How Phonics Can Help With Reading

Reading is a necessary skill in today’s world. Not only is reading for pleasure an important part of your life, reading for school is an essential tool for success in our society. If you struggle with word recognition or decoding, phonics can be a great help. If you’re looking to increase your reading comprehension and speed, look into phonics.

Phonics is the study of the spoken language and how it is represented in writing. It is a great way to help a child who has trouble learning to read.

Even children who don’t seem to have any difficulties with decoding or sounding out words can benefit from learning phonics. It’s a great way to get children reading and build a solid foundation for future reading skills.

What is Phonics?

Phonics is the study of how sounds affect the flow of language and how written words are produced from those sounds.

It’s broken down into two parts; the sound of a letter and the spelling of a letter.

Phonics is about “building blocks” of spoken sounds. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, and each letter represents a different sound. In order to read, a child must learn to associate each sound with a particular written symbol.

How to Teach Phonics

The first step to teaching phonics is to familiarize yourself with the initial sounds in the English language. There are 26 initial sounds in the English language. Many teachers use a phonemic chart to help students learn the sounds but from experience teaching English as a second language, this is a waste of time. Why learn the phonemic language to learn the sounds of the English language. Just learn the initial sounds of the Alphabet the first time. Keep it simple.

After you’ve learned the initial sounds, it is time to learn the short vowels. These are followed by the long vowels and then two letter consonants. Finally, you will learn the double vowels that occur in the English language. After years of teaching, this is the most efficient way to teach or learn Phonics. It will help with not only learning how to read but also with spelling.

One effective way to teach phonics sight words is through the use of flash cards. You can create your own sets of cards, or you can purchase sets that have images and words already printed on them. If you choose to use ready-made sets, you might want to avoid sets that have hundreds of words; you’ll want to limit the number of words your child has to learn to improve their reading rate.

To use the cards, read the word on the front of the card and then check the matching image on the back of the card to help your brain remember what each word means. Once you have learned the basic sight words and completed a phonics course, it is time to further yourself by reading simple phonics books. This will build confidence and speed of pattern recognition from phonics to help you read faster and with confidence.

Benefits of Phonics

Phonics is a proven way to boost reading comprehension and speed, and it has few negative side effects.

Rather than reinforcing a child’s natural, spoken language, learning phonics is more about learning to decode and manipulate written language. This can be a great way to help a child with a learning disability.

Children with special needs often have weaker spoken language skills, which can make it harder for them to learn to read. But with phonics, they can still learn to read at the same pace as their peers, and they can retain the knowledge once they’ve mastered the symbols.

How to Learn Phonics

If you’ve never used phonics before, it can feel a little overwhelming at first. There are a lot of rules and techniques to learn, and it can feel like it’s an entirely new way of reading. But don’t worry, it isn’t. Learning phonics is like learning another language; it’s a lot of rules that ultimately help you read faster and with less effort.

Here are a few resources to get you started:

Listen and Learn English has a great free phonics course to walk you through all of sounds in the correct order. You can watch all of the lessons for free here.

Once you have learned how to read properly, I recommend using a program like Raz-Kids to help you or your child read more. Raz-Kids is a wonderful all that lets students use what they have learned with very simple books to build up their reading comprehension and their comfort with reading.

Books about phonics and how to teach them to your child are also a great way to get started.

How to Use Phonics in the home

Look into using the “whisper reads” method with your child. This method involves having your child read out loud while you whisper the words into their ear.

You can also use simple sight words as a way to get your child practicing their phonics. Simply flash the word while your child reads and have them identify the letter that represents it.

Conclusion

Learning to read is a challenging process, and it can be frustrating when you don’t see progress. But don’t worry, it’s not too late. Phonics is a great way to boost your child’s reading comprehension and speed.

With a little practice, your child can learn to read new words quickly and with very little effort.