p.229)

// Making words // is a hands on activity that teaches children to look for patterns in words.The children are given six to eight letters that they need to create different words.They then list their words and put them into rimes.This activity lets the children us common spelling patterns and beginning and ending sounds along with rhymes and other orthographical features. (Hill 2006, p.229)

// Whole to part phonics // is when words are broken up into onset and rime, for example ‘dr’ ‘um’.The children can choose favourite words from texts that can be broken up into onset and rime. Then place the words onto card and then these can become a part of word wall in the classroom. (Hill 2006, p.230)

When teaching the sound-letter relationships //embedded phonics// takes place. This happens by exploring many words that children have recently read. A common practice is a making and breaking activity. The words from the reading are broken up and made into new words. (Hill 2006, p.232)

// Guided reading // is small group activity with children reading books of a similar level.//Guided reading// provides opportunities for children to use their skills in decoding – the alphabetical principle, phonemic awareness and letter knowledge. Guided reading also provides an opportunity for the teacher to ask the children questions regarding the text and this will show if they understand what they are reading. (Hill 2006, p.233)

= __Assessment__ =

Hill states three assessment tools along with simply observing to assess children’s letter and sound knowledge. Asking the children to say the name of each letter and the sound that they make can assess upper and lower case letter recognition.Teachers need to find out how children problem solve when they decode certain words. To assess initial consonants quickly the teacher asks the children to state the sound that each consonant letter makes.Blending involves making words out of sounds. This can be done with short and long vowels.The same as the other assessments this is done verbally, ask the children to blend the sounds to make the word.(Hill 2006, p.224)