Why is It Important to Learn Phonics at a Young Age? Article

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Why is It Important to Learn Phonics at a Young Age?

Feb 5, 2018 | 1 Votes

by Aethyna 10 rate Many parents regard phonics as something that’s optional, but reading experts have proven that learning phonics can help a lot when children are learning to read. Games Educate Kids - Why is It Important to Learn Phonics at a Young Age?

Games Educate Kids - Why is It Important to Learn Phonics at a Young Age?

If you have perused an English dictionary in your life, you probably have noticed the odd letters written below every word like huː,hʊ (Who) or wəːd (Word). These odd letters are called “phonics” and they make up how a word is sounded. To some, phonics is basically a separate language with its own letters and hence, unless they want to learn “another language”, this is something that’s entirely optional. However, according to experts, learning phonics can be incredibly helpful especially for kids who are just learning the English language.

What is Phonics?

First of all, what is “phonics”? It’s not simply the sounds of each letter of the alphabet as most may think; it is also the relationship between these letters and how they can be combined to form words. So, for instance, if you know the phonics for c, u and p, then you will be able to properly pronounce the word “cup” since it is basically these 3 letters combined together. This is a very simple example though. There are plenty of words that may be confusing to a young child who is learning their first language, especially for words that are spelled the same but are enunciated differently to express different meanings or when used in different contexts.

Why is It Important?

According to reading experts, learning phonics can be a huge advantage for kids. It will help them speed up the process of learning to read, in addition to ensuring that they know the proper enunciation for each word they learn. This, in turn, can ensure that in the future, when they speak, they will be able to properly say the words they want to.

Considering that for a sizeable part of the English language where the enunciation of a certain letter or group of letters is enunciated differently under different situations, phonics can come in handy when it comes to differentiating the enunciation of these words as well. For instance, the “c” letter can make the “k” sound and also the “s” sound despite being a “c”.

Some kids have difficulty enunciating groups of letters like the “th” sound too. Learning phonics will help them overcome that difficulty.

Children who learned phonics are also known to have something called “phonemic awareness”. This term basically means they will have the ability to differentiate and separate different sounds in a word.

How to Start Learning?

For kids, the best way to let them start learning about phonics is by reading to them aloud and making sure that they are listening. Even for infants or toddlers who at that point still generally speak gibberish, it’s good to read to them so they can listen. By listening, they can start grasping the foundations of phonics – the different sounds that each alphabet makes, and how they can be merged together to form a word.

Your Child Can Learn About Phonics at ABCmouse

To help your child grasp the foundations of phonics, ABCmouse uses various media that rhymes in its curriculum. This includes songs, nursery rhymes, other poems, and rhyming stories. By listening to and reciting/singing along with the songs, stories, and poems, your child will gain phonemic awareness which is a crucial step in learning phonics and eventually reading.There are books like Word Ending Sounds as well as games like First Letter in a Word and Last Letter in a Word.