Phonics instruction involves teaching students to know the relationships between letters and sounds and how to use this knowledge to recognize words when reading and to spell words when writing. In order for children to become literate, they must understand phonics. Phonics are essential to teaching students to read because it is during this instruction that students learn the sounds of the English language and how they combine to create everyday words. Phonics is a complex system that must be explicitly taught and practiced.
Phonics and phonemic awareness are aspects of literacy critical to successful reading instruction. Phonics and phonemic awareness are closely related in that they reinforce and support one another. Phonemic awareness involving spoken language and phonics involving written language. Students in PK-2nd grade who learn phonics and its sub-skills including phonemic awareness, decoding, fluency, and vocabulary will develop critical literacy skills that improve reading comprehension and promote the joy of reading.