Some of the first important work a beginning reader will do is to recognize that words are made of phonemes (sounds), that these phonemes are composed of letter combinations, and that the phonemes can be arranged to form new words (International Reading Association, 1998; Gunning, 1996). “[E]very spoken word can be conceived as a sequence of phonemes. Because phonemes are the units of sound that are represented by the letters of an alphabet, an awareness of phonemes is key to [the] learning of phonics…and reading” (NICHD, 2000, p. 52). Introducing students to phonemic awareness gives them an opportunity to explore and manipulate phonemes in the spoken words they hear. One reliable way to determine whether a student is ready to learn other phonological components is to ascertain whether the student understands how phonemes can blend together. As students develop phonemic awareness, they can begin to better understand what sounds distinguish one word from another. For example, the words moon, noon, and soon each contain the phonemes /oo/ and /n/, but the differentiator is the first phoneme in each word. “Phonemic awareness is this ability to take words apart, to put them back together again, and to change them to something else. It is a foundational skill around which the rest of the threads of reading are woven” (Tankersley, 2003, p. 6).
Phonics
Next, students must master phonics. Phonics instruction is intended to help beginning readers understand how sounds are represented by letters by providing a visual set of building blocks that connect to phonemic awareness. With this knowledge, students can start to apply their phonemic knowledge to reading and spelling by sounding out words that they encounter in text and, conversely, by spelling words. Once students understand the relationship between sounds and letters, they will progress beyond the simple mechanics of using phonemes to sound out words to reading automatically. When that happens, students can focus their effort and attention on comprehension. Students receive many important benefits from mastering phonics: research indicates that students who learn phonics are better able to decode and spell than peers who do not receive phonics instruction (Scliar-Cabral, Morais, Nepomuceno, & Kolinsky, 1997); strong decoding skills lead to improved ability to understand and retain material that is read; good readers are able to learn pronunciation of new words by using phonics to break down written words into phonemes; and while explicit phonics instruction is important for all students who are learning to read, it is particularly beneficial for striving readers (Kim, Samson, Fitzgerald, & Hartry, 2010).
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