Phonics

Phonics is the study of the way in which spellings represent the sounds that make up words. It is related to phonetics, which is the study of speech sounds in general.

Phonics in English

The European languages share the Roman alphabet, while several of the Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet. Since English pronunciation rules are so inconsistent, students of the English language must memorize hundreds of words whose spelling hints at pronunciation ambiguously, if they are to pronounce such words correctly. In reading education, children are taught the phonetics of letters and how the letters combine to form other phonics and words. English-speaking children typically learn hundreds of such words, by rote, in primary school.

Related Topics:
European languages - Roman alphabet - Slavic languages - Cyrillic alphabet - English language - Education - Child - Primary school

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Teaching English reading using phonics involves relating certain rules about English pronunciation:

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Basic rules

• Each letter is like an animal, which has a name and the sound(s) that it makes. e.g. A cat says "meow", a G has a name of "Gee" but it says "Gaa" (with the Aa sound suppressed.)
• Each vowel has two sounds: one long and one short. The long sound is the same as its name. The long sounds are in Ape, Eat, Eye, Oh, and You. Their short equivalents are A (a as in at), E (e as in elm), I (i as in it), O (o as in hop), and U (u as in up). (A criticism of this statement would be that in fact every vowel has a third sound -- the schwa -- the sound of a vowel that is unstressed in an unstressed syllable. The schwa is the most frequent vowel sound in English. Additionally, the 'a' in 'father' is different from the 'a' in 'cat'.
• Each syllable is made by blending the sounds of each component. e.g. reading the word by adding one sound at a time, as in -e, -ed, bed.
• When a single vowel letter is in the middle of a word (or syllable), it usually says its short sound. e.g. "Got", "Bed". But there are many exceptions to this rule. See irregular vowels below.
• When a single vowel letter is in the end of a word (or syllable), it usually says its long sound (or its name.) e.g. "Go", "Be".
• When two vowels go hand in hand in the same word (or syllable), the first vowel usually says its own name (long sound) and the second vowel stays silent. e.g. "Bake" (Ay sound + silent E), "Goal" (Oh sound + silent A), etc. But there are many exceptions to this rule. See irregular vowels below.

Irregular vowels

• Irregular vowels: Many combinations of letters do not following the single or two vowel rules mentioned above. These special combinations and sounds must be memorized. Common examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• IGH as in "High" and "Sight"
• -NG as in "Sing", "Song", "Sung".
• OST as in "Most" (but not "Lost" or "Cost"!) uses the long sound instead of the usual short sound.
• OW has two different sounds as in "Low" and "Cow"
• ED has three different sounds as in "Lifted", "Walked", "Played".
• OI does not follow the two vowels rule, e.g. "Moist", "Boil".
• Double O has two different sounds as in "Book" and "Loose".
• OUS as in "Nervous".
• AU as in "Fault", "Haul", etc.
• -SION and -TION and -CIAN are pronounced as "shun".
• OUGH has at least seven different sounds, e.g. in "bough", "cough", "hough", "tough", "thorough", "thought", and "through"

Sight words

• Many words do not follow these rules; they are called "sight words". Sight words must be memorized since the regular rules do not apply. e.g., "The", "Are", "You".

This was the belief before the discovery of the forgotten phonics rules from the 19th century. (See external links below). There are phonics rules for these, and all but a very few words in the English language.

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There are complete phonics programs available online for free that teach reading without the use of sight words. You can find free downloadable books and mp3 files at Don Potter's Education Page and free quicktime movies at The Phonics Page.

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