Guidelines for Meaningful Phonics Instruction

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Guidelines for Meaningful Phonics Instruction

• Priscilla L. Griffith
• University of Oklahoma
• pgriffith_at_ou.edu

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Myths and Truths about Phonics Instruction

• Phonics is a solution for all reading problems.
  MYTH
• Phonics ignores meaning. MYTH
• Phonics is synonymous with beginning reading
  instruction. MYTH

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• Phonics is an approach to word study that focuses
  on the relationship between spelling patterns and
  sound patterns. TRUTH

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Goal of Phonics Instruction

• Get to the meaning
• Determine a likely pronunciation
• Make the leap to a known word that contributes to
  the meaning of the passage being read

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Examples

• The case of what.
• The case of compass.

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Achieving the Goal When?

• By the end of Grade 2 most children will have
  sufficient knowledge of letter-sound
  relationships.
• Beyond Grade 2 instruction focuses more on how
  the spelling of a word reveals its meaning.

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• Stretching phonics instruction out too long, or
  spending time on teaching the arcane aspects of
  phonics the schwa, the silent K, assigning
  accent to polysyllabic words is at best a waste
  of time. (Stahl, 1992)

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• -ed /t/, /d/, /id/
• I like to play Chutes and Ladders.
• Yesterday I played Chutes and Ladders with my
  friend.
• play
• played

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Achieving the Goal How Much?

• According to Stahl (1992), phonics instruction
  should take up no more than 25 (and possibly
  less) of the total reading instruction time in
  the classroom.
• The majority of classroom reading instruction
  should focus on reading connected text.

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Achieving the Goal What?

• Developing the alphabetic principle
  understanding the relationship between spoken and
  written language (The case of ox.)
• Letters
• Sounds
• Intent
• Data

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• Expanding meaning vocabulary
• Understanding the goal of reading
• Focusing on patterns
• Common spelling patterns (e.g., CVC, CVCe)
• Common spellings across words (e.g., 500 words
  can be generated from 37 rimes)
• Writing

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Phases of Word Learning

• Ehri, 1994 Ehri McCormick, 2004

Pre-alphabetic
Partial-alphabetic
Full-alphabetic
Orthographic
Automatic
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Meaningful Phonics Instruction
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Meaningful Phonics Instruction
Pre-Alphabetic

• Beginning readers select non-phonemic visual
  characteristics to remember words.
• Writing includes mock letters and random letters
  with no relation to sound structure of the word.

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• Teacher read-alouds from texts that play with
  language through rhyme, alliteration, or
  assonance.
• Discuss word meanings.
• Alphabet books
• Language experience
• Shared reading with enlarged text to model print
  concepts.

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• Shared writing in which teacher models the
  alphabetic principle
• Opportunities to incorporate writing while
  visiting centers
• Writing using invented spelling

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Meaningful Phonics Instruction
Partial-Alphabetic

• Beginning readers use some letters and context to
  guess the identity of unfamiliar words.
• Vowel sounds are rarely represented in invented
  spellings.

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• Continue pre-alphabetic practices.
• Shared reading from patterned texts.
• Print studies of patterned texts.
• Begin explicit instruction in letter-sound
  correspondences.
• Use Elkonin boxes to examine spellings of known
  words.

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• Rubberband words.
• Manipulate the onset of common rimes (e.g.,
  bat/hat/cat/fat/rat).
• Teach mnemonics to help with reversals of
  visually similar letters.
• Introduce interactive writing during which the
  teacher and student share the pen.
• Sort pictures by initial or final sounds.

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Meaningful Phonics Instruction
Full-alphabetic

• The beginning reader has a working knowledge of
  letter-sound correspondences that enables him/her
  to decode many unfamiliar words.
• Vowel sounds are represented in invented
  spellings.

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• Continue teacher read-alouds shared and
  interactive writing explicit instruction in
  letter-sound correspondences and discussions of
  word meanings.
• Provide instruction in orthographic patterns,
  e.g., CVC, CVCe
• Sort words by focusing on common spellings across
  words.

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• Sort word families by sound bat/bet
• Manipulate letters and read newly formed words
  bat/bet/bit or bat/bad/back
• Making words activities.
• Introduce common inflectional endings -s, -ed,
  -ing
• Much practice reading connected text at
  independent and instructional levels.

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Meaningful Phonics Instruction
Orthographic

• The reader uses multi-level units to read words.

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• Continue word sorts.
• Study affixes and common roots.
• Continue reading connected text at independent
  and instructional levels.

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• Phonics interacts with knowledge of word meanings
  and context to help readers get to meaning.