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Chapter 4: Phonics

What Are Phonics?

When you were young and first learning to read, most of you probably learned using a combination of sight words and phonics

Sight words were words learned on sight. When first learning to read, these were words like “dog,” “cat,” and “sit.” As you became more advanced readers, you learned to recognize words like “immediately,” “process,” and “thought” on sight—without having to sound them out. 

So as you continue to grow as readers, what should you do when you get to a word you don’t know on sight? This is when you need phonics to help sound it out!

Phoneme

The sounds that vowels and consonants make are called phonemes. 

The English language is made up of 26 letters. Those consonants and vowels make 44 sounds. Your ability to recognize those sounds is important to your ability to read. 

Phonemic Awareness

Our ability to identify letters and the sounds they make is our phonemic awareness. We want to learn some simple phonics to help increase phonemic awareness and learn how to pronounce words we don’t know. This will increase confidence as we read.

How to Read Words We Don’t Know

The image shows two frogs. The small frog has "peep" written under it. The large frog has "rib-bit" written under it. The title of the image is "One Syllable or Two?"

Syllables

Syllables are the building blocks of words. There is one vowel sound in each syllable which corresponds to a single rhythmic unit, or beat, when spoken. You may remember clapping to help count syllables (ed-u-ca-tion). Paying attention to syllables helps us learn new languages, read and write poetry, and pronounce unfamiliar words.  

Examples: cāke, wēek, wīde, thōugh, mūte, skȳ 

Examples: căt, trĕk, mĭmĭc, clŏck, mŭtt, mӳth  

Accent Marks

Accent marks help us see which syllables should be stressed, or spoken more forcefully, in order to pronounce them correctly. The accent mark comes directly before or after the stressed syllable. If there is a secondary stressed syllable, it is sometimes smaller and sometimes marked below the syllable. 

Read these familiar words out loud, paying attention to how it sounds and feels to stress the accented syllables. How would you mark the long and short vowels?  
Accent marks also identify the difference between English nouns and verbs which have the same spelling. 

Nouns: Stress is typically on the first syllable. 

Verbs: Stress is usually on the second syllable. 

  • Verbs are words that describe actions, occurrences, or states of being.

Examples

Record

Rĕc´-ord (noun: a document or account)

Rĕ-córd (verb: to write down)

Export

Ĕx´-port (noun: goods sent abroad)

Ĕx-pórt (verb: to send goods abroad)

Project

Prŏj´-ect (noun: a plan or task)

Prŏ-jéct (verb: to throw forward or plan)

 

Where does the accent mark go in these words? 

Let’s try pronouncing some trickier words with the help of vowel markings, syllables, and accent marks.

Notice how some methods place accent marks differently. What method do you prefer?  

Practice 1.1

Reading Using Phonics
Paragraph 1: Phonics

Phonics is an essential tool for decoding complex words by breaking them into their phonetic components and applying basic sound-spelling rules. For example, the word debilitate can be deciphered by recognizing its syllables: de-bil-i-tate. Similarly, proliferate follows a straightforward pattern, with the stress on the second syllable, guiding the pronunciation as pro-lif-er-ate. The word infallible adheres to phonetic rules as well, with each vowel producing its expected sound within the syllables in-fal-li-ble. Words like reverberate and ameliorate can initially seem intimidating, but careful application of phonics principles, such as dividing them into syllables and sounding out each part, makes them manageable. Phonics empowers readers to navigate even challenging vocabulary by emphasizing systematic decoding strategies. 

Paragraph 2: Starting College

Starting college was an exhilarating yet formidable endeavor, fraught with an amalgamation of anticipation and trepidation. As I navigated the labyrinthine corridors of academia, I encountered an array of esoteric terminologies—syllabuscurriculum, and matriculation—each demanding meticulous attention to decode. The conviviality of my peers was both comforting and disorienting, as our conversations often oscillated between pedagogical musings and lighthearted repartee. Adjusting to the rigorous expectations of collegiate life necessitated a profound commitment to discipline and perseverance. Despite the occasional cacophony of challenges, I found solace in the burgeoning camaraderie and the inexorable sense of intellectual growth that college promises. 

Attributions

Strengthening Reading and Comprehension by Audrey Cross and Katherine Sorenson is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 

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Integrated Reading and Writing Copyright © by Central Arizona College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.