How teaching phonics can benefit students

Language is a crucial part of your child's identity. How they communicate, orate and understand someone depends entirely on their language skills. Learning phonics is one of the most basic forms of developing your child's oral skills. The method teaches children to identify the alphabet based on their sounds. There are many known benefits of phonics in early years of a child's education, ranging from cultural comprehension to social education. Here are some reasons why teaching phonics might benefit students.

Reading is crucial to brain development
The very act of reading, processing new words and trying to make sense of them is a wonderful exercise for young brains. Phonics reading encourages this act by helping children understand and read letters. It opens up new avenues in the imagination, enhances their thinking and nurtures their reasoning skills.

Developing reading fluency
Amongst the many benefits of learning phonics, reading fluency takes the top spot. Phonics reading pushes students to practise which eventually strengthens their grasp of the language. Research says that children who practised phonics in school went on to become better readers than those who didn't. This is because phonics helps children identify basic words and sounds making it easy for them to read more complex words over the course of time.

Strengthen their vocabulary
Reading is directly associated with better writing and speaking skills. The more your child reads, the better their vocabulary will be. It goes without saying that access to an extensive vocabulary facilitates communication and social interaction. Alphabet phonics also makes them better writers, making it easier for them to tackle all their written needs with much more ease.

Makes pronunciation easier
Since phonics learning starts at the very basic units of language - letters and sounds - it removes the hurdle of learning new words. Your child will know how to pronounce unfamiliar words without struggling too much. This indirectly boosts their self-confidence and their social communication which can be easily affected by difficulty in speaking.

Boost their storytelling abilities
A child builds on their imagination by interacting with new possibilities and situations. One of the best ways to indulge their curiosity is through reading. Phonics activities encourage complex reading over time which can encourage children to be more imaginative. This can in turn nurture their abilities to create their own stories and narrate them. Storytelling is an essential skill regardless of what profession your child decides to pursue.

Enables academic success
A lot of children fail to grasp concepts in school due to their inability to understand the language of instruction. While it is crucial that schools encourage native languages of instruction, it may not always solve the problem. Phonics enables better comprehension of sounds, words, pronunciations and sentences. When your kids understand what they are hearing and reading, it makes it easier for them to grasp complicated concepts.

Makes learning fun
Apart from making learning easy, phonics teaching can also make learning fun. It takes the burden of not knowing words off of the student's mind. They can allow themselves to understand ideas, listen to stories and lose themselves in the world of their own imagination. Moreover, the very training of phonics is a fun activity in itself. The students are presented with visuals and games that enhance their overall speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

Learning structures and sounds
The English language has some very complicated rules around syllables and sounds. For example, an open syllable makes a longer sound and ends in a vowel. Students who learn phonics can better grasp these sounds that are associated with syllable structures. Phonics education facilitates a deeper understanding of language and enables children to be better orators.

Conclusion
Phonics is an underrated aspect of language education. Teaching phonics can benefit students' overall pronunciation, a basic understanding of language and long-term communication skills. Moreover, it will make them better readers and writers, helping them communicate their perspectives efficiently. Phonics education also makes learning a fun and effective process. If your kid understands what they are reading, they can enjoy it more and grasp it well.

At Podar Education, we emphasise holistic learning in students and essential skill development from a young age. Visit our website to know more about how you can hone your child for academic excellence.