Phonics instruction focuses on the letter-sound correspondences so that children learn that the three sounds of "cat" correspond to the three letters, c, a, and t. Knowing the relationships between written letters and spoken sounds helps children recognize familiar written words and decode new written words so they can apply their knowledge of the spoken words. While the English language contains many irregularly spelled words that don't follow the standard letter-sound correspondences, most of these words contain some regular letter-sound relationships, and knowledge of phonics supports children's memory for specific words.

Technology

Potential uses of technology to enhance phonics instruction include the ability to:

• provide tasks that involve students matching sounds and letters, and spoken and written words. In some cases, this simply involves adding letters and a written word component to phonemic awareness activities;
• provide immediate feedback to let students know whether their answers were correct, give them hints or additional chances, and provide correct answers;
• individualize problem sets and present stories to focus on the letter-sound correspondences and words that the student has not yet mastered;
• provide as many repetitions as necessary and alter the speed of speech to meet individual needs;
• provide game contexts, attractive visual presentations, and motivating speech, to engage and hold children's interest;
• provide reports for teachers' and children's progress and areas in which individual children need additional work;
• provide texts for children to read with scaffolds to support phonic skills---for example, software can enable a child to click on any word and hear the individual sounds of the word or the whole spoken word; and
• engage children in productive self-directed work on phonics while the teacher works directly with other children, thereby helping the teacher meet the individual needs of each student.