Phonemic Awareness: Read Me First

This is an image of an armadillo on sand with a capital A and lower case a to represent phonics

The ability to put sounds together to make words is related to a learner’s phonemic awareness. This is her ability to perceive and manipulate individual sounds. An example of this is being able to substitute different vowel sounds in the middle of two consonants to make different words like pat, pet, pit, pot and put. It might seem like a learner can’t hear individual sounds, but it’s not a hearing issue. It’s a problem with how the brain takes in and processes sounds. If your learner has trouble with this, it may be that she lacks phonemic awareness.

People who aren’t phonemically aware can hear the words but aren’t aware of the individual phonemes (the smallest units of sound in spoken language) that make up words. They don’t understand questions like “What sound does this word begin with?” or “What vowel sound do you hear in the middle of the word?” because they don’t perceive the individual sounds in a word.

For example, some adults can read the word rug but can’t tell you what sounds are in that word. Or they may be able to sound out the first letter (r), but not the other two (ug). They can perceive the word rug as a whole but not the individual sounds /r/ /u/ /g/. They can’t answer the question “What word is /r/ /u/ /g/?” by listening to the sounds /r/ +/u/ +/g/ and putting them together to make the word rug, even though that’s a word they know and use.

This is an image of two women, one light-haired and onedark-haired, who are both sitting a table and pointing at a page in abook

Phonemic awareness is required for a learner to develop decoding skills like breaking words down to sound them out. It's necessary for successful phonics instruction and for a learner to be able to use phonics to identify words as she reads and to spell words as she writes. A struggling reader can’t blend sounds and recognize words if her brain doesn’t process individual sounds. A writer can’t sound out a spoken word to guess its spelling if she doesn’t perceive these individual sounds.

Phonemic awareness isn’t acquired “naturally” as we learn to speak. It’s usually learned through reading and writing an alphabetic language like English or Spanish. Many children pick up the skill easily and many adults who are good readers don’t remember learning it, even though they can identify and manipulate phonemes when shown how to. But some readers don’t easily acquire phonemic awareness. They have to be explicitly taught how to identify and manipulate sounds.

It’s important for you and your learner to know that the reason to develop phonemic awareness is because it’s a necessary step for using phonics to decode words when she’s reading and spelling. Being phonemically aware allows learners to successfully engage in phonics activities, which is an important way to identify words they don’t recognize.

Phonemic Awareness: Tutoring Tips

This is an
image of a light-haired woman and a dark-haired woman with glasses
sitting at a table with flashcards

When you are working with your learner on phonemic awareness, keep these important tips in mind:

Focus on 1 or 2 types of phonemic awareness tasks at a time. Practicing more than two at a time can be overwhelming and confusing for a learner.
Pay special attention to segmenting and blending. These are the phonemic awareness tasks your learner needs to read (decode) and spell.
When practicing phonemic awareness tasks it’s very important not to add vowel sounds when pronouncing consonant sounds (it’s a crisp /p/ sound rather than puh when you’re saying the first sound in paste). This natural inclination can be a really hard habit to break but it’s a necessity. Otherwise, it’s very confusing for learners who have difficulty perceiving and manipulating sounds.

This is an image of a
light-haired woman and a woman with dark curly hair sitting at a table
looking at each other. There are books and papers on the table

Practice phonemic awareness tasks when and for as long as necessary for your learner to be able to perceive and manipulate a variety of sounds. Once your learner can easily and routinely manipulate sounds while reading and spelling you can stop working on these tasks.
Don’t focus only on phonemic awareness activities during your tutoring sessions. 15 to 20 minutes is enough time to practice each time you meet. Any more than that is overkill and will become tiring for your learner.
Teach phonemic awareness in combination with phonics instruction (such as rhyming word families) as well as other reading skills that help your learner develop her fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills at the same time. This can reinforce your learner’s phonemic awareness skills and build her overall reading ability.

This
is an image of two people standing in a library reading a book

Make a clear connection between phonemic awareness skills and your learner's ultimate reading goals. For an example of how to discuss this with your learner, watch the first 50 seconds of this video .
Use phonemic awareness materials sensitively. Because these materials must be very simple, they can sometimes have childish illustrations or stories. There are many more materials for children than adults so it can be challenging to find appropriate materials. It’s always best to use materials especially designed for adult learners when possible. When adapting children’s materials, do so sensitively and creatively so they don’t seem childish. However, if your learner has children or grandchildren and reading to them is one of her goals, it can make sense to use children’s books in your phonemic awareness lessons.
Some learners with learning disabilities may always struggle to perceive sounds auditorily. For those learners it might be helpful to use multi-sensory techniques to help them “feel” sounds. You can help your learner “feel sounds” by asking her to pay attention to where her lips, tongue and teeth are as she makes a sound. You can model making and feeling the sound and then ask your learner to do the same. A mirror can help here too!

Phonemic Awareness: How can I know if my learner needs phonemic awareness practice?

Many adults who are low-level readers lack phonemic awareness and need to develop this skill. Your learner may have some phonemic awareness challenges if she has difficulty with the following tasks after a significant amount of phonics practice:

sounding words out
perceiving the differences between sounds
manipulating sounds to make different word families (e.g. exchanging the letter before at to form different words like sat, fat, cat, mat)
rhyming words
spelling one-syllable words

This is an image of three people, two men and one woman, sitting around a table looking at paper

The best way to know if your learner needs phonemic awareness practice is to ask your program to assess her specifically for this skill. However, you can get some idea if she lacks certain kinds of phonemic awareness by asking her to perform six phonemic awareness tasks. For a description and example of all six tasks, click on the first Resource below. To watch an example of a tutor assessing her learner in each of the tasks, click on the second Resource below.

Phonemic Awareness: How can I start teaching my learner phonemic awareness?

This
is an image of an older man and a dark-haired woman sitting at a table
with textbooks

The best way to help your learner improve her phonemic awareness is to use a published phonemic awareness/phonics structured curriculum that ensures explicit, systematic instruction and provides a framework for learning activities and lessons. It's best if you can use a curriculum that’s designed especially to build phonemic awareness skills in adults.

Phonemic awareness curricula can come in a variety of formats: textbook series, web-based and other packaged programs. These materials provide a structure that covers all aspects of phonemic awareness so you don't have to make decisions about what and how much to teach and when to teach it. There are quite a few good materials on the market that have been specifically developed for adult learners so ask your program to recommend some to you.

It can take quite a bit of experience to design phonemic awareness task practices that provide learners with a comprehensive set of activities that build upon each other and increase in complexity so learners have a greater chance for experiencing success. Although it’s certainly possible for you to create your own phonemic awareness lessons, it makes a lot of sense to take advantage of the excellent materials that are available to you that were designed by experts in this field!

This is an image of a
woman and a man sitting at a table looking over a grammar book

There are six different types of phonemic awareness tasks that structured curricula address. For a description and example of all six phonemic awareness tasks, click on the first Resource below.

Two of the six tasks, blending and segmenting, are especially critical in helping your learner improve her reading and writing skills:

Blending is listening to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word. This is the skill your learner will use to read or decode words.
Segmenting is breaking a word into its individual sounds by tapping out or counting the sounds or by pronouncing and positioning a colored marker (like different colored blocks or pens) for each sound. This is the skill your learner will use to spell words.

Phonemic awareness tasks ask learners to manipulate beginning, middle and end sounds to form a variety of syllables or words. Structured curricula build learners’ foundational phonemic awareness skills by beginning with simple sounds, syllables and words and then working their way up to more challenging sounds, syllables and words such as those that contain vowel digraphs and consonant blends and digraphs.

(Note: A blend is 2 or 3 consonants that are each heard individually when blended together such as bl, gr, st, tr, cl, shr, spl and thr. A digraph is two or more vowels or consonants that work together to make one unique sound such as ai, ea, ee, oa, oo, ch, sh, th, wh, ph, qu and -ck.)

Phonemic Awareness: How can I help my learner perceive the different sounds that make up a word?

This
is an image of two women sitting at a table in front of plants and
looking at a book

Your learner has particular trouble with the task of phoneme isolation or recognizing individual sounds within a word. For example, she may not be able to tell you that the first sound in pan is /p/ or that the middle sound in log is /o/ or that the last sound in big is /g/. She perceives these words as a whole but doesn’t perceive the individual sounds they’re made from. The ability to perceive and recognize individual sounds is an important aspect of phonemic awareness that is required for using phonics to decode words.

The best way to help your learner learn to perceive the different sounds that make up a word is to use structured phonemic awareness/phonics materials recommended by your program. However, you can also create your own activities to practice this skill. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phoneme isolation or label any phonemic awareness activities. You can just tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to identify and spell words.

Phonemic awareness practice was traditionally done using only the letter sounds. In other words, you can actually do phonemic awareness activities in the dark because your learner only needs to perceive and manipulate the sounds you’re practicing rather than associating them with the letters that represent the sounds. Some published programs use colored blocks to represent sounds that are the same and different in a word. You can create your own system that uses colors to represent sounds. Click on the first Resource below for an example of using colors for sound representation.

New research tells us that it can also be effective to teach phonemic awareness using letters to reinforce the relationship between the letter names and the sounds they make. You can do this using Scrabble tiles (without the board), letter cards, or plastic letters from a teacher supply store. If your learner is a tactile learner, manipulating the letters with her hands on a table will help her take in, process and remember the skills she’s practicing. Hands on activities are always a great way to reinforce the learning that’s happening visually and auditorily. Click on the second Resource below for a text example of using letter cards with your learner, or click on the third Resource to see a video example.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO
Watch a tutor and student will practice the phonemic awareness task of Phoneme Isolation: recognizing individual sounds in words (Part 1 of 6 parts).

Phonemic Awareness: How can I help my learner recognize the same sound in different words?

This is an image of an older woman showing a younger woman something on a paper while sitting

Your learner has particular trouble with the task of phoneme identity or recognizing the common sound in different words. For example, she may not be able to tell you that the sound that is the same in the words rap, rig and rod is /r/. She perceives these words as a whole and knows they’re different words, but she doesn’t perceive the individual sounds they’re made from. As a result, she has trouble understanding what you’re asking when you ask her to tell you what one common sound all of the words contain. The ability to perceive and recognize individual sounds is an important aspect of phonemic awareness that is required for using phonics to decode words.

The best way to help your learner recognize the same sound in different words is to use structured phonemic awareness/phonics materials recommended by your program. However, you can also create your own activities to practice this skill. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phoneme identity, or label any phonemic awareness activities. You can tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to identify and spell words.

This is an image of an older woman and a younger woman with pencils in hand sitting and looking down at paper

Phonemic awareness practice was traditionally done using only the letter sounds. In other words, you can actually do phonemic awareness activities in the dark because your learner only needs to perceive and manipulate the sounds you’re practicing rather than associating them with the letters that represent the sounds. Some published programs use colored blocks to represent sounds that are the same and different in a word. You can create your own system that uses colors to represent sounds. Click on the first Resource below for an example of using colors for sound representation.

New research tells us that it can also be effective to teach phonemic awareness using letters to reinforce the relationship between the letter names and the sounds they make. You can do this using Scrabble tiles (without the board), letter cards, or plastic letters from a teacher supply store. If your learner is a tactile learner, manipulating the letters with her hands on a table will help her take in, process and remember the skills she’s practicing. Hands on activities are always a great way to reinforce the learning that’s happening visually and auditorily.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch an adult literacy tutor and an adult literacy student will practice the phonemic awareness task of Phoneme Identity : recognizing the common sound in different words (Part 2 of 6 parts).

Phonemic Awareness: How can I help my learner recognize a pattern in order to identify which word doesn't belong in a list of words?

This is an image of an older blonde woman smiling at a younger dark-haired woman whose back is to the camera. They are both sitting and there are papers on the table

Your learner has particular trouble with the task of phoneme categorization, or recognizing the word with the odd sound in a sequence of three or four different words . For example, she may have trouble knowing that the word top doesn’t belong in the sequence of words sit, sag, top because it doesn’t begin with the /s/ sound like the first two words. She perceives these words as a whole and knows they’re different words, but she doesn’t perceive the individual sounds they’re made from. As a result, she isn’t able to identify which words have the same first sound and which one has a different first sound. The ability to perceive and distinguish between individual sounds is an important aspect of phonemic awareness that is required for using phonics to decode words.

The best way to help your learner recognize a pattern in order to identify which word doesn't belong in a list of words is to use structured phonemic awareness/phonics materials recommended by your program. However, you can also create your own activities to practice this skill. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phoneme categorization, or label any activities. You can tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to identify and spell words.

This is an image of a blonde woman and a dark-haired woman reading a book together

Phonemic awareness practice was traditionally done using only the letter sounds. In other words, you can actually do phonemic awareness activities in the dark because your learner only needs to perceive and manipulate the sounds you’re practicing rather than associating them with the letters that represent the sounds. Some published programs use colored blocks to represent sounds that are the same and different in a word. You can create your own system that uses colors to represent sounds. Click on the first Resource below for an example of using colors for sound representation.

New research tells us that it can also be effective to teach phonemic awareness using letters to reinforce the relationship between the letter names and the sounds they make. You can do this using Scrabble tiles (without the board), letter cards, or plastic letters from a teacher supply store. If your learner is a tactile learner, manipulating the letters with her hands on a table will help her take in, process and remember the skills she’s practicing. Hands on activities are always a great way to reinforce the learning that’s happening visually and auditorily.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch an adult literacy tutor and an adult literacy student will practice the phonemic awareness task of Phoneme Categorization : recognizing the word with the odd sound in a sequence of three or four words (Part 3 of 6 parts).

How can I help my learner put sounds together to make words?

This is an image of two younger women sitting together looking at a book

Your learner has particular trouble with the task of phoneme blending or listening to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word. For example, she may not be able to tell you that the individual sounds /p/ /i/ /g/ go together to make the word pig. She perceives the word pig as a whole but doesn’t perceive the individual sounds that form it. The ability to perceive and combine individual sounds to make a word is an important aspect of phonemic awareness that is required for using phonics to decode words.

The best way to help your learner learn how to put sounds together to make words is to use structured phonemic awareness/phonics materials recommended by your program. However, you can also create your own activities to practice this skill. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phoneme blending, or label any phonemic awareness activities. You can just tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to identify and spell words.

Phonemic awareness practice was traditionally done using only the letter sounds. In other words, you can actually do phonemic awareness activities in the dark because your learner only needs to perceive and manipulate the sounds you’re practicing rather than associating them with the letters that represent the sounds. Some published programs use colored blocks to represent sounds that are the same and different in a word. You can create your own system that uses colors to represent sounds. Click on the first Resource below for an example of using colors for sound representation.

New research tells us that it can also be effective to teach phonemic awareness using letters to reinforce the relationship between the letter names and the sounds they make. You can do this using Scrabble tiles (without the board), letter cards, or plastic letters from a teacher supply store. If your learner is a tactile learner, manipulating the letters with her hands on a table will help her take in, process and remember the skills she’s practicing. Hands on activities are always a great way to reinforce the learning that’s happening visually and auditorily. Click on the second Resource below for a text example of using letter cards with your learner, or click on the third Resource to see a video example.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student practice the phonemic awareness task of Phoneme Blending: listening to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word (Part 4 of 6 parts).

Phonemic Awareness: How can I help my learner break down words into individual sounds?

This is an image of two dark-haired women sitting at a desk in front of a chalkboard highlighting a book

Your learner has particular trouble with the task of phoneme segmentation or breaking a word into its individual sounds . This is done by tapping out or counting the sounds or by pronouncing and positioning a marker for each sound. Your learner may have trouble telling you how many sounds are in the word put. She perceives the word put as a whole, but doesn’t perceive that the individual sounds that put is made from are /p/ /u/ /t/. The ability to break down words into individual sounds is an important aspect of phonemic awareness that is required for using phonics to decode words.

The best way to help your learner learn to break down the different sounds that make up a word is to use structured phonemic awareness/phonics materials recommended by your program. However, you can also create your own activities to practice this skill. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phoneme segmentation. You don’t need to label any phonemic awareness activities. You can just tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to identify and spell words.

This is an image of two women, one elderly, at a kitchen table working on an assignment

Phonemic awareness practice was traditionally done using only the letter sounds. In other words, you can actually do phonemic awareness activities in the dark because your learner only needs to perceive and manipulate the sounds you’re practicing rather than associating them with the letters that represent the sounds. Some published programs use colored blocks to represent sounds that are the same and different in a word. You can create your own system that uses colors to represent sounds. Click on the first Resource below for an example of using colors for sound representation.

New research tells us that it can also be effective to teach phonemic awareness using letters to reinforce the relationship between the letter names and the sounds they make. You can do this using Scrabble tiles (without the board), letter cards, or plastic letters from a teacher supply store. If your learner is a tactile learner, manipulating the letters with her hands on a table will help her take in, process and remember the skills she’s practicing. Hands on activities are always a great way to reinforce the learning that’s happening visually and auditorily. Click on the second Resource below for a text example of using letter cards with your learner, or click on the third Resource to see a video example.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student practice the phonemic awareness task of Phoneme Segmentation: breaking a word into its sounds by tapping out or counting the sounds, or by pronouncing and positioning a marker for each sound (Part 5 of 6).

Phonemic Awareness: When a sound is removed from a word, how can I help my learner tell me what sound combinations remain?

This is an image of two older women with short hair sitting at a table looking over papers

Your learner has particular trouble with the task of phoneme deletion or recognizing what word, syllable or sound combination remains when a specified sound is removed. For example, she may have difficulty knowing that when the /s/ sound is removed from the word stake that the word remaining is take. She perceives both words as a whole but doesn’t perceive the individual sounds they’re made from. The ability to manipulate sounds by removing and adding letters to create new words, syllables or sound combinations is an important aspect of phonemic awareness that is required for using phonics to decode words.

The best way to help your learner know what word, syllable or sound combination remains when a sound is removed from a word is to use structured phonemic awareness/phonics materials recommended by your program. However, you can also create your own activities to practice this skill. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phoneme deletion, or label any phonemic awareness activities. You can tell her that you’re doing fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to identify and spell words.

This is an image of a blonde woman and a dark-haired woman sitting at a table in a library over a book

Phonemic awareness practice was traditionally done using only the letter sounds. In other words, you can actually do phonemic awareness activities in the dark because your learner only needs to perceive and manipulate the sounds you’re practicing rather than associating them with the letters that represent the sounds. Some published programs use colored blocks to represent sounds that are the same and different in a word. You can create your own system that uses colors to represent sounds. Click on the first Resource below for an example of using colors for sound representation.

New research tells us that it can also be effective to teach phonemic awareness using letters to reinforce the relationship between the letter names and the sounds they make. You can do this using Scrabble tiles (without the board), letter cards, or plastic letters from a teacher supply store. If your learner is a tactile learner, manipulating the letters with her hands on a table will help her take in, process and remember the skills she’s practicing. Hands on activities are always a great way to reinforce the learning that’s happening visually and auditorily. Click on the second Resource below for a text example of using letter cards with your learner, or click on the third Resource to see a video example.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor and student practice the phonemic awareness task of Phoneme Deletion: recognizing what sound combinations remain when a sound is removed from a word (Part 6 of 6 parts).

Phonemic Awareness: How can I expand my knowledge?

If you'd like to learn more about tutoring phonemic awareness, there are several options for expanding your knowledge:

Read Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers by Susan McShane, available for free in PDF format by clicking here.
Take LINCS' free, self-paced online course called Teaching Adults to Read: Alphabetics available from your My Home page here in the LINCS Learner Web site. If you're interested in taking this course, make sure you have answered yes to the question about Teaching Adults to Read in your [Profile].
Participate in ongoing, topic-specific discussions with adult education practitioners and leaders by joining the LINCS Community of Practice
for Reading and Writing. Here, you can join groups of interest, access
high-quality resources, and learn about upcoming events in the field.

Decoding: Read Me First

Because English uses letters to represent the sounds in spoken words, our written language is a code. Beginning readers must learn to break this code by matching letters with the sounds they represent. Without this ability, readers must memorize thousands of words by sight in order to read even fairly simple adult texts. This is very inefficient and frustrating for adult new readers.

Decoding is a word identification skill that allows readers to use the relationship between letters and sounds to recognize words in print. Learners can use decoding skills to identify words when they read and to guess at the spelling of words when they write.

Decoding skills don’t work alone. They support other language-related processes at work in reading. Good readers use spelling, sound, meaning and context clues in the process of identifying words.

Decoding skills are a critical component of reading that must be mastered in order for the other three components of reading—Vocabulary, Fluency and Reading Comprehension—to function successfully. Readers must be able to identify words independently and rapidly in order to read fluently enough to read with understanding. Readers must have adequate decoding skills to be able to do this.

Most adult new readers have limited strategies for identifying words not already in their sight vocabularies- words they can identify when they see them. Many native English-speaking adult readers already know the meaning of many words in the texts they’re reading. Once they can efficiently recognize those words in print, they can understand what they read.

Phonics is a highly recommended strategy for teaching decoding that enables beginning readers to read words independently and accurately so they can focus on understanding what they read rather than on struggling to identify every word.

Decoding: Phonics Tutoring Tips

When you’re working with your learner on decoding and phonics, keep these important tips in mind:

Be sure that your learner’s decoding and phonics skills have been assessed if she's having trouble sounding out or recognizing words when she reads or spelling words when she writes.
Teach decoding skills using direct, explicit, systematic phonics instruction that is matched to the skills your learner needs to improve.
It is highly recommended that you use a structured phonics curriculum to develop your learner’s decoding skills. These curricula are designed by reading experts to help your learner build her skills from basic to complex over time.
If you develop your own phonics lessons, be sure they start with lots of practice of basic concepts and skills and build towards more complex activities over time.
Focus on 1 or 2 types of phonics tasks at a time. Practicing more can be overwhelming and confusing for a learner.
Provide abundant opportunities for your learner to practice phonics skills.

When practicing phonics activities, it’s important not to add vowel sounds when pronouncing consonant sounds (it’s a crisp /b/ sound rather than buh when you’re saying the first sound in bake). This natural inclination can be a really hard habit to break but it’s essential. Otherwise, it’s very confusing for learners who have difficulty perceiving and manipulating sounds.
Spend only 15 to 20 minutes on phonics activities during your sessions. This kind of activity is cognitively challenging and can be very tiring.
It’s important to work on phonics so your learner can learn the foundational skills of decoding, but she also needs to do some meaningful reading and other practice that meet her immediate needs. Practicing decoding skills and phonics instruction should only be one piece of a reading lesson.
Teach decoding skills using phonics instruction in combination with other reading skills that help your learner develop her fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills. This can reinforce your learner’s decoding skills and build her overall reading ability.
Practice phonics activities when and for as long as necessary for your learner to be able to decode a variety of sounds so automatically that she doesn’t have to think about it. Once your learner can easily and routinely sound out words of all levels of complexity while reading and spelling, you can stop working on these tasks.

Click on the Resource below for a sampling of phonics rules.

A Sampling of Phonics Rules

Decoding: How can I know if my learner needs to improve her decoding skills?

Low-level readers need to learn to recognize and use letter sounds and common spelling patterns. They need to be able to use decoding as a tool for recognizing/decoding words whose meanings they already know. Has your learner ever asked you to pronounce a word she couldn’t read and upon hearing the word said something like this? “Oh! I know that word! I just didn’t know what the word looks like!” An experience like that is a good indication that a learner needs to improve her decoding skills.

Low-level readers also use decoding skills to guess the pronunciation of words whose meanings they don’t know, but they don’t come across these words very frequently because they’re usually reading simple texts. If your learner has trouble pronouncing words she doesn’t know the meaning of, because she can’t sound the word out, she could probably benefit from working on improving her decoding skills.

This is an image of a woman and a man sitting at a table looking over a grammar book

Many adults who are low-level readers need to develop or improve their decoding skills. Your learner may need to work on decoding if she has difficulty with any of the following tasks:

remembering the sound vowels and consonants make
rhyming words
sounding words out
identifying and pronouncing words accurately when she reads
recognizing words she knows the meaning of when she reads
reading fluently (accurately, quickly and with good phrasing and expression)
understanding what she reads
reading and writing multisyllabic words
spelling one syllable words

If your learner has trouble with any of these activities, ask your program to assess her specifically for word recognition/decoding skills. If this wasn’t done during the initial assessment, it can be done fairly easily using orally, individually administered tests that ask learners to identify words or pseudo-words presented in isolation. Tests include samples of words with several vowel or consonant sounds, consonant digraphs, common rimes, and multi-syllabic words (at higher levels).

Decoding: How can I start teaching my learner decoding skills?

This is an image of a sitting red-haired woman and a gray-haired woman standing over her while they both look at a book on the table

Direct, explicit, systematic phonics instruction is recommended as a very effective way to teach decoding skills. In direct, explicit, systematic phonics instruction, a tutor would spend about 15-20 minutes of a lesson focusing only on helping a learner identify and manipulate sounds and letters in a variety of ways. The tutor would teach a learner letter-sound relationships and common word patterns in a logical sequence that starts with basic skills (such as the sounds of single consonants and vowels) and builds towards more complex skills (such as vowel combinations, consonant blends and digraphs, and word patterns such as at, ig, and ob) with lots of practice over time.

As the learner masters basic concepts, the tutor gradually increases the complexity of the concepts and skills until her decoding skills become automatic. This method is much more effective than the incidental approach many tutors take to working on phonics with their learners. It’s simply not enough to just touch upon phonics as part of other lessons as unfamiliar words come up that can be sounded out.

In order for most students to learn decoding skills well enough for them to become automatic, they need to be taught phonics explicitly, directly, and systematically. Several different strategies are recommended and, in many cases, a tutor can use one or more of these approaches, sometimes in combination. While none is considered to be the most effective, a method called synthetic phonics is the most commonly used technique. This approach helps learners practice phoneme blending. This is what we do when we read. In synthetic phonics, a tutor would teach a learner the letter-sound correspondences and then ask her to blend the sounds to identify words. For example, you would sound out the letters that form the word dog and ask:

“What word does /d/ /o/ /g/ make?”

Your learner would answer: "dog"

To learn more about phoneme blending, click [41152][here]. This will take you to the Phonemic Awareness section of the Alphabetics component. Once there, if you want to get back to this page click Goal then click on Decoding to see the list of steps.
Click on the Resources below to learn more about direct, explicit, systematic phonics instruction.

Decoding: How can I help my learner use the relationships between letters and sounds to help her read better?

The ability to blend individual sounds together to identify words is an important decoding skill that is required to read words. You can help your learner put sounds together to make a word by teaching her using a method called synthetic phonics. In synthetic phonics, you teach your learner the letter-sound correspondences and then ask her to blend the sounds to identify words. For example, you would point to and sound out the letters that form the word cat and ask:

What word does /c/ /a/ /t/ make?

Your learner would answer: "cat"

The best way to help your learner learn to blend individual sounds together to identify words is to use structured phonics materials recommended by your program. These are materials that have been designed very carefully to make sure to introduce phonics concepts and skills in a manner and order that builds slowly and logically from simple to complex. They teach sounds, syllables and words in isolation and in relationship to each other. They provide plentiful amounts of practice using a variety of thoughtfully designed activities that gradually increase in difficulty and help learners understand, remember and use the letter-sound correspondence.

It can be challenging to develop phonics activities that are comprehensive. Make sure to introduce your learner to advanced skills only after she’s had the opportunity to practice fundamental skills repeatedly over time. However, you can create your own activities to practice phonics skills like synthetic phonics. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on synthetic phonics or label any of the activities you practice. You can tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to recognize and read words.

Click on the first Resource below for a text example of how to practice synthetic phonics with a low-level learner.

Click on the second Resource below for a text example of how to practice synthetic phonics with words that have common letters and sounds with a low-level learner.

Click on the third Resource below to read about a multisensory approach to teaching synthetic phonics.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student practice a decoding strategy, Synthetic Phonics. The tutor first teaches the sounds different letters make; then the student practices blending those sounds together to read a word (Part 1 of 6 parts).

Decoding: How can I help my learner analyze the letters and sounds in a word to help her read and spell better?

This is an image of three people, two men and one woman, sitting around a table looking at a paper

The ability to analyze the letters and sounds in a word is an important decoding skill that is required to read and spell words. You can help your learner look at a word as a whole and then identify the letters and sounds that form it by teaching her using a method called analytic phonics. Analytic phonics is the opposite of synthetic phonics, the method in which you teach your learner the letter-sound correspondences and then ask her to blend the sounds to identify words. In analytic phonics, learners say the word first and then identify the letters that form it. They don’t pronounce the sounds in isolation. They analyze the sounds in a word that is already identified. For example, you would point to the word cat and ask:

"What sounds do you hear in the word cat?"

Your learner would answer: /k/ /a/ /t/

The best way to help your learner read and spell better by analyzing the letters and sounds in a word is to use structured phonics materials recommended by your program. These are materials that have been designed very carefully to make sure to introduce phonics concepts and skills in a manner and order that builds slowly and logically from simple to complex. They teach sounds, syllables and words in isolation and in relationship to each other. They provide plentiful amounts of practice using a variety of thoughtfully designed activities that help learners understand, remember and use the letter-sound correspondence.

It can be challenging to develop phonics activities that are comprehensive and that make sure to introduce your learner to advanced skills only after she’s had the opportunity to practice more fundamental skills repeatedly over time. However, you can create your own activities to practice phonics skills like analytic phonics. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on analytic phonics or label any of the activities you do to practice this skill. You can just tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to recognize and read words.

Click on the first Resource below for a text example of how to practice analytic phonics with a low-level learner.

Click on the second Resource below for a text example of how to practice analytic phonics with words containing common letters and sounds with a low-level learner.

Click on the third Resource below to read about a multisensory approach to teaching Analytic Phonics.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student practice a decoding strategy called Analytic Phonics. With this approach, learners analyze the sounds that make up a word that is already identified (Part 2 of 6 parts).

Decoding: How can I teach my learner decoding skills using word patterns or families?

The ability to recognize patterns of letters and sounds in a word is an important decoding skill that is required to read and spell words. You can help your learner use parts of words she already knows to identify unfamiliar words with the same word pattern or family by teaching her using a method called phonics by analogy. In phonics by analogy, your learner identifies or learns new words by rhyming them with the part of the word she knows.

Many tutors and learners who practice phonics use the phonics by analogy approach but they don’t know that’s what it’s called. Basically, this approach can be done best by doing lots of fun rhyming word play with words that have the same rime*. You just choose a particular word pattern or family like (an, at, ed, in, ot, un, etc.) and add different consonants (onsets) in front of it to make different words or syllables.

Click on this Resource to see an example of common rimes or word patterns or families.

*A rime is the part of a syllable that consists of its vowel and any consonant sounds that come after it.

The best way to help your learner read and spell better by recognizing patterns of letters and sounds in a word is to use structured phonics materials recommended by your program and designed especially for adults. These materials have been designed very carefully to introduce phonics concepts and skills in a manner and order that builds gradually and logically from simple to complex. They teach sounds, syllables and words in isolation and in relationship to each other. They provide plentiful amounts of practice using a variety of thoughtfully designed activities that help learners understand, remember and use the letter-sound correspondence.

...

It can be challenging to develop phonics activities that are comprehensive and that make sure to introduce your learner to advanced skills only after she’s had the opportunity to practice more fundamental skills repeatedly over time. However, with good planning, you can create your own activities to practice phonics skills like phonics by analogy. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phonics by analogy or label any of the activities you do to practice this skill. You can just tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to recognize, read and spell words.

Click on the first Resource to learn more about recommended materials to use to teach phonics by analogy.

Click on the second Resource below for a text example of how to practice phonics by analogy with a low-level learner.

Click on the third Resource below for a text example of how to practice phonics by analogy using words with common letters and sounds with a low-level learner.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student practice a decoding strategy called Phonics by Analogy. The student uses parts of known words (word patterns) to identify unfamiliar words by analogy, or rhyming (Part 3 of 6 parts).

Decoding: How can I help my learner connect how words sound with how they're spelled?

The ability to understand the relationship between how words are spelled and how they're sounded out is an important decoding skill that is required for reading and writing. You can help your learner make this connection by teaching her using a method called phonics through spelling. In phonics through spelling, learners break a word into its sounds and then identify the corresponding letters to spell the word. This is done orally and represents a more complex phonics task that includes a three-step process. Students hear the word, identify the sounds that form it and then identify the letters that represent the sounds.

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For example, you would ask your learner:

What sounds do you hear in the word dog?

Your learner would answer:

/d/ /o/ /g/

You would then ask:

How do you spell the word dog?

Your learner would then answer:

d-o-g

You may find that your learner confuses the name of a letter with the sound it makes. This is the disadvantage of this approach to teaching phonics. It can be a bit confusing for learners who have trouble distinguishing between the names and sounds of letters. But if you make that distinction very clear when you’re using this approach it will help your learner solidify her decoding skills and help her clear up any confusion about the names of letters versus the sounds.

The best way to help teach your learner to connect how words sound with how they’re spelled is to use structured phonics materials recommended by your program and designed especially for adults. These materials have been designed very carefully to introduce phonics concepts and skills in a manner and order that builds gradually and logically from simple (e.g. single vowel and consonant letter-sound correspondence) to complex (e.g. vowel combinations, consonant blends and digraphs and multisyllabic words). They teach sounds, syllables and words in isolation and in relationship to each other. They provide plentiful amounts of practice using a variety of thoughtfully designed activities that help learners understand, remember and use the letter-sound correspondence.

....

It can be challenging to develop phonics activities that are comprehensive and that make sure to introduce your learner to advanced skills only after she’s had the opportunity to practice more fundamental skills repeatedly over time. However, with good planning, you can create your own activities to practice phonics skills like phonics through spelling. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phonics through spelling or label any of the activities you do to practice this skill. You can just tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to recognize, read and spell words.

Click on the first Resource below for a text example of how to practice phonics through spelling with a low-level learner.

Click on the second Resource below for a text example of how to practice phonics through spelling using words with common letters and sounds with a low-level learner.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student practice a decoding strategy called Phonics Through Spelling. The student will break a word into its sounds and then identify the corresponding letters to spell the word (Part 4 of 6 parts).

Decoding: How can I help my learner improve her decoding skills as she's reading a text?

The ability to sound out words while reading is an important decoding skill that is required for fluent and accurate reading. You can help your learner identify unfamiliar words as she’s reading by teaching her using a method called phonics in context. In phonics in context, learners sound out words while reading and then use the rest of the sentence to determine what the word is. Learners are taught to use both letter-sound correspondences and context clues to identify unfamiliar words.

.........

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For example, your learner might read the sentence

The dog has a collar with a tag on it.

as

The dog has a color with a tag on it.

After first reading the word collar incorrectly as color, your learner might self-correct using context clues after realizing that color doesn’t make sense in the sentence but that collar, a similar word she knows the meaning of, does.

In some cases, you might need to tell your learner that the word doesn’t make sense as she pronounced it because she may be used to reading without understanding what she reads.

The best way to help your learner learn to sound out words as she reads texts is to use structured phonics materials recommended by your program and designed especially for adults. These materials have been designed very carefully to introduce phonics concepts and skills in a manner and order that builds gradually and logically from simple (e.g. single vowel and consonant letter-sound correspondence) to complex (e.g. vowel combinations, consonant blends and digraphs and multisyllabic words). They teach sounds, syllables and words in isolation and in relationship to each other. They provide plentiful amounts of practice using a variety of thoughtfully designed activities that help learners understand, remember and use the letter-sound correspondence. Structured phonics curricula use controlled vocabulary texts to help learners practice using phonics to decode words in context while they’re reading sentences and paragraphs. These texts provide instructions for how to help learners use phonics to identify words they can’t recognize in the sentences they’re reading. For more information on controlled vocabulary texts, click [41168][here].

It can be challenging to develop phonics activities that are comprehensive and that make sure to introduce your learner to advanced skills only after she’s had the opportunity to practice more fundamental skills repeatedly over time. However, with good planning, you can create your own activities to practice phonics skills like phonics in context. There’s no need to tell your learner that you’re working on phonics in context or label any of the activities you do to practice this skill. You can just tell your learner that you’re going to do some fun sound and word play that will help her when she uses phonics to recognize and read words..

Click on the first Resource below for a text example of how to practice phonics in context with a low-level learner.

Click on the second Resource below to see a video example of a learner and tutor practicing phonics in context.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor and student practice an alphabetics strategy called Phonics in Context. The tutor teaches the student to use both letter-sound correspondences and context clues to identify unfamiliar words (Part 5 of 6 parts).

Teaching Phonics in Context Example

Decoding: How can I help my learner practice her decoding skills so they become more automatic?

No matter which approach to systematic phonics instruction you take and which sequence you follow, practice is the most effective way to help your learner master all levels of decoding skills so they become so automatic she doesn’t have to think about them when she’s reading or spelling. It takes immediate and plentiful practice to get decoding skills and knowledge into your learner’s long-term memory and enable her to apply what she’s learned rapidly and automatically.

One way to practice is for your learner to read and re-read words on lists and flashcards. If your learner is a tactile or kinesthetic learner, flashcards are preferable because they allow your learner to touch and move the cards while also seeing and hearing what’s written on them. The more senses your learner can engage when learning, the more likely she is to remember the concepts and skills she’s working on. Your learner may read on her own or aloud with you or a partner, noting the words or sounds she knows and ones she needs to work on.

This is an image of two dark haired women sitting in a library looking at a book together

Click on first Resource to watch a tutor and learner demonstrating using word lists and flashcards as part of phonics instruction.

Click on the second Resource to read a description of a sample phonics activity on initial r-blends from page 45 of Susan McShane’s book Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults. Click on the third Resource to watch a video of a tutor and learner demonstrating an adaptation of this sample activity.

You might want to practice teaching the sample activity on initial r-blends. Begin by reviewing and preparing the lesson and materials you’ll need to roleplay the activity. You’ll need to find a partner (who isn’t your learner) to play the learner as you practice the exercise.

Note: Most learners are able to improve their decoding skills with rigorous and sustained practice in direct, explicit, systematic phonics instruction. However, adults with extremely limited decoding skills who don’t seem to be making progress despite a great deal of time and effort dedicated to the task may need to be assessed and taught by someone who’s been trained in a program especially designed for such students. These highly structured programs can be effective in teaching people who have learning disabilities as well as those with particularly challenging issues with decoding, such as learners who lack phonemic awareness. If your learner doesn’t make the progress you’d expect her to after a significant amount of direct, explicit, systematic phonics instruction over time, contact your program and ask them for guidance.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEO

Watch a tutor teach a student multi-sensory strategies to practice decoding skills. They use flash cards to reinforce word patterns and practice sight word recognition. They practice reading those same words in a controlled vocabulary text. They search for the words in the text, highlight them, and then create sentences with the words (Part 2 of 2 parts).

Decoding: Are there any other strategies for helping my learner decode words she doesn't know?

In addition to systematic phonics instruction, you can teach your learner a problem-solving strategy for decoding words she doesn’t recognize when she’s reading. This approach is a four-step process that can help your learner identify an unknown word when she reads it in a sentence.

Step 1: Try to sound the word out from left to right.
Do you recognize the word? Does it make sense in the sentence?
If yes, go on reading the sentence.
If no, go to Step 2.

Step 2: If it doesn’t make sense, try a different vowel sound (a long i instead of a short I, for instance) or look for a *rime or syllable you recognize (e.g., ack, ing or tion). Then put the parts together and try again.
Do you recognize the word? Does it make sense in the sentence?
If yes, go on reading the sentence.
If no, go to Step 3

Step 3: If it doesn’t make sense, read to the end of the sentence again and think of a word that would makes sense.
Does this word match some of the letter sounds?
If yes, go on reading the sentence, but make a note to check on the word later.
If no, go to Step 4

Step 4: If it still doesn’t make sense, ask someone for help.

*A rime is the part of a syllable that consists of its vowel and any consonant sounds that come after it.

Research recommends that you teach your learner strategies like this Problem-solving strategy so they become part of her reading skills toolkit. The goal is for her to be able to use a variety of strategies flexibly, reliably and independently, and to become so skilled at using them that she does so automatically.

Teaching strategies like this Problem-solving strategy requires a substantial amount of modeling by you and a lot of practice by your learner. You need to provide your learner with immediate, positive and constructive feedback and support as well as opportunities to practice with decreasing support from you. One approach to this teaching/learning process is called I do, We do, You do.

This image is a woman tutoring another woman

Click on the resource to learn more about using the I do, We do, You do approach to teach your learner new strategies.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor and student practice a step-by-step decoding strategy to learn how to decode words the student doesn't recognize when she sees them in a sentence (Part 1 of 2 parts).

Watch them evaluate the strategy, talking about what worked and how the student can use what she learned (Part 2 of 2 parts).

I do, We do, You do

Decoding: What kind of texts should I use to help my learner practice her decoding skills?

This is an image of someone holding up an open book against a coastal skyline

Finding appropriate texts to use to read during systematic phonics instruction can be challenging since tutors need to make sure to introduce the most basic foundational concepts and skills before more advanced concepts and skills so learners can build on their successes. Phonics-based textbook series and other packaged programs can provide structure for tutors and their learners and simplify decisions about content scope and sequence.

Most structured phonics curricula include stories that provide plenty of practice with the specific decoding skills they’re teaching. These stories are called controlled-vocabulary texts. These texts are carefully developed to include many occurrences of words that reinforce previously taught skills. They include no unfamiliar words that the learners haven’t practiced decoding. These texts move learners from learning to decode isolated words to helping them practice identifying and sounding out these words in context.

Since most readers don’t read words in isolation outside their tutorials, even low-level readers need practice reading words in context. The most efficient and effective way to do this is to use controlled-vocabulary texts. Your learner will experience more success reading a text comprised of words she’s previously studied than texts that have many words she hasn’t had the opportunity to learn.

This is an image of an open book that has been zoomed in on. There are fingers touching the pages and the words are in English

You can use the controlled vocabulary texts in a structured phonics curriculum or basal reading series from your program to help your learner practice her decoding skills in context. You can also compose simple texts yourself or make a list of decodable words from your phonics lessons and ask your learner to create sentences and stories using them. In many ways, this is the best way to help your learner practicing decoding skills in context because you can decide on topics and storylines that will be interesting and relevant to your learner.

Simple, controlled-vocabulary texts may seem childish but if you show that you respect your learner as an adult, provide her with privacy when you’re using these texts (if necessary), show that you’re sensitive to her individual reading goals, and explain the connection between the texts and these goals, your learner will most likely enjoy using these texts. Low-level readers know they need help and are usually willing to do what it takes to become more proficient readers.

Your learner needs to experience success so she can feel confident about her ability to learn. Controlled-vocabulary texts increase the likelihood that she’ll read accurately-perhaps for the first time in her life. As your learner gains more phonics knowledge and increases her sight word bank, she can read more interesting and relevant real-life materials. As long as she can feel successful and see progress, your learner is likely to accept the controlled-vocabulary materials you use. However, you want to be sure to encourage your learner to read as widely as possible to meet her individual needs and goals so, in addition to controlled-vocabulary materials, use authentic materials related to her individual goals, needs and interests in your lessons.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor and student practice an alphabetics strategy called Phonics in Context. The tutor teaches the student to use both letter-sound correspondences and context clues to identify unfamiliar words (Part 5 of 6 parts).

A tutor teaches a student multi-sensory strategies to practice decoding skills. They use flash cards to reinforce word patterns and practice sight word recognition. They practice reading those same words in a controlled vocabulary text. They search for the words in the text, highlight them, and then create sentences with the words (Part 2 of 2 parts).

Controlled-Vocabulary Texts Video

Decoding: How can I help my low-level learner with her immediate reading and writing needs?

What if your learner has very low-level skills and needs a lot of decoding and phonics practice to gain the basic decoding skills she needs to read and write in her personal, family, community and work life?

It can take a fairly long time for low-level learners, especially those with learning disabilities, to master the full range of decoding skills required for efficient reading and spelling. While gaining these skills, it’s likely that your learner will be faced with real-life, immediate needs and goals that involve reading and writing. Here are some ways to address those needs at the same time as you’re teaching decoding and phonics skills:

Read material aloud to your learner
Write down your learner’s dictated ideas and have her copy or type them up
Record material for your learner to study independently
Show your learner how to use computer-based text readers
Read interesting, relevant stories, articles and real life materials
Teach high-frequency sight words to help your learner read when she’s on her own

This is an image of a woman with light long hair and a woman with dark curly hair sitting and looking at a book on the table

Learning sight words can help your learner gain access to print she can’t read independently and help her identify words that can’t be decoded phonetically. The concern in teaching words by sight is that adults who have struggled with reading have often relied too much on their sight memories and you don’t want to reinforce what may have become a bad habit of “guessing” based on the appearance of a word. Instead you want to help your learner build more efficient decoding strategies, using phonics and other clues. Sight word instruction can be taught alongside phonics since one of the goals in helping your learner read accurately and rapidly is to increase the bank of words she recognizes by sight as much as possible.

Click on the first Resource below to see a chart of the 100 most frequently used words in the English language. You can use this list for lessons on sight words.

Click on the second Resource to read more about meeting your learner's immediate needs in Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults.

DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

Watch a tutor teach a student multi-sensory strategies to learn frequently used sight words (Part 1 of 2 parts).

A tutor and student practice working with sight words in multiple ways (Part 2 of 2 parts).

A tutor teaches a student how to learn sight words found in an important text from a learner’s life.

Decoding: How can I expand my knowledge?

If you'd like to learn more about tutoring phonics, there are several options for expanding your knowledge:

Read Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults: First Steps for Teachers by Susan McShane, available for free in PDF format by clicking here.

Take LINCS' free, self-paced online course called Teaching Adults to Read: Alphabetics available from your My Home page here in the LINCS Learner Web site. If you're interested in taking this course, make sure you have answered yes to the question about Teaching Adults to Read in your [Profile].

Participate in ongoing, topic-specific discussions with adult education practitioners and leaders by joining the LINCS Community of Practice
for Reading and Writing. Here, you can join groups of interest, access
high-quality resources, and learn about upcoming events in the field.

Tutor Ready Reading - Alphabetics

Phonemic Awareness

Decoding