Phonics Glossary
Phonetics: the study of speech sounds
Phonics: the relationships between the sounds of a language and
the letters used to represent those sounds
Orthography: the spelling system of a language
Phoneme: basic sound unit of speech, shown in slashes / / (see
chart at right)
Grapheme: the written representation of a phoneme (for
example, the grapheme “c” in cat represents the phoneme /k/)
Morpheme: a unit of meaning in a word—for example,
“unhappy” has two distinct meaning units (“un” and “happy”),
each of which contributes to the word’s meaning
Phonological Awareness: awareness of units of speech, such as
words, syllables, and phonemes
Phonemic Awareness: the understanding that words are made
up of individual sounds (phonemes); this is a sub-category of
phonological awareness. It includes the ability to distinguish
rhyme, blend sounds, isolate sounds (such as initial & final),
segment sounds, and manipulate sounds in words.
Phoneme Segmentation: taking a spoken word and splitting it
into its constituent phonemes in the order in which they are heard
in the word (example: /c/-/a/-/t/ for “cat”)
Phoneme Blending: taking given phonemes and combining
them to make a word (the opposite of segmentation); some argue
that in order to read, children must learn to translate letters into
sounds (phonemes), blending them orally to create words
Vowel
Phonemes
/ă/
hand
Consonant
Phonemes
/p/
pit
/ĕ/
bend
/b/
bat
/ĭ/
tin
/t/
tap
/ŏ/
won
/d/
dot
/ŭ/
cup
/k/
kit
/ā/
cape
/g/
go
/ē/
/f/
fill
feel
/ī/
/v/
very
kite
/th/
thick
/ō/
boat
/TH/
these
/ū/
use
/l/
lap
/â/
dare
/r/
run
/û/
her, bird
/m/
map
/ä/
father
/n/
no
/ô/
off
/ng/
sing
(varies from
/ŏ/ in some
dialects)
/h/
hat
/oi/
oil
/w/
will
/ou/
out
/y/
yes
/s/
saw
/z/
zip
/sh/
show
/zh/
measure
/ch/
chair
/j/
jam
/hw/
which
/
/
tool
/
/
book
/ə/
about
(schwa)
Decode: to take written symbols (letters) and translate them
mentally into sounds (phonemes) and spoken words; a key to decoding is that the
words be recognized by the reader from his/her aural (listening) vocabulary in order
for meaning to be made
Encode: the opposite of decoding—to take speech and translate it into written symbols (in other words, to
write)
Phonemic Markings or Phonemic Representation: representing a word’s sounds using phonetic symbols
between slashes (fox = /fŏks/, dishes = /dĭsh’ əz/, competition = /kŏm’ pə tĭ’ shən/); apostrophes show
syllable emphasis
CONSONANTS: phonemes where the flow of air is cut off partially or completely
Voiced: the vocal cords vibrate in creating the sound
Unvoiced: the vocal cords do not vibrate in creating the sound
Fricative: consonant sound that is made by the sound of air friction in the mouth:
•
•
•
•
Labiodental (lips & teeth): /v/ and /f/
Dental (teeth): /TH/ and /th/
Alveolar (front of mouth): /z/ and /s/
Palatal (roof of mouth): /zh/ and /sh/
Stop: Consonant sound where the air flow is cut short (/b/ /p/ /d/ /t/ /g/ /k/)
Affricate: made with a combination of sounds, a stop and a fricative. (/j/ and /ch/)
Nasal: voiced consonant sound where the air flow is completely blocked in the mouth and redirected through the
nose. You can feel the vibration in the nasal cavity. (/m/ /n/ /ng/)
Liquids: /l/ /r/ (very similar to vowels)
Glides: /y/ /w/ /h/ /hw/ (very similar to vowels)
Continuant Consonant: a consonant that can be “stretched out” with a continuous sound, such as /m/, /n/,
/s/, or /r/; these are preferred as first letter sounds to learn, because they are more easily heard, particularly
the voiced ones
Hard & Soft Consonant Sounds: some graphemes (letters) have two phonemes associated with them,
such as “c” (/k/ and /s/) or “g” (/g/ and /j/); the hard sounds are the stops /k/ and /g/
Consonant Digraph: two consonants together that make one phoneme or sound (ship, chip, phone, laugh).
Wh is a digraph that has dropped out of spoken language, for most English speakers (for some, weather and
whether have different initial sounds).
Consonant Blend: a sequence of two or three consonants, each of which is heard. (step, lift, jump, bend,
strap—the last word has a triple consonant blend)
Consonant Cluster: A sequence of consonants without a vowel between them, including digraphs &
blends (trash, shriek, lunch)
VOWELS: phonemes where air flows through the mouth unobstructed (In reading instruction, the letters
a, e, i, o, and u are considered vowels, although vowel sounds can be represented by consonants, as in myth
or fly, or a combination of consonants and vowels, as in night. The long u sound is actually a combination of
/y/ and / /.)
Long vowels: “say the name of the letter”
Short vowels: -- Think of the “CVC” pattern (bag, beg, big, bog, bug)
Diphthong: phoneme where the mouth glides from one vowel sound directly into another; for reading
instruction only the sounds /oi/ as in boy and /ou/ as in cow are taught as diphthongs
R-Controlled Vowel: An R sound following a vowel sound almost always distorts the vowel, making such
words harder to spell (/û/ her, bird
/â/ dare)
Schwa: the vowel sound of any unaccented syllable in English (about, competition, imitation, colony, suggest) –
(The schwa sound can “disappear” when we elongate a word’s sounds, distorting the word’s usual pronunciation)
Vowel Digraph: two vowels together that make on phoneme or sound (bread, need, book, field)
Onset: the beginning consonant sound(s) before the vowel sound in a syllable (cat, treat, chair). Not all
words or syllables have onsets (like the words “at” and “oar”)
Rime: the vowel and any letters that follow it in a syllable (cat, treat, chair). Cat, sat and fat rhyme
because they share the same rime. Each syllable in a word can be analyzed in terms of onset/rime:
fantastic, playground, airplane.
Word Families: words that share the same ending, called a rime (mat, bat, flat, sat, that)
Syllable: Phoneme(s) that constitute a larger sound unit within a word, beyond the phoneme level; every
syllable contains a vowel phoneme.
Syllable Patterns: English syllables can be grouped into basic patterns according to their use of consonant
and vowels sounds:
1. Open: a syllable that ends in a vowel sound, typically a long vowel sound (tiger, hotel)
2. Closed: a syllable that ends in a consonant sound
3. Vowel Pair: a syllable with two vowel graphemes together, including digraphs and diphthongs (eat,
loop, boy); often the vowel sound is long
4. VC+e: ends in a vowel-consonant-e pattern, often with a long vowel sound (kite, bake)
5. R-Controlled: the vowel is followed by an R, distorting the vowel sound (bird, her)
6. C+le: a consonant is followed by an “le” as in bottle or purple; the vowel sound is typically a schwa
Whole-to-Parts Phonics Instruction
Approach
Students are immersed in authentic texts
which they can “read” because of their
predictability. Instruction then focuses on
letters, letter sounds, and letter/sound
patterns (phonics), drawing on the authentic
texts and other meaningful words, such as
the children’s names. This is a constructivist
approach that builds from the “known to the
new.”
Direct &
Lessons are guided/directed by the teacher,
Explicit
although a discovery-oriented process is
often used. During the course of instruction,
teachers explain (make explicit) the concepts
being taught.
Systematic Instructional sequence is based on children’s
development and what they “use but
confuse.” Phonics teaching is built into
classroom routines like word study but also
takes advantage of “teachable moments” in
1:1 conferences, shared reading/writing, and
guided reading/writing.
Embedded Whenever possible, phonics instruction is
v. Isolated embedded within reading and writing for
meaningful purposes.
Texts for
Beginning
Readers
Part-to-Whole Phonics Instruction
(Phonics First)
Students are taught letters, letter sounds, and
letter-sound patterns in isolation, proceeding
to short words, then sentences, etc. The
teaching occurs in a pre-determined
sequence, and children are only asked to read
words for which they have already been
explicitly taught the related letter-sound
correspondences. This is a traditional,
transmission approach to phonics instruction.
Direct teaching of phonics concepts takes a
more behavioristic (stimulus-response)
format, with each concept explicitly taught
from the outset (non-discovery) and drilled
for automaticity.
A pre-determined sequence of phonics
concepts is presented, typically continuant
consonants and short vowels first.
Typically, phonics concepts are taught in
isolation from connected text, although the
use of decodable texts is soon introduced
(see below).
Predictable Texts: texts that support
Decodable Texts: texts that are written to
beginning readers through rhyme, repetition, help students practice decoding words for
cumulative sequence, familiar songs, or close which they have been explicitly taught the
picture-text match (Itsy-Bitsy Spider, I Know related letter sounds and phonics
an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Brown
generalizations or “rules” (Nan can fan Dan.)
Bear, Brown Bear, etc.)