This document outlines the teaching method of phonics, which helps children learn to read and write by connecting sounds (phonemes) to letters (graphemes) in an alphabetic language like English. It discusses various phonics approaches, including synthetic, analytic, analogy, and embedded phonics, highlighting their benefits and limitations. The importance of phonics in developing foundational literacy skills in children, particularly in early childhood education, is emphasized, along with a structured plan for teaching letter sounds and decoding words.

1. Presenters: 周润丰 吴叙 叶永康 汤致远
Phonics
A Bridge Between
Spellings (Graphemes)
& Sounds (Phonemes)

2. Table of contents
01 Introduction & History 03
Review of Phonics
Merits & Demerits
02
The Mechanism for
Teaching Phonics
04 Demonstration

3. Introduction&History
01

4. Introduction
Definition:
Phonics is a method for teaching children how to read and write in an
alphabetic language such as English. It helps children to hear, identify
and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the
English language.
The Department for Education establishes the core criteria for effective
systematic synthetic phonics teaching programmes.

5. Significance&Appliance
In this instruction, students learn to decode words by breaking
them down into their individual sounds and then blending those
sounds together. This helps students develop the ability to sound
out unfamiliar words and improve their overall reading and writing
skills.
Phonics emphasizes the relationship between letters and the sounds they make. It
involves teaching students to recognize and understand the sounds of individual
letters and letter combinations, and how they correspond to specific words.
This method is widely used in early childhood
education to help students develop strong
foundational literacy skills.
Example: Students learn that the combination "ai" in words like "rain" and
"snail" makes the long /ā/ sound(/eɪ/), or the combination "oa" in words
like "boat" and "coat" makes the long /ō/ sound(/əʊ/). Vowel Digraphs

6. A brief history of phonics
The history of the Phonics teaching method is complex and spans thousands of years.
Some sources suggest that a primitive form of phonics was used as far back as 350 years
ago, and there are arguments that phonics may even have roots dating back thousands of
years to the foundation of language.
Throughout history, there have been various moments when language
teaching methods were adapted. One notable example is when Benjamin
Franklin devised his own alphabet, which replaced six letters with ones
he’d created himself and aimed to separate American English from
British English. However, this attempt did not gain widespread
acceptance over time.
In 2005, the UK education minister Ruth Kelly commissioned an
independent review of early reading instruction, leading to the
introduction of synthetic phonics. This approach uses a symbol-to-sound
method to create a link between speaking, reading, and writing.
Today, phonics is widely recognized as the most valuable and effective
means of teaching young children how to excel at literacy.

7. The Mechanism for
Teaching Phonics
02

8. Systematic Phonics
(a term used to describe phonics approaches that are taught
explicitly and in a structured, systematic manner.)
Synthetic phonics
Synthetic phonics, also known as blended phonics, is
the most widely used method employed to teach
students to read by sounding out the letters and
then blending the sounds to form the word. This
method involves learning how letters or letter groups
represent individual sounds, and that those sounds
are blended to form a word.
For example, shrouds would be read by pronouncing
the sounds for each spelling, sh,r,ou,d,s (IPA /ʃ, r, aʊ, d,
z/), then blending those sounds orally to produce a
spoken word, sh - r - ou - d - s = shrouds (IPA
/ʃraʊdz/).
Analytic phonics
Analytic phonics does not involve pronouncing individual sounds (phonemes) in isolation and
blending the sounds, as is done in synthetic phonics. Rather, it is taught at the word level and
students learn to analyze letter-sound relationships once the word is identified. For example,
students analyze letter-sound correspondences such as the ou spelling of /aʊ/ in shrouds.
Also, students might be asked to practice saying words with similar sounds such as ball, bat
and bite. Furthermore, students are taught consonant blends (separate, adjacent consonants)
as units, such as break or shrouds.
Analogy phonics
Analogy phonics is a particular type of analytic phonics in which the teacher has
students analyze phonic elements according to the speech sounds (phonograms) in the
word. One method is referred to as the onset-rime approach. The onset is the initial
sound and the rime is the vowel and the consonant sounds that follow it. For example, in
the words cat, mat and sat, the rime is at. Teachers using the analogy method may have
students memorize a bank of phonograms, such as -at or -am.

9. Embedded phonics with mini-lessons
Embedded phonics, also known as Incidental phonics, is the type of
phonics instruction used in whole language programs. It is not systematic
phonics. Although phonics skills are de-emphasised in whole language
programs, some teachers include phonics "mini-lessons" when students
struggle with words while reading from a book.
Embedded phonics is different from other methods because instruction is
always in the context of literature rather than in separate lessons about
distinct sounds and letters; and skills are taught when an opportunity
arises, not systematically.
Synthetic
phonics
Embedded
phonics
Analytic
phonics
Analogy
phonics
Systematic
phonics
Implicit
phonics

10. General Teaching Steps for Synthetic Phonics
As part of phonics learning, children
are taught the 24 letter sounds.
(Some phonics programmes start
children off by learning the letters s,
a, t, n, i, p first.)
At this phase, children will learn how to
recognise the same phoneme represented
by different graphemes and vice versa
(alternative pronunciations for graphemes).
Letter Sounds Decoding Blending
Digraph Trigraph Alternative Graphemes
The aim is for children to be
able to see a letter and then say
the sound it represents out
loud. In phonics, this is called
decoding.
Children are taught how to blend
individual sounds together to say
a whole word.
Start with CVC words before
moving on to CCVC words and
CVCC words.
Learn consonant digraphs (e.g.
ch, sh, ng) and vowel digraphs
(e.g. ea, oo, ai), and split
digraphs(_a_e as in make)
igh as in sigh
ore as in bore
air as in fair
ear as in dear
are as in dare

11. Review of Phonics
03 Merits & Demerits

12. Merits
Letter & sound
recognition
Research into the benefits of teaching
phonics shows that a child who learns
reading through phonics will have
excellent phonemic awareness.
01
A direct connection
between graphemes
and phonemes
It is beneficial for Chinese
students to learn English
through Phonics for there is
no need to learn phonetic
symbols.
02

13. Merits
It’s fun!
The teaching of phonics is often
designed to be interesting and
engaging for children.
03

14. Demerits
Despite accurate
pronunciation, learners may
not understand the
meanings of words properly.
Lack of Understanding
It is estimated that half the words in the
English language can't be pronounced
correctly using common phonics rules.
Limited Coverage
my
It becomes difficult to spell
out certain words because
the English language does
not have a one-to-one
sound symbol relationship
and there are many
homonyms.
Confusion
meat-meet

16. Background
Teaching Materials Oxford Phonics World Vol. 2
Teaching Targets About 30 Chinese third grade pupils, aged 8-9
Students Analysis Have a basic command of 26 letters’ separate phonics
Teaching Objective
To master the short vowel u and the decoding &
blending of CVC words, consolidate previous
knowledges

17. Textbook
From Oxford University Press, used
by children learning English all over
the world.
From 26 letters to a variety of
common letter combinations, a
total of more than 150
pronunciation rules are concluded
systematically.

18. Step 1:
● Play the recording
● Give a demonstration
reading
● Ask the students to
read along
Principles:
● Consolidate students’
letter sounds
● Train students to
decode and blend

19. Step 2:
● Play the recording
● Give a demonstration
reading
● Ask students to read
the word and
memorise
Principles:
● Teach students some
simple relevant words
● Improve their decoding
and blending

20. Step 3:
● Play the recording
● Ask students to circle
the letters that make
up the words they hear
and spell them
Principles:
● Train students’
listening, blending and
encoding
● Reinforce their memory
of new words

21. Step 4:
● Show the picture
● Read the three words below
● Take turns asking students
to connect the first letter of
each word and sound out
the words of the picture
above
Principles:
● Reinforce students’
decoding and blending
● Create a relaxed and
enjoyable atmosphere

22. Thank You!