The sounds contained in language are called phonemes. Humans can produce hundreds of phonemes through their vocal cords, though the English language requires that people understand about 40 groups of sounds, according to Dr. C. George Boeree at Shippensburg University. There are hundreds of sounds in total because of variations in accents and dialects.
Writing is a visual way to convey phonemes so information can be stored without the need for continual memorization. While letters do not perfectly represent the phonemes, all words are represented by combinations of letters. Since words to not perfectly match sounds, some people struggle to learn many common words. They are often thrown off by silent letters and unusual letter combinations.
Phonics uses the principals of phonetics to help children learn how to read. It was pioneered by Rudolph Flesh in his 1955 book, "Why Johnny Can’t Read." His book argued that students must be able to sound out words based on their spelling. Phonics allows students to decode some words by sounding them out. However, students can get confused by homonyms, such as "to," "too" and "two." Some words do not sound like they are spelled and students must memorize them. In addition, people have different dialects that pronounce words in alternate ways. Jon Reyhner at Northern Arizona University argued that this method of reading was mostly replaced with the whole language instruction method in the 90s, though educators still sometimes use it.
While phonics does not solve all problems that children have with reading, it can serve as one tool in the teacher’s arsenal. Students are taught the alphabet and the sounds that correspond with the letters. They are then taught how to blend two different letters together to produce sounds. Once children have memorized the sounds of the letter combinations, they can sound out words they do not understand to guess the meaning. This does not always work, since some words aren’t pronounced in a predictable way, such as “gnat.”
Children learn phonics by reading books that are full of phonetic words, such as: “cat sat on the mat.” As the children read the books, they begin to memorize the sounds the words make and can begin to identify many words they have never seen before. Teachers must hold the interest of the children to increase the chances that they will retain information. So, the books must contain stories that kids find interesting. Also, the children must know the meanings of the words so they aren’t repeating meaningless words. Introducing only one letter a day can keep children from becoming bored.