Develop Students’Literacy Abilities Through Phonics

Franziska Herting

Understand What Literacy Is

What is literacy？ Two definitions of literacy can be found in dictionary. One is the ability to read and write； the other refers to the competence/knowledge in a specific area. If you come across people using the phrase“digital literacy”， or “mathematical literacy”， that would mean using “literacy” relating to a specific area. If we take that definition into schools， it can be found that both dictionary definitions are applied in the school context. And in schools， quite a lot of teachers often interpret the term as the ability to identify letters， numbers and shapes. Therefore， in English， it is not limited within “reading”and “writing”. But for this article， “literacy”is used to describe the ability to read and write.

Become Aware of Skills That Are Vital for Successful Literacy Development

Before it comes to reading and writing， we need to start at the beginning， and we need to look at pre-literacy skills. What are preliteracy skills？ I would like to define them as essential building blocks for long-term learning success. The six pre-literacy skills are：

1. Oral language；

2. Phonological and phonemic awareness；

3. Knowledge of alphabet；

4. Understanding of common print concepts；

5. Print motivation （motivation to read， or interest in books）；

6. Self-regulation.

Oral language is very important for childrens successful literacy development， and our children need to have a strong foundation in spoken language. Phonological awareness relates to children being able to hear syllables in words， to hear onset and to hear rhyming words. Whereas phonemic awareness is actually concerned with phonics. That means children are able to hear and manipulate the smallest sound units in words. Children also need to understand the alphabet， and they need to understand common print concepts. Like in English language， we need to read from left to right. We need to motivate our children to engage with books. They need to be motivated to read， coming back to that love of reading， not just because they feel they have to read， they are actually born to read. The last important skill is self-regulation（especially for younger children）. They need to be able to listen to the teacher and follow instructions. So， please take a look at those pre-literacy skills， think about your pupils in your class and think about： Do they have those skills already， or is it necessary to put forward some ideas to help them develop those skills？

What skills do pupils need to become successful readers and writers？ For reading， children need to be able to blend sounds， to segment， to understand the letter-sound knowledge and to develop a “mental library”of vocabulary and story （or the narrative skills： being able to describe things and tell stories）. For writing， there are skills of listening and comprehension， physical core control， instant letter shape recall， sound blending， wide vocabulary， speech clarity， pen grip and a sense of purpose （Bottrill， 2018）. Whats more， when we are in the classroom， we do need to remind ourselves of the difference between reading and writing， and we need to be very clear in our own minds which skills we are actually focusing on.

What should be pointed out are the differences between reading and writing. For reading， pupils need to have a good memory， intonation （the way pupils read to us）， comprehension and an ability to picture what is being read. For writing， pupils need physical control， muscle fluency， imagination and an ability to draw the picture that is being read （Bottrill， 2018）. It is very important for teachers to think about what they could do in the classroom to help pupils develop some of those points.

How to help children develop the skills above？ Memory games are great for developing memory recall skills. For intonation， teachers can model to the children（let them know how to read a book） because that allows them to use their own knowledge of how to successfully read a story. There are lots of activities to do with pupils to help develop comprehension skills， which in turn help pupils develop their imagination. For example， I often give the children a picture book， and I ask them to look at the pictures in the book， and then tell me what is happening in the story， just by using the pictures. That helps develop their imagination， and also helps develop some comprehension. For older children， you can ask them to write， or tell a story， from the point of view of different characters in the story.

Understand How Phonics Teaching Develops PupilsLiteracy Skills

How to successfully develop literacy skills in your classroom？ There are four key aspects， all of which need to be told specifically to your students， and you should give equal weight to all four of them. They are phonics （=phonemic awareness）， literature and comprehension， vocabulary in context， speaking and listening. You should remember：

1. All aspects should be addressed through the curriculum time；

2. Ensure that this includes physical development， which is vital for writing skills；

3. Ensure your lessons inspire and motivate pupils to read and write， and focus on their inner motivation；

4. Do not forget to read to your students because during the process， you can already address quite a few of those areas.

Phonics （phonemic awareness） is an essential aspect of successful literacy development. But why？ Words are code. For our children， if they do not know English， we need to give them the tools to crack the code. Quite often， when our children get stuck with their reading， we guide them to understand with the help of pictures. It should be mentioned that sometimes pictures will not help. We do not really know what is going on in the picture unless we are able to actually crack the code of the words. And that is why phonics is so important because it provides children with the ability to crack the code， to read， and also to apply the same skills to writing.

The diagram （see Figure 1） is a very simple view of reading. Children need to crack the code during the “word recognition processes”. They need a tool to help get recognized with written words. At the same time， they need good “language comprehension processes”， and again， it leads back to phonics and oral language. Therefore， they are the most important factors to focus on： phonics and oral language really help children become good readers and writers.

The English alphabetic code is the thing our children need to crack， and the alphabetic code is what we are teaching when we are teaching phonics. Unfortunately， it is quite complicated and is what we should focus on. The English alphabetic code is based on the sounds of English， and focuses on pronunciation of words （sounds vary around the world）. So English alphabetic code is complex and needs to be carefully taught： just a single sound like /s/ can be represented by a variety of different graphemes and we need to teach our children to be able to crack down code.

Why is the English alphabetic code so complex？ According to Hepplewhite （2013）：

1. One sound （phoneme） can be represented by one， two， three or four letters combining together （e.g. k， sh， ng， igh， eigh）；

2. One sound can be represented by different spellings， or graphemes （e.g. /o/ is represented by： o， oa， ow， oe， o-e， eau， ough）；

3. One spelling can represent multiple sounds （e.g. “ough” in though， thought， through， plough， thorough）.

The English alphabetic codes are complex because we have 26 letters， but we have roughly 44 phonemes that need to be represented. When you teach the alphabetic code， you are very much encouraged to start with the simple code， and then you are moving towards the complex code.

The English alphabetic code contains vowel sounds and consonant sounds. Some of the sounds already go from simple code to more complex code. That is why it can be quite tricky to teach.

The most powerful way to teach English alphabetic code is synthetic phonics.“Synthesis” means combining/putting together/building up elements. For teaching phonics， what do teachers need to teach？ There are core skills that every phonics section should include： letter sounds， decoding（blending）， encoding （segmenting）， letter formation （handwriting）， and tricky words. Teachers should first introduce simple letter sounds to their students. Once the children are familiar with the simple ones， it is time to gradually expose them to the alternative spellings， the more complex code. At the beginning， it may be difficult for the children to distinguish the spellings， but first of all， they should be able to hear that sound. Once you know that they can hear the sound， then you need to start focusing on getting them gradually to choose the correct spelling.

For teaching and learning the letter sounds， there must be：

1. Good pace to the teaching；

2. Regular revision；

3. Parental or alternative assistance；

4. Identification of the slow-to-start；

5. Systematic program and incidental teaching of letter-sound relationship.

The next skill that you need to focus on is the decoding skill. Decoding （blending） skills are essential for reading， and they should be taught right from the start.“Blending” means when a child looks at a word and he does not really know what the word is， he is able to break it into different sounds. Blending can be regularly practiced through auditory blending， but do not ask children to read words that use letter sounds that have not been taught.

Encoding skill is essential for spelling（hearing the sounds）. Teachers can develop phonemic awareness through simple listening games.

The letter formation skill is closely linked to handwriting. Teachers may model the writing to the children， and tell them how to hold their pencil properly.

Last of all are the tricky words， or sight words. These are words children need to learn to read and spell. The most common method used to help children remember the spelling of the tricky words is by doing “look， copy， cover， write and check”. For other methods， teachers should work out the “tricky” bits， and have regular flashcard practice.

For children wanting to do independent writing， they need to know：

1. The first 42 letter sounds；

2. How to hear the sounds in words；

3. One way of writing the letter sounds；

4. What they want to say.

In all， do remember synthetic phonics is only one aspect of successful literacy development in your classroom.

References

Bottrill， G. 2018. Can I Go and Play Now？[M]. London： SAGE Publications Ltd.

Gough， P. & Tunmer， W. 1986. Decoding， Reading， and Reading Disability [J]. Remedial and Special Education， 7 （1）： 6-10.

Hepplewhite， D. 2013. Pronunciation Guide for English [EB/OL]. （2013-02-01） [2019-04-25]. https：// phonicsinternational.com/ Pronunciation%20Guide%20for%20 English.pdf.