In order for children to learn how to read, teachers must understand what phonics are, the methods they can be taught, the benefits of early phonics education and the importance they have in teaching reading …show more content…
According to Emmitt, Hornsby and Wilson (2006), if students do not progress further than spelling by sound, they will be stuck at an early age of spelling. Rose (2006) said that the benefits from early phonics education can still be seen as the child gets older, meaning that the experiences they have in their early education can improve their linguistic and cognitive development. A child’s phonemic awareness provides a strong predictor of what their reading achievement will be later in life (Tompkins et al., 2015). This evidence highlights the importance of children having an effective reading program early in their education, as it is a determiner of ability in later life. Teaching early phonics in the classroom allows for students who are struggling to read to be identified. This means that intervention and support can be implemented earlier which will in turn benefit the student’s reading both now and in the future (The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, 2010, p. 38). There are ranges of positive effects for children who have foundational phonics education, having this instruction is crucial for those students without strong literacy influences at home (Rose, 2006, p. 31). Synthetic phonics instruction is taught explicitly and is important for fixing the inequalities between students from different