Hooked On Phonics

What is Phonics?

Phonics is the association of sounds with letters. Phonics is a method of teaching beginners to read and pronounce words by learning to associate letters or letter groups with the sounds they represent. Research has shown that a strong understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds helps children learn to read.

The Hooked on Phonics programs combine practice in decoding or recognizing and pronouncing words with engaging books to allow children to use these skills in reading for fluency and meaning. Children initially learn strategies to decode individual words and then immediately implement this new knowledge to read stories and books that were specifically designed to include the words and letter-patterns the child has just learned.

Phonics vs. Whole Language

People often complains that they do not want to teach using phonics because the memorization necessary to learn phonetic rules for English is repetitive and boring. With that being said the whole language is nothing more than rote memorization of every word in the English language.
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