Phonics: Strategies for Decoding Unknown Words

1. Phonics: Strategies forDecoding Unknown Words Presented byCherry Carl

2. Presentation Highlights • Research background on phonics • Phonics skills and rules • Approaches to teaching phonics • Assessing phonics/decoding knowledge • Developing phonics knowledge

3. Presentation Highlights • Strategies and materials • Building decoding fluency • Special Needs Indicators • Taking a look at California standards • Resources

4. What Does ResearchSay About Phonics Instruction? • Phonics instruction is an essential part of balanced reading programs in the early grades. • For phonics to help the reader, the word(s) to be decoded must already be known (in the reader’s listening and speaking vocabulary). Source: Reutzel and Cooter (1999)

5. What Does Research Say? • Phonics skills are best taught after phonemic awareness and alphabetic principle have been learned. • When phonics rules are used in conjunction with meaning and grammar cues, the reader can positively identify unknown words in instructional level reading materials. Source: Reutzel and Cooter (1999)

6. What Does Research Say? • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is more effective than non-systematic or no phonics instruction. • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves kindergarten and first-grade children's word recognition and spelling. • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves children's reading comprehension. Source: Student Achievement and School Accountability ConferenceOctober 2002

7. What Does Research Say? • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is effective for children from various social and economic levels. Source: Student Achievement and School Accountability ConferenceOctober 2002

8. What Does Research Say? • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is particularly beneficial for children who are having difficulty learning to read and who are at risk for developing future reading problems. • Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is most effective when introduced early (K or 1). Source: Student Achievement and School Accountability ConferenceOctober 2002

9. Phonics Skills and Rules • The C Rule • The G Rule • The CVC Generalization • Vowel Teams (Digraphs) • The Final E • The Bossy R (R-Controlled) Source: Reutzel and Cooter (1999)

10. Phonics Skills and Rules • Consonant Digraphs • Blends/Clusters • Double Consonants • The Schwa Vowel sounds • Diphthongs • The Y Rules Source: Reutzel and Cooter (1999)

11. Approaches to Teaching Phonics • Explicit or alphabetic phonics methods: Systematic and explicit phonics instruction provides instruction in a carefully selected and useful set of letter-sound relationships and then organizes the introduction of these relationships into a logical instructional sequence. Children have ample opportunities to practice and review.

12. Approaches to Teaching Phonics • Implicit phonics methods: Children learn to analyze letter-sound relationships in previously learned words. They do not pronounce sounds in isolation.

13. Approaches to Teaching Phonics • Analogy Based Phonics: Children learn to use onsets and rimes they already know to identify/decode unknown words with similar parts.

14. Assessing Phonics Knowledge • Phonemic Awareness Activities • Alphabetic Principle • Basic Phonics Skills Test • Running Records • Nonsense Test • Phonics Inventory • DIBELS

15. Developing Phonics Knowledge • Phonemic awareness • The alphabetic principle • Explicit phonics instruction

16. Strategies and Materials • Making words • Sorts • Tongue Tanglers • Onsets and Rimes • Decodable Texts • Flexible Practice • Dictation/Spelling • Word Work

17. Sample Sequence • Phonemic Warm-Up • Teach Sound/Spelling • Practice Blending • Apply Decodable Text Dictation ● Picture/Word Sorts ● Word Hunts

18. Building Decoding Fluency • Access to and practice reading vast amounts of high-quality, engaging text • Repeated readings of books, poems, journals, and other genre • Independent reading opportunities with easy reading materials and familiar text

19. Special Needs Indicators • Difficulty identifying vowel sounds in words • Difficulty identifying consonant sounds • Difficulty identifying sounds represented by digraphs • Inability to identify syllable breaks in words • Inability to use structural analysis

20. Summary Statements • Phonics is an essential part of a comprehensive approach to the teaching of reading. • Phonics instruction needs to be explicit and direct; incidental and opportunistic approaches to developing phonics are less effective. Source: John J. Pikulski (1998)

21. Summary Statements • Phonics instruction can and must be meaningful, lively, and engaging; phonics should not be equated with repetitious drill or the mindless completion of worksheets. Source: John J. Pikulski (1998)

22. Summary Statements • In order for children to gain full use of phonics skills they need guidance in integrating them with other word identification skills and in strategically and fluently applying those skills. Source: John J. Pikulski (1998)

23. Summary Statements • In order for children to gain full use of phonics skills they need many opportunities to apply them to functional and interesting reading and writing activities. Source: John J. Pikulski (1998)

24. Summary Statements • While the development of phonics and other word identification skills is essential and necessary for skillful, mature reading, it is not sufficient; skillful mature reading must also build upon language, vocabulary, and concept development as well as a variety of thinking skills. Source: John J. Pikulski (1998)

25. Taking a Lookat California Standards

26. Kindergarten 1.14 Match all consonant and short-vowel sounds to appropriate letters. 1.15 Read simple one-syllable and high-frequency words (i.e., sight words). 1.16 Understand that as letters of words change, so do the sounds (i.e., the alphabetic principle).

27. Grade One 1.10 Generate the sounds from all the letters and letter patterns, including consonant blends and long-and short-vowel patterns (i.e., phonograms), and blend those sounds into recognizable words.

28. Grade One 1.11 Read common, irregular sight words (e.g., the, have, said, come, give, of). 1.12 Use knowledge of vowel digraphs and r- controlled letter-sound associations to read words.

29. Grade One 1.13 Read compound words and contractions. 1.14 Read inflectional forms (e.g., -s, -ed, -ing) and root words (e.g., look, looked, looking).

30. Grade One 1.15 Read common word families (e.g., -ite, -ate). 1.16 Read aloud with fluency in a manner that sounds like natural speech.

31. Grade Two 1.1 Recognize and use knowledge of spelling patterns (e.g., diphthongs, special vowel spellings) when reading. 1.2 Apply knowledge of basic syllabication rules when reading (e.g., vowel-consonant-vowel = su/ per; vowel-consonant/consonant-vowel = sup/ per).

32. Grade Two 1.3 Decode two-syllable nonsense words and regular multisyllable words. 1.4 Recognize common abbreviations (e.g., Jan., Sun., Mr., St.).

33. Grade Two 1.5 Identify and correctly use regular plurals (e.g., -s, -es, -ies) and irregular plurals (e.g., fly/ flies, wife/ wives). 1.6 Read aloud fluently and accurately and with appropriate intonation and expression.

34. Grade Three 1.1 Know and use complex word families when reading (e.g., -ight) to decode unfamiliar words.1.2 Decode regular multisyllabic words.1.3 Read aloud narrative and expository text fluently and accurately and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression.

35. Resources Arbruster, Dr. Bonnie. Research-Based Instruction in Reading. Student Achievement and School Accountability Conference October 2002. Blevins, Wiley (1998). Phonics from A to Z: A Practical Guide. New York: Scholastic. Chall, Jeanne S. and Popp, Helen M. (1996). Teaching and Assessing Phonics: A Guide for Teachers. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Service.

36. Resources Pikulski, John J. (1998). The Role of Phonics in the Teaching of Reading. Reutzel, D. Ray and Cooter, Robert B. (1999). Balanced Reading Strategies and Practices. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.