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Teaching children decoding strategies gives them the tools they need to read words, even the words that "break the rules."
Whether you are looking to teach your child to read at home or support their learning from school, it can be helpful to understand how children learn to read. Unfortunately, for many years schools and districts have been using an ineffective (for many) literacy curriculum. If you have a school-age child, you may want to take a look at their literacy curriculum to determine if they are getting a Science of Reading Curriculum or a Balanced Literacy Curriculum.
The first step in teaching reading is phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is a critical first step in learning to read. Children must be able to hear the sounds of words and understand that words are broken into distinct sounds before they can start learning decoding strategies.
Phase 1: Introduce Children to Letter to Sound Connections
Before learning to read, letters do not mean anything to children. They just look like marks on the paper. So when teaching to decode, we first must introduce that letters represent sounds.
Malia Hollowell author of The Science of Reading in Action recommends teaching children a chant with motions to learn that letters and sounds are connected. Example: "A is for apple. /a/ /a/ a/. In the book, she provides a table with the words to say and the motions to go with it. Children do not need to memorize the chant, the purpose is to build awareness. When using this approach, you want them to see the letter, say the chant, and do the motion because it uses multiple senses and so multiple areas of the brain. Repetition is key when doing the chant. You can teach four or five letters a day and repeat them throughout the day.
Phase 2: The Alphabetic Principle
Now that children understand the concept that letters represent sounds, it's time to start a deeper dive into learning the letters that represent sounds.
In phase two. children learn to connect letters to sounds - this is called the alphabetic principle. It is important to note that this takes a significant amount of time as this is challenging for children to learn. So be patient and keep at it!
In the English language, there are 26 alphabetic letters, 26 single-letter phonograms, and 49 multi-letter phonograms (made up of 2, 3, and 4 letters that create a sound) to make up 75 basic phonograms. These 75 phonograms make up 98% of English words, so children mastering these is critical in helping them decode.
What is a phonogram? Letter symbols that make up a sound. The English language has single-letter phonograms, two-letter phonograms (diagraphs), three-letter phonograms (trigraphs), and four-letter phonograms (quadgraphs). Check out the full list of the 75 basic phonograms [linked].
What is the best way to teach your child phonograms? There is not one set way to teach phonograms. To help your child build on success, it is best to start with sounds/letters that are used frequently and can be said in isolation without distortion: m, s, short a, t, p, r, f, c, short i.
As you are teaching phonograms, it is best to teach letters that sound similar or look similar separate from each other. For example, /b/ and /v/ sounds can be easily confused; the letters "b" and "d" look very similar and can be easily confused.
Start with single-letter phonograms then move on to increasingly difficult sounds/letters. However, starting with the letters above can help children learn to read many words fairly quickly, which will build their confidence.
The Science of Reading in Action recommends a four-step sequence:
Analyze the look and feel of the phoneme.
Brainstorm a giant list of words that have that sound.
Teach the letters used to spell the sound
Practice reading and writing words that include it.
I highly recommend purchasing The Science of Reading in Action if you want more detailed information - the Kindle version is very affordable.
Conclusion
The Alphabetic Principle or understanding the letter-to-sound relationship (phonics) is critical for children learning to read. However, it is a difficult and time-consuming process. It takes patience, and explicit direct instruction to teach children. Start with high-utility letter sounds to start your children off strong and build confidence. And remember, this will take your child lots of practice. Stick with it!
Resources for More Information/Sources:
National Center on Improving Literacy - The Alphabetic Principle
Reading Rockets - The Alphabetic Principle
Logic of English - Phonograms
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