Helen Kennedy, age 13, of Dover, Del., for her question:
WHAT IS PHONICS?
Phonics is the association of letters or combinations of letters with their appropriate speech sounds. Phonics also includes understanding the principles that govern the use of letters in words.
In reading, phonics helps us understand the sound of a word that is unfamiliar. In spelling, phonics helps us write the appropriate letters for the sounds we hear.
Phonics can be taught synthetically or analytically.
In the synthetic approach to phonics, the child learns the sounds of individual letters and letter combinations, usually before he learns to read. When the child meets an unfamiliar word, he synthesizes, or sounds out, the sounds that make up the word.
In the analytic approach to phonics, the child develops a vocabulary of words he knows by sight. He does this while learning to read. The child eventually analyzes the words for their sounds. In this way, he understands both the sound of the letters and the reasons some letters are used instead of others. The child then applies these reasons, or principles, and learns to recognize the sounds of new words.
Most educators prefer the analytic approach to the synthetic approach.
In reading, phonics has both advantages and limitations. A knowledge of phonics makes it possible to reconstruct the sounds of many words not known by sight. This is particularly true for languages in which each letter or symbol represents only one sound and each sound is represented by only one letter.
In English, the relation between sounds is not consistent. Thus, phonics has limitations if it is the only means used to learn unfamiliar words.
Different letters may represent the same sound, as in meet and meat, or the same letter may stand for different sounds, as the "a" in fall, fat, fate and father.
An exaggrated emphasis upon phonics may also slow a reader's rate if he tends to sound out every word to himself.
Educators consider phonics an essential part of any effective reading program. But because of the many inconsistencies in the English language, they recommend using additional aids to help a reader improve his pronunciation of unfamiliar words.
As an example, the reader may be taught to identify new words by their prefixes, suffixes, roots and syllables.
Phonetics is the science of speech sounds and the symbols by which they are shown in writing and printing. This science is based on a study of all the parts of the body concerned in making speech. It includes the position of the parts of the body necessary for producing spoken words and the effect of air from the lungs as it passes through the larynx, pharynx, vocal cords, nasal passages and mouth.
The natural way of learning to speak is by imitating sounds made by others. Speech difficulties may sometimes be overcome if a person is shown where to place some part of the speech apparatus to make sounds.