Phonics Generalizations

Phonics generalizations (rules) are a set of rules that dictate how a student will connect the sound with its written counterpart. You may already be familiar with some of the rules:

• "When there are two adjacent vowels, the first is long and the second is usually silent." "When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking."
• When a vowel begins or is in the middle of a word or syllable, it usually has a short sound.
• If a vowel stands alone in a word or syllable it is usually long.
• If a word ends in a vowel or consonant “e” combination, the vowel is usually long, and the “e” is silent. An example of this rule is the word "make."

When there is one vowel in a word and it ends the word or syllable, the vowel is usually long. Examples of this rule include the single syllable words such as “go” and “she,” and multi-syllable words such as, “recess,” “motion” and “silent.” Notice that the key word here is “usually,” since there are many exceptions to the phonics generalizations.

Click here to review more phonics generalizations:

• Phonics Generalizations (PDF) 

Decoding words using phonics must be taught in a systematic manner. Since consonants tend to be more consistent in their representation of sounds they are usually introduced first. After your students have mastered a few consonants, you should add a vowel and introduce a word family. Often the first word family that students are introduced to is the “at” family.

Students are shown how to use phonetics to read and pronounce the word “at.” They are then shown that adding different consonants forms new words “cat,” “fat,” “hat,” “mat,” “rat,” and “sat.” With a little practice students should soon be able to decode simple words using phonics. A good way to provide this practice is with onset and rime.

When teaching phonics, be aware that there are a few letters that should not be taught together. These include letters that look similar, such as “b” and “d” and letters that sound similar, such as “f” and “v.”