Reading 101

Important Phonetics Principles

Learning Objectives

To understand the key rules behind letter sounds To apply these rules in spelling and reading

Introduction You have learnt that a good awareness of letter

sounds will help you in spelling. Called Phonemic Awareness, it will help you

when you're converting sound to text. Recall that you've studied about Consonant

Blends, Digraphs and Trigraphs in the earlier lesson.

They show you that NOT all letters that represent phonemes are single letters.

Digraphs, Trigraphs & Blends1) Ch2) Ck3) Ff4) Sh5) Wh6) Dge7) Bl Q: Can you think of some words that have these

digraphs, trigraphs and blends?

Phonetics With Phonemic Awareness, you now move on to

study how phonemes come together. When they come together, you form syllables and

words. For example, 1) 'Phone' - /ph/ + /o/ + /ne/ NOT:2) 'Phone' - /p/ + /h/ + /on/ + /e/ (sounds wrong!) This study is called Phonetics. Note: Like ratio or mental algebra is the method

and Mathematics is the study, Phonics is the teaching method while Phonetics is the study.

Lack of Phonetics KnowledgeMisspellings will occur when your phonetics

knowledge is not strong: 1) phone as fone or school as skool? 2) class as crass?3) cone as con?4) sir as ser?5) achieve as achiv?6) city as sity or gym as jym? Q: Why do you think these misspellings occur?

Phonetics Principles Phonetics guide us in giving us principles

when spelling. This means that we can be more confident

when we are spelling. We will look at 5 Phonetics Principles.

#1 Silent 'e'Silent 'e' is present when: It is in the same syllable with another vowel. It is after another vowel. 1) man – mane 2) kit – kite 3) not – note 4) cut – cute Q: Refer to your Learning Guide Pg12. Can you

spot the silent 'e' phonemes (It looks like: a-e)?

#2 R-controlled soundR-controlled sound is present when: a digraph has the consonant 'r' at the end.1) Sir 2) Teacher 3) Collar 4) Fur5) Sailor Q: Refer to your Learning Guide Pg12. Can you

see 2 groups of r-controlled sounds? Why?

#3 Vowels are not good neighboursWhen vowels come together, the first vowel is

called its name and the other disappears. 1) Tree 2) Snail 3) Boat 4) Tie(true for all vowels except 'u') Q: Refer to your Learning Guide Pg11 to spot

these words. What colours represent them? Why?

#4 C as /s/ or /k/ sound

'C' is /s/ sound when: It is with 'e', 'i' or 'y'ceiling, city, cyst 'C' is /k/ sound when: It is with 'a' , 'o' or 'u' cave, cottage, cutQ: Can you come up with some examples

yourself?

#5 G as /g/ or /j/ sound'G' is usually /j/ sound when: It is with 'e', 'i' or 'y'gem, gin, gym'G' is usually /g/ sound when: It is with 'a' , 'o' or 'u' gate, got, gutQ: Can you come up with some examples

yourself?

Learning ActivitySay which Phonetics principle lies behind these

spelling choices: 1) coke 2) litter 3) success 4) force 5) create 6) gonerHint: Some may have more than one principle.

Learning Activity (Suggested Ans)Say which Phonetics principle lies behind these

spelling choices: 1) coke – silent 'e' 2) litter – digraph, r-controlled sound3) success – digraphs, c as /s/ sound4) force – silent e, c as /s/ sound5) create – blend, silent 'e'6) goner – g as /g/ sound, r-controlled sound

Discussion

What is Phonetics?Why is it important in spelling and reading?Write down as many phonetics principles as you

can remember.

In summary

Phonetics is the study of how letter sounds or phonemes come together.

It is important as it provides us with principles in making the correct spelling choices.

Some of the important principles are: Digraphs, Trigraphs, Blends, Silent 'e', r-controlled

sound and /c/ and /g/ with different sounds.