PARENT TALK

Research findings in education and ways to help your child - Volume 97-4

Phonics offers fun ways to help your child decode words and gain meanings

As you read with your child, you probably already sense the value of decoding skills, or phonics, for beginning readers. And your instincts would be accurate.

Continuing evidence tells us that phonics-the language study that relates alphabet symbols to word sounds-contributes significantly to beginning reading success. Recent performance tests have shown the ugly results when school systems don't teach phonics systematically: Large numbers of children fail in reading.

How can you help your child unlock words as he or she learns to read? We'll show you a number of easy activities you can do at home to help your child learn how to use phonics and other decoding strategies to become a more fluent, effective reader.

Why does phonics help?

A child who deciphers a coded message on the back of a cereal box knows that decoding means translating visual symbols into ideas, usually word sounds. Phonics describes the relationship between speech sounds and the alphabet symbols that represent those sounds. Beginning reading instruction helps children see regular patterns in our alphabet code so they gain a sense of control over the printed page. And though reading is far more than simply decoding printed words into spoken ones, knowing and using phonics gives the reader a strong tool for understanding the printed message.

A study completed last year at the University of Oregon found that deficits in phonics explain a significant proportion of young readers' problems, including difficulties with comprehension. Phonics guides young readers in figuring out unfamiliar words, giving them the confidence to personally decipher words and build meaningful messages.

Building decoding skill

What is a child doing when she repeats the nursery rhyme "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"? Or when he playfully sings out "Yaaba-daaba, yaabadaaba do"? Both are playing with word sounds. From their earliest years children love to experience and explore word sounds. In a child's world, playing with sounds that rhyme, with funny sounds, with "yucky" sounds, is a child's way of learning soundspelling patterns found in the English language.

Decoding skills build on the essential understanding that the printed page contains a message, a story, an organized thought. As parents, we convey to our children the pleasure of the story when we read to them, show them the pictures, point out words, ask questions about the events in the story, express our pleasure or sadness. These important experiences help them understand that gaining information and/or experiencing feelings are the objectives of reading.

More than pronunciation

Learning to read is more than just a pronunciation game. Once we understand that it's also a search for meaning, we can use phonics and other skills to determine meaning as efficiently as possible. Suppose your child is reading a story with the following example:

Sam ___ to first base.

Sam is the main character, but your child seems stumped by the word that goes in the blank. He knows the story is about a ball game, and knows intuitively that he needs a verb (Sam is doing something to first base). If your child used only his knowledge of baseball and his sense that a verb is required, he could place any number of words in that slot and make sense: Sam-ran, hit, walked, looked, etc. - to first base.

Using his phonics knowledge, a child is able to fill in the missing link: Sam bunted to first base. If the word begins with the /b/ sound, it can't be ran, hit, or walked. That clue alone can direct your child's thinking and lead him toward looking for additional ways to sound out the word. Knowing that Sam bunted gives your child a clearer sense of the action.

Whenever your child stumbles on a word, use the series of questions in the box on the opposite page to establish a pattern of thinking. As soon as your child gets the correct word, he should continue reading.

A sequence for learning phonics

Parents often ask us what sequence to use in teaching phonics to their children. No prescribed order to the sound-letter relationships will assure you a perfect path to decoding success. Generally, start with simple relationships, for example, the sound-symbol correspondences of consonants (b, c, d, f, g) and the short sound of vowels (see chart on next page). Build on those simple relationships to gradually introduce more complex sound-spelling patterns; for example, consonant clusters: dr, bl, gr, ch, sh, etc.

For example, suppose your child is reading a story about a boy who was sent home after a scuffle with another boy He doesn't want his mother to see him in torn clothes. Your child stumbles on the omitted underlined word in the following:

James ran home and sn_____ into his room so his mother would not see him.

After you give a clue by asking how the word begins, your child may respond quickly that the word is sneaked. "Good!" you say. "Keep on reading." But if your child struggles with the word, ask her if she remembers what sound the ea stands for. Your line of questioning should aim toward helping your child become an independent learner by using the language cues she already knows.

Here is a sequence for teaching phonics that has worked for many teachers:

A Sample Phonics Sequence

1. Match rhyming words: fat, cat, bat; ride, hide, wide.
2. Identify the sound of consonants at the beginning of words and the letter symbols by which they're written: /b/ bat, /s/ sun, /t/ top, /k/ kite, /p/ pipe.
3. Identify the sound of consonants at the end of words and their letter symbols: "You can also hear the sound of /b/ at the end of words such as cab and crib; the sound of /d/ at the end of words such as bed, hid, and bad.
4. The short sound of vowels can be heard in the middle of words such as cap, red, hot, him, and cup. The vowel sound is usually short in words or syllables that have the consonant-vowel-consonant spelling pattern.
5. Identify words with a long vowel sound by the silent e at the end of the word, for example, made, hide, hope, and cute.
6. Identify words with a long vowel sound as marked by certain double vowels; for example, maid, meet, trial, and boat.

This beginning sequence can be expanded as you wish. Your child's teacher may also have materials you can use at home to practice the patterns taught at school.

Where do I find help?

It is unrealistic to expect all reading skills to develop at the same time. As a parent, you can help your child by pointing out that reading incorporates many skills that develop gradually over months and years. Your greatest source of guidance is your own wellspring of experience. Explore the language with your child. When a child has a problem, ask yourself, How would I figure out a similar problem? Then lead your child in that direction. You need not know all the technical phonics terms in order to think along with your child. Of course, when you get stuck, look for help in resource books or in audio tapes that discuss the soundsymbol patterns and help you prepare to work with your child. Use the following sample activities as guides for the things you might do.

Playful Stories

Using words that match the phonics elements found in a particular lesson, craft a playful story that puts these words together in creative ways. For instance: A cat can bat a rat. Barn! Bain! Bad cat. Sad rat. Parents and children can work together to make up such stories.

A child should read the story aloud, applying the consonantvowel-consonant pattern.

Playful stories encourage children to make up their own stories and to experiment with word patterns. By sharing them, children gain practice and personal satisfaction.

Words that do not fit a pattern (the, there, is) are learned by visual memory techniques; for example, Tony is a tiger.

Card Sort

(This can be used for a variety of skills, including practice in sorting words according to vowel sounds.)

Clip pictures of a variety of common objects from old magazines and catalogs. Mount each picture on an index card. Have children sort the cards into groups of words that begin with the same sound. Later, when initial sounds have been mastered, the cards can be sorted by ending sounds and then according to vowel sounds.

Write the names of the objects on the backs of the cards. When children have finished sorting the pictures, they simply turn the cards over to see if they have grouped words beginning with the letter b together, words ending with p, or words with a short a (this would require that vowel sounds be marked long or short). Having the words on the back of the cards also makes them useful for building a reading vocabulary.

The cards can also be used to practice alphabetizing. Begin by having children put the cards in order according to the first letter of the word. Then words beginning with the same letter can be put in order according to the second letter, etc.

Children can do these activities working alone.

Phonics Bingo

Bingo can be adapted to help students recognize various phonics generalizations. Make up a set of bingo cards, and in each box write a word that follows one of the generalizations you are teaching.

In the following example, rules for the short vowel and for long vowels are used:

Prepare a list of other words that follow these same rules. Say these words (for listening discrimination). The children place a marker on any word on their cards that has the same vowel sound as the word the teacher has given. The first child to complete a line across, down, or diagonally shouts "Bingo!" Go back through the words and ask for an explanation of the phonics pattern for each marked word.

Using Phonics to Identify Words

Excerpted from Help Your Child Read and Succeed: A Parents' Guide

Our alphabet is a set of visual symbols that stand for speech sounds. Early in learning to read, a child must learn how to handle this code: how to translate the symbols into sounds, and vice versa. As your child matures and becomes more skilled in handling written language, the responses become more and more automatic. But before this can happen, a child must master the connection between language that is heard and language that is seen.

Sample Phonics Exercises

Phonics guidelines teach children to decode written words into the sounds they represent. Here are some exercises to help your child: • Connect the sound and the letter. Make the sound of the letter you are teaching, and have your child imitate what you do. Show how the mouth is shaped and how the lips and tongue move when you form the letter. For example, you might contrast the part the tongue plays in making the /d/ sound with the role of the lips in forming the sound of the letter p, as in dog and pet in the example I have a pet dog. • Show the link between the sound of a word and its written form. It's best to use short words when explaining sound-letter connections. Since word sounds appear only in whole words, always demonstrate sound-letter connections in real words. For example, the sounds of the letters b, u, and g will make more sense if combined into the word bug. • Change letters to show changes in sounds. Use a series of words such as the following to show how small changes in sound make a new word:

bit bat bat cat cat cab cab car

As you can see, after each change the last word in the pair becomes the first word in the next pair. The child learns that different letters represent different sounds, and different sounds change meanings. • Use words that rhyme. As a child tries to find rhyming words, she becomes aware of words that have the same middle and ending sounds' Give your child a word and ask him for words that rhyme with it. You can approach this as a variation of the previous drill and ask the child to make rhymes by substituting the first letter in a word with other letters:

ran can man fin pin win cop hop shop

Use word beginnings and endings. Sometimes your child will figure out a word by looking at the first and last letters and thinking about what sounds they represent. Context clues can help, too. For example, a child may not recognize the word sofa, but she can sound out the s and o and figure it out from the rest of the sentence: The boy sat down on the big sofa.

The general theme of phonics (decoding) is that English spelling is consistent enough to help readers with most words. Remember: the goal here is to enable your child to use phonics in reading, not recite rules from memory.

The Role of Silent Reading

by Carl B. Smith

" ... external activity cannot be confused with the inner construction of ideas that each person accomplishes when he or she reads."

A beehive of activity seemed an appropriate image for the classroom. Several groups of children conducted their affairs under the direction of three adults-the teacher and two aides. Some children were drawing pictures, some were playing a game, some were reading aloud in a circle, and a couple were working on computers.

"Isn't this a wonderful reading class?" asked my host, the principal. "Look at all this involvement."

I was indeed pleased to see children happily engaged in school activities, for I do believe that learning requires constructive participation. But the scene and the comment by the principal suggest an equation that is not necessarily accurate. Activity, movement, busyness: these things do not constitute reading. These activities may be ways to help children focus on some aspect of building meaning, but external activity cannot be confused with the inner construction of ideas that each person accomplishes when he or she reads.

Activities and the discussion contribute to the preparation for and the follow up to personal silent reading. Every child needs regular time to read silently, to contemplate ideas at his or her own pace, a private time to enjoy reading in a personal way. Most readers need to work privately before trying to share ideas with others. After focusing on the topic and gathering past impressions the reader deserves the opportunity to see the written message as a whole. After that, he can discuss questions, make comparisons, and highlight specific passages. Thus, silent reading acts as the central focus for a host of other activities.

Sustained Silent Reading

A supplementary reading activity called sustained student reading (SSR), allows students to selfselect materials and read without interruption at a set time each day. Why not set a time in your house for SSR?

The success of SSR is largely determined by the modeling behavior of a "teacher" or parent. The parent must become engrossed in her reading so that she is not interrupted by minor disturbances, and she should be enthusiastic and spontaneous about sharing her reactions to the book.

"The reader deserves the opportunity to see the written message as a whole."

Persistence Needed

The research indicates that improved reading comprehension and word recognition begin to evolve after six months of SSR. To be effective, therefore, SSR must become a regular activity in your house.

Silent reading should occur at least once a week. SSR seems to be more effective with elementary students than with secondary students. It appears that elementary students more easily model their parent's behavior and develop a positive attitude toward silent reading.

| NEWS ABOUT READING | ONLINE EDUCATION | WEB RESOURCES | BOOKS & BULLETINS | DIGESTS & BIBLIOS | FAMILY INFO CENTER | LESSON PLANS | Q & A ARCHIVE | DATABASE SEARCH | CHARACTER ED CENTER | The Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication is an information repository of the Indiana University School of Education. Dr. Carl B. Smith, Professor | SysAdmin: Andy Wiseman