Phonics and Decoding
Systematic and explicit phonics instruction teaches children the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. Successful decoding occurs when a student uses his or her knowledge of letter-sound relationships to accurately read a word. Articles in this section provide helpful information about how to teach children to sound out words and what to do if a child is having difficulty linking letters and sounds.
This section contains 21 articles.
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The Development of Phonological Skills
Basic listening skills and "word awareness" are critical precursors to phonological awareness. Learn the milestones for acquiring phonological skills.
Phonological Instruction for Older Students
Additional and explicit instruction in phonological awareness is a critical component in helping fourth grade readers who struggle with phonological deficits. The exercises can be used as a warm-up prior to reading, spelling, or vocabulary instruction.
Although we may not be aware of it, we do not skip over words, read print selectively, or recognize words by sampling a few letters of the print, as whole language theorists proposed in the 1970s. Reading is accomplished with letter-by-letter processing of the word.
What Is Reading? Decoding and the Jabberwocky’s Song
This article illustrates the difference between being able to decode words on a page and being able to derive meaning from the words and the concepts they are trying to convey.
These six short video clips give you the chance to watch and learn effective phonics activities. The video clips are from Reading Rockets' PBS television series Launching Young Readers. 
Creating a word family chart with the whole class or a small group builds phonemic awareness, a key to success in reading. Students will see how words look alike at the end if they sound alike at the end - a valuable discovery about our alphabetic writing system. They'll also see that one little chunk (in this case -an) can unlock lots of words!
English Language Learners and the Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction
Find out how teachers can play to the strengths and shore up the weaknesses of English Language Learners in each of the Reading First content areas.
Who can understand all the jargon that's being tossed around in education these days? Consider all the similar terms that have to do with the sounds of spoken words – phonics, phonetic spelling, phoneme awareness, phonological awareness, and phonology – all of them share the same "phon" root, so they are easy to confuse, but they are definitely different, and each, in its way, is very important in reading education.
Children's knowledge of letter names and shapes is a strong predictor of their success in learning to read. Knowing letter names is strongly related to children's ability to remember the forms of written words and their ability to treat words as sequences of letters.
Phonics instruction is a way of teaching reading that stresses the acquisition of letter-sound correspondences and their use in reading and spelling.
Teaching the Alphabetic Code: Phonics and Decoding
Early skills in alphabetics serve as strong predictors of reading success, while later deficits in alphabetics is the main source of reading difficulties. This article argues the importance of developing skills in alphabetics, including phonics and decoding.
Tuning In to the Sounds in Words
Thinking about the sounds in words is not natural, but it can be fun. Here are some games children can play to develop phonemic awareness, as well as a method for segmenting words that prevents children from distorting the pronunciation of the phonemes.
Teaching Alphabetics to Kids Who Struggle
This article describes two processes that are essential to teaching beginning reading to students with learning disabilities: phonological awareness and word recognition, and provides tips for teaching these processes to students.
Invariably, it is difficulty linking letters with sounds that is the source of reading problems, and children who have difficulties learning to read can be readily observed.
How Now Brown Cow: Phoneme Awareness Activities
Phonemic awareness training is essential for students who are at risk for reading difficulties. This article describes the components of phonemic awareness and provides activities that special educators can use to provide this training to at risk students.
Figuring Out Written Words: Practical Ideas for Parents
Children can use what they know about letter-sound matches to decode (figure out) written words.
Letters and Sounds: Practical Ideas for Parents
Provide your child with the opportunity to learn that written words are made up of letters that match the sounds in spoken words.
Learning to Read, Reading to Learn
Thousands of children have a learning disability, and many more fail in school because of difficulties in learning to read. An analysis of decades of research about how young children can best learn to read indicates that, in most cases, these difficulties can be prevented. The following are concrete strategies teachers can use to help students build a solid foundation for reading.
Is Phonics a Worthwhile Component of Beginning Reading Instruction?
One of the earliest efforts in the recent trend to synthesize what we know from reading research, Marilyn Adams' 1990 book, "Beginning To Read" was a landmark review of the research on phonics and reading acquisition. Read her description of what she did and what she learned as she went through the process of producing this report.
Skillful Readers and Poor Readers: Research and Theory
One of the earliest efforts in the recent trend to synthesize what we know from reading research, Marilyn Adams' 1990 book, "Beginning To Read" was a landmark review of the research on phonics and reading acquisition. Read her description of what she did and what she learned as she went through the process of producing this report.