If we look at explicit phonics instruction as a recipe, the main ingredient is teaching students to deploy the phonics skills they are learning to decode and encode the entire word. Below are three ...

Phonics instruction has been a major point of contention in the decades-long "reading wars" — shorthand in education circles for the debate over the best way to teach children to read.

First grader Geniss Gibbs practices reading skills at Eastern Elementary School in Washington, N.C., on May 23, 2022. Although districts are choosing new curricula purportedly aligned with ...

1. Teaching phonics is great and absolutely necessary, but beware of non-phonetic words such as those spelled with “ough” (tough, bough, ought, through, though). 2.

In JCPS' current approach, students don't receive isolated phonics instruction. Instead, teachers may work with students on phonics skills as they come up in books they're reading.

Phonics gained widespread status as an essential component of reading instruction. The debate, however, pivoted to how much phonics instruction was necessary to develop strong readers.