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Many parents may be asking the question, Why is Teaching Phonics Important to My Child? Good question. Before introducing any learning method to your child you as parents should first understand the benefits that phonics instruction can provide for your child. You also may have other questions such as:

• What does research show as the advantages of teaching phonics?

• How will using phonics help my child learn to read?

• What can I do as a parent to employ the use of the phonics method?

Knowing the answers to these questions will give you the knowledge you need of the best ways to teach your child to read. First let’s discuss the questions about what research has shown as the advantages of teaching phonics and how using phonics will help your child learn to read.

Research On the Importance of Teaching Phonics to Your Child

The following information was taken directly from the National Reading Panel Report Findings. To help you better understand what the Panel Report covered let me first give you what they have listed as the Key Definitions:

Phonological Awareness – is a broad term that includes phonemic awareness. In addition to phonemes, phonological awareness activities can involve work with rhymes, words, syllables, and onsets and rimes.

Phonemic awareness – is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds – phonemes –in words.

Phonics – is the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written language).

Breaking things down for you the National Reading Panel Report Findings have come to the following conclusions:

Phonemic Awareness

• Phonemic awareness instruction is more effective when students are taught to use letters to manipulate phonemes.
• Explicit phonemic awareness instruction helps beginning readers and those having reading difficulties.
• Explicit phonemic awareness instruction helps preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders learn to spell.

Phonics

• Phonics instruction improves word reading skills and text comprehension, especially for kindergartners, first graders, and older struggling readers.
• Explicit, systematic phonics instruction is significantly more effective than alternative programs providing nonsystematic or no phonics instruction.
• Explicit phonics instruction is significantly more effective than nonsystematic phonics instruction with children of different ages, abilities, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Why are Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Important?

Now that we have covered the background of helping you understand what the phonics method is all about let’s fully answer your questions on how teaching phonics will help your child learn to read.

National Reading Panel Report Findings states that it is critical to “Provide instruction in ALL the essential elements of reading” which include Phonemic Awareness, Phonics as well as:

• Fluency – the ability to read text quickly and accurately
• Vocabulary – words known and used correctly when speaking, listening and writing
• Text Comprehension – understanding of main ideas

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Instruction will improve your child’s word reading, reading comprehension, and will help your child learn to spell. It is also important to note that phonics instruction is most effective when it begins early before a child enters kindergarten or first grade.

What Can Parents do to Teach Phonics?

Now that you know how crucial it is for your child to learn phonics at an early age I know your most burning question is what can I do as a parent to teach phonics to my child, right? Well let me put your mind at ease.

There is a lot of information and resources that are made available to concerned parents. There are government websites that give parents materials that they can use to support teaching phonics to your child. Preschool software programs can also be beneficial in helping your child learn to read.

The most important aspect is parental involvement. Finding reading tips that you can use on a daily basis to promote learning phonics is critical to helping your child become a good reader.

These are the facts of the importance of phonics. There has been research done for decades to find the most important factors to helping a child learn to read. This is only a small sample of research done on phonics; there are many more reports on this subject. I wanted to make you aware of the research and the importance phonics has on teaching your child to read. The earlier you can start your child’s education at home the easier it will be for them when they enter school.