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Yet common phonics practices often miss key instructional targets, wasting time and limiting children’s word-reading development. The article examines seven phonics faux pas, focusing on issues such as ineffective pacing of phonics, insufficient attention to vocabulary and concept knowledge, and neglect of core print concepts like the alphabetic principle.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/phonics-faux-pas-avoiding-instructional-missteps-in-teaching-letter-sound-relationships/590691/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/phonics-faux-pas-avoiding-instructional-missteps-in-teaching-letter-sound-relationships/590691.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Stanley","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is explicit teaching of letter-sound relationships important in early reading?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Because letter-sound knowledge supports word-reading development, and missing or poorly delivered instruction reduces the number of children who develop strong word-reading skills.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What problem can occur when phonics instruction takes too little or too much time?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Too little time can delay children’s mastery of letter-sound knowledge, while too much time can leave insufficient room for other essential areas such as vocabulary and concept knowledge.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What is the alphabetic principle and why does it matter for learning to read?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It is the idea that visual symbols (letters) represent speech sounds (phonemes). Understanding it helps children connect what they learn about letters to how words are formed and read in print.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},590691,1793123775,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},2336477405376,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","LITERACY  \nPhonics Faux Pas  \nAvoiding Instructional Missteps in Teaching Letter-Sound Relationships  \nILLUSTRATIONS BY LIZA FLORES  \nBy Nell K. Duke and Heidi Anne E. Mesmer  \nThe need to explicitly teach letter-sound relationships in  \nU.S. classrooms is settled science.1 However, too often such  \ninstruction isnot provided in the most efficient or effective  \nway. These instructional missteps mean that fewer children will develop strong word-reading skills. In addition, ineffective phonics instruction is likely to require more class time and/ or later compensatory intervention, taking time away from the growth of other important contributors to literacy development. We have encountered many dozens, if not hundreds, of phonics faux pas. In this article, we focus on seven in early reading instruction that deserve our serious attention.  \n1. Spending Too Little or Too Much Time on Phonics Instruction  \nOur field has long had a problem with teachers devoting an inadequate amount of time to phonics instruction. Although  \nNell K. Duke is a professor of language, literacy, and culture, and a professor in the combined program in education and psychology, atthe University of Michigan. Her work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in poverty. Heidi Anne E. Mesmer is a professor of literacy in the School of Education at Virginia Tech. A former third-grade teacher, her work focuses on beginning reading materials and text difficulty.  \nsome children will pickup word reading with little instructional effort, many require considerable instruction to master the complex task of looking at a series of lines and curves to ascertain the spoken word they represent. In languages in which there is a relatively simple relationship between letters and sounds, such as Finnish and Spanish, by the middle of first grade, children are able to read real words and pseudo-words in the language accurately almost 100 percent of the time.* In languages in which the relationships are somewhat more complex, such as Danish and French, children are about 70 percent accurate by that time point. In English, in which the relationship between letters and sounds is extremely complex, children are about 40 percent accurate at that point.2 Put another way, English word reading requires a lot more effort to teach and learn than many other languages.  \nOn the other hand, there is such a thing as too much phonics instruction. We have seen prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in which the better part of the day is focused on lettersound instruction (and often in a manner inconsistent with what research would recommend) . This is problematic because it leaves insufficient time for many other important areas of development. For example, vocabulary and concept knowledge, which  \n*Pseudo-words are words with letter-sound relationships that are plausible in a language but do not actually form a real word.  \n12 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | WINTER 2018–2019  \nare strong predictors of long-term reading and writing success, also need attention. In fact, vocabulary knowledge affects wordreading development. We sometimes cannot even know whether we have read a word accurately unless we already have the word in our vocabulary. Is the word lemic pronounced with a short e, like lemon, or a long e, like lemur? Unless you already know this word, you aren’t sure. For children trying to learn to read words with low vocabulary knowledge, such uncertainty is common.  \nLikely the question on your mind is,“How much is enough and not too much?” Unfortunately, research does not offer a decisive answer to this fundamental question. Typically, recommendations range from 30 to 60 minutes per day in grades K–2, with that time including a number of different activities we discuss below.  \nHowever, we suggest that the answer also varies by child and should be informed by simple diagnostic assessments. Some children are able to develop letter-sound knowledge more quick","cbCaiiEYxFQCRxp9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiEYxFQCRxp9","pdf",197304,"English","# Phonics Faux Pas\n## Avoiding Instructional Missteps in Teaching Letter-Sound Relationships\n## Spending Too Little or Too Much Time on Phonics Instruction\n## Neglecting the Alphabetic Principle, Concept of Word in Print, and Other Concepts of Print","[{\"question\":\"Why is explicit teaching of letter-sound relationships important in early reading?\",\"answer\":\"Because letter-sound knowledge supports word-reading development, and missing or poorly delivered instruction reduces the number of children who develop strong word-reading skills.\"},{\"question\":\"What problem can occur when phonics instruction takes too little or too much time?\",\"answer\":\"Too little time can delay children’s mastery of letter-sound knowledge, while too much time can leave insufficient room for other essential areas such as vocabulary and concept knowledge.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the alphabetic principle and why does it matter for learning to read?\",\"answer\":\"It is the idea that visual symbols (letters) represent speech sounds (phonemes). Understanding it helps children connect what they learn about letters to how words are formed and read in print.\"}]","Phonics Faux Pas - Avoiding Instructional Missteps in Teaching Letter-Sound Relationships | PDF",1792070214,13]