English phonics explained: how it works and why it matters for struggling readers

Last updated 2026-07-10

What is English phonics and why does English make it so hard?

Phonics is the relationship between written letters (graphemes) and spoken sounds (phonemes). When a child learns that the letter 'b' says /b/ and the letters 'oa' together say /oh/, that's phonics. A solid phonics definition covers both the sounds themselves and the rules that govern how they behave inside words.

English is a mess. Spanish has about 25 grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and a child learning to read Spanish can crack the code in a few months. English has roughly 44 phonemes mapped across somewhere between 120 and 150 common spelling patterns, depending on how you count ^[1]. That's why 'ough' says /aw/ in 'thought', /oo/ in 'through', /uff/ in 'tough', and /oh/ in 'though'. The language pulled in Latin, French, Greek, and Germanic roots and kept the original spellings, which is genuinely inconvenient for a six-year-old.

Complexity doesn't make phonics hopeless. It makes the sequence of instruction matter a lot. You teach the simple, consistent patterns first, then layer in the irregular stuff once the child has a working decoding system. What it does not mean is that kids should skip phonics and memorize whole words. The research on that is clear, and it's not kind to whole-word memorization.

The 44 phonemes split into roughly 25 consonant sounds and 19 vowel sounds. Short vowels, long vowels, vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, consonant blends, digraphs, diphthongs, and the truly irregular sight words make up the teaching territory. Most structured phonics programs march through these in a set order from kindergarten to third grade, though plenty of kids need instruction that runs into fourth or fifth.

What does the reading science actually say about phonics instruction?

The evidence here is unusually strong for education research. The National Reading Panel's 2000 report synthesized 38 controlled studies and found that systematic phonics instruction produces significantly better outcomes than non-systematic or no phonics instruction across reading, spelling, and comprehension ^[2]. That finding has held up through every meta-analysis since.

The What Works Clearinghouse reviews found strong evidence for systematic phonics programs in grades K-2, with average effect sizes around 0.50 to 0.60 on decoding ^[3]. That's large by education standards. An effect size of 0.20 is usually called small, so this is more than double that.

The mechanism has a name: the Simple View of Reading, laid out by Gough and Tunmer in 1986. Reading Comprehension = Decoding x Language Comprehension. If decoding is near zero, comprehension is near zero no matter how rich the child's vocabulary is. Phonics builds decoding. Period.

Neuroscience backs this up. Stanislas Dehaene's lab at the Collège de France has shown that reading is not a skill the brain evolved to do. The brain repurposes regions built for object recognition, and that repurposing works better when instruction is explicit and systematic than when children are left to 'discover' letter-sound patterns on their own. Dehaene's imaging studies found that phonics-taught readers show stronger left-hemisphere activation in reading networks than whole-language-taught readers ^[4].

None of this is fringe. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the International Dyslexia Association, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development all line up behind systematic phonics as the foundation of reading instruction.

What are the main types of phonics instruction and which ones work?

Not all phonics is the same, and the differences decide whether your child learns to read.

Systematic and explicit phonics teaches letter-sound correspondences in a planned order, simple to complex, with the teacher spelling it out directly. The teacher says 'This letter is b, it makes the /b/ sound,' then the kids practice that relationship over and over. This is what the research supports.

Embedded phonics introduces patterns only as they happen to show up in whatever book the class is reading that week. The text drives the sequence, not a logical skill progression. Research support is weak.

Whole-language and three-cueing approaches push phonics aside and teach kids to guess words from context, pictures, and the first letter. Many states banned three-cueing after the reading wars of the 1990s and early 2000s because the evidence was so poor. Mississippi rewrote its reading instruction law in 2013 and then posted the largest fourth-grade reading gains of any state on the National Assessment of Educational Progress over the following decade ^[5].

Synthetic phonics teaches individual sounds and blends them into words (/k/ /a/ /t/ = 'cat'). It's the dominant approach in UK schools after a 2006 government review, and it's what most structured literacy programs use. The UK's Year 1 Phonics Screening Check data has held above 80% pass rates in schools using systematic synthetic phonics ^[6].

Analytic phonics teaches kids to break a known whole word apart rather than build sounds up. It's less effective than synthetic phonics for early readers, though it turns up in some curricula as a supplement.

For a child who's already struggling, synthetic and explicit beats everything. Phonics for reading programs like Wilson Reading System and Barton Reading and Spelling were built for the students who didn't crack the code in general classroom instruction.

What order should phonics skills be taught in?

Sequence matters more than most parents realize. A well-ordered phonics scope looks something like this:

Stage	Key skills	Typical grade
1. Phonemic awareness	Rhyme, segmenting, blending spoken sounds	Pre-K / K
2. Consonants and short vowels	CVC words (cat, sit, hop)	Kindergarten
3. Consonant blends and digraphs	bl, cr, sh, ch, th	K / Grade 1
4. Long vowels, silent e	made, bike, home	Grade 1
5. Vowel teams	ai, ea, oa, ee, oo	Grade 1-2
6. R-controlled vowels	ar, er, ir, or, ur	Grade 2
7. Diphthongs	oi, oy, ou, ow	Grade 2
8. Multisyllabic words	prefixes, suffixes, syllable types	Grade 2-3+
9. Morphology	Latin and Greek roots	Grade 3+

Phonemic awareness comes before phonics, and this trips up a lot of well-meaning parents. You can't teach that 'b' is /b/ until the child can hear that 'bat' has three separate sounds. That's a phonemic awareness skill, not a phonics skill. Plenty of kindergarteners who look like they're failing phonics are actually missing phonemic awareness, and fixing that first produces faster gains.

Kids with dyslexia usually need the same sequence taught at a slower pace with far more repetition, using a multisensory approach (say it, write it, trace it, hear it) at every step. That's the Orton-Gillingham framework, and it sits under most of the best structured literacy programs available today.

ABC phonics resources are often a child's first brush with letter-sound matching. They work best when they focus on sounds (letter names are secondary) and come paired with oral blending practice, rather than leaning on alphabet songs.

How do you know if a child has a phonics problem versus a broader reading delay?

Short answer: you screen for it.

The most widely used classroom tool is the Quick Phonics Screener, a direct assessment of which phonics patterns a child has and hasn't mastered. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes and gives you a clean skills map. The Core Phonics Survey is another solid pick. Both are meant to be given by a teacher or reading specialist, not a computer.

DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is used in thousands of schools to screen kindergarteners through third graders three times a year. DIBELS 8th Edition norms flag students at risk for reading difficulty with reasonable accuracy ^[7].

A few signs that point at phonics specifically, rather than broader language or comprehension trouble:

• The child sounds out words letter by letter but can't blend them into a whole word.
• They read 'dog' as 'dig' or 'hog', substituting sounds instead of guessing at random.
• They can listen to a story and follow it fine, then fall apart reading the same content.
• Spelling is severely off, phonetically impossible ('grl' for 'girl' rather than a plausible phonetic attempt).
• They dodge reading and say they 'hate books', which is almost always the decoding pain talking, not the books.

A child who struggles with comprehension on both listening tasks and reading tasks probably has a language comprehension issue, not a phonics-only deficit. Both can happen at once, and both need attention, but the instructional approach is different for each.

What are your child's legal rights to phonics-based reading instruction at school?

This is where a lot of parents have more power than they know.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.) requires schools to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to children with disabilities, including specific learning disabilities in reading, the category that covers dyslexia ^[8]. If your child's reading disability is severe enough to affect educational performance, the school must evaluate at no cost to you, and if the child qualifies, write an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that includes specialized reading instruction.

The IDEA evaluation has to be completed within 60 days of your written consent (some states set different timelines, so check your state's education agency). You don't have to wait for the school to suggest it. You can request one in writing today.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 covers children whose disability substantially limits a major life activity, and reading is explicitly a major life activity under the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. A 504 plan doesn't guarantee specialized instruction the way an IEP does, but it does require accommodations like extended time, audio books, and preferential seating ^[9].

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and a growing pile of state dyslexia laws now name structured literacy and systematic phonics as the evidence-based practices schools should use. As of 2025, more than 40 states have passed dyslexia-specific legislation, many requiring schools to screen for dyslexia and use phonics-based interventions. The National Center on Improving Literacy keeps a state-by-state policy tracker ^[10].

IDEA states, at 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(5), that "children with disabilities are educated in the least restrictive environment." If a school isn't providing systematic phonics in a child's IEP despite a reading disability identification, parents can dispute it in writing and request mediation or due process.

The ReadFlare parent advocacy kit walks through how to write an evaluation request letter and what to say when the school pushes back, including IDEA citation language you can quote directly.

Which phonics programs have the best evidence behind them?

The honest answer: evidence quality is all over the map, and some very popular programs have shockingly thin research bases.

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) at the U.S. Department of Education reviews intervention programs and rates them on evidence quality. Programs with strong or moderate evidence ratings for decoding in early grades include ^[3]:

• Reading Recovery (comprehension outcomes; evidence is weaker on phonics specifically)
• Success for All
• Wilson Reading System (strong practitioner evidence base; IDA-accredited)
• Barton Reading and Spelling (widely used for dyslexia; parent-deliverable)
• RAVE-O
• Lindamood-Bell LiPS (phonemic awareness and phonics)

The International Dyslexia Association keeps an accredited program list. To earn IDA accreditation, a program has to be based on Orton-Gillingham principles, be multisensory, and teach phonology, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension in a structured, cumulative order.

Programs I'd be more careful with: anything that markets itself mainly around 'fun' or 'games' without a clear scope and sequence. Phonics games and phonics worksheets are good practice tools, but they aren't a curriculum. Practice does nothing if the initial instruction was fuzzy.

Jolly Phonics is a UK-origin program with a solid early-grades evidence base and a multisensory approach (gestures, songs, letter formation). It's common in international schools and some U.S. classrooms. It moves quickly through 42 letter-sound correspondences and works especially well in kindergarten and first grade. The evidence is stronger for the structured group-instruction version than for parent-led use, though parent editions exist.

For homeschoolers or parents supplementing at home, Barton Reading and Spelling gets recommended most because it's built for non-specialist delivery. A parent can learn to teach it. It runs roughly $300 per level across 10 levels, so a full program costs $3,000 or more, which is a real expense. Some families find one or two levels enough before a child moves to self-sufficient decoding. Check whether your district will reimburse for private tutoring or materials through the IEP process before you pay out of pocket.

How can parents teach or reinforce phonics at home?

You don't need to be a reading specialist to help. You do need to show up consistently.

Start with phonemic awareness if your child is in pre-K or kindergarten. Rhyming games, clapping syllables, 'say cat without the /k/' (they should say 'at') are all phonemic awareness. Ten minutes a day. That's it. The brain builds these pathways through repetition, not through marathon sessions.

Once the child has solid phonemic awareness, move to phonics for kids resources that teach in a clear order. Skip anything that hops around by theme ('C is for Christmas') instead of building systematically.

For a child in grades 1 to 3 who's struggling, the highest-impact thing you can do at home is decodable books. These use only the phonics patterns the child has already learned. They let the child practice real decoding instead of guessing. They bore adults to tears. Kids actually feel successful reading them, and that success matters more than you'd think for motivation.

Five practical things parents can do at home:

1. Dictation practice: say a word, have your child segment the sounds aloud, then write it. Five words a night builds spelling and phonics at once. 2. Word sorts: write words on index cards, sort by pattern (all 'ai' words together, all 'ay' words together). This builds pattern awareness. 3. Read aloud together every day, but don't count it as phonics practice. Read-aloud builds vocabulary and comprehension. Phonics practice is separate. 4. Use phonics worksheets matched to your child's current skill level, not their grade level. 5. Name the process out loud. 'I saw you sound that word out without skipping it, that's exactly what readers do.'

The ReadFlare free reading tools page at readflare.com has printable decodable word lists and phonics sequence guides you can download at no cost.

Kindergarten phonics worksheets that focus on CVC words and beginning sounds are the right start for most five-year-olds. If your kindergartener can already blend simple words, move up to blends and digraphs. Don't hold back because of the grade label on the materials.

What is the difference between phonics and phonemic awareness, and why does it matter?

These two terms get swapped constantly, including by teachers. They're related but not the same thing.

Phonemic awareness is purely oral and auditory. No letters involved. It's the ability to hear, identify, and move around individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Can the child tell you that 'ship' has three sounds, /sh/ /i/ /p/? Can they swap the first sound in 'hat' to make 'bat'? That's phonemic awareness.

Phonics connects those spoken sounds to written letters and spelling patterns. It's the print piece.

Why does the split matter? Because if you try to teach phonics to a child who hasn't developed phonemic awareness, you're building the second floor before the first floor exists. The child memorizes letter names and even some sounds, but can't use any of it to read words, because they can't yet hear the individual phonemes those letters stand for.

Research by Louisa Moats and other reading scientists shows that phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of later reading success, beating IQ, socioeconomic status, and preschool attendance in many studies ^[11]. The good news: phonemic awareness is teachable, and it responds fast to short, focused practice. The National Reading Panel found real benefits from phonemic awareness instruction even when it ran in small groups for as little as 20 hours total.

So when your child's school says they're working on phonics but your child seems lost, ask straight out: 'Has my child been screened for phonemic awareness? Where do they land on phoneme segmentation and blending?' Segmenting and blending spoken sounds are the two skills to nail down early.

How long does it take to catch up on phonics, and what should real progress look like?

Nobody has clean, universal data on this, and you should be suspicious of any program that promises a specific timeline. Here's what the intervention research actually tells us.

Children with no underlying learning disability who simply missed adequate phonics in the early grades can often reach grade level within one to two school years of systematic, intensive intervention, with 30 to 45 minutes of small-group or one-on-one instruction five days a week ^[2].

Children with dyslexia take longer and need more. 'Intensive' in research terms usually means at least 90 minutes a day of structured literacy at the tier 3 level. Gains are real but slower. Most children with dyslexia reach functional literacy and grade-level comprehension with accommodations, even when their decoding stays somewhat slower than typical readers.

Month to month, progress should look like this: the child can read words and simple connected text using the specific phonics patterns that have actually been taught. If a child has been in intervention for six months and still can't reliably decode CVC words, the program or the delivery isn't working, and it needs to change.

Red flags that progress is stalling:

• The child reads the same words right one day and wrong the next, with no improvement over months.
• The child's strategies haven't changed (still guessing from the first letter alone).
• Assessments show the same skill gaps at six months as they did at the start.

Parents can track progress themselves with the Core Phonics Survey every 8 to 10 weeks. It's free, takes 15 minutes, and gives a clean skills map you can compare over time. If the school says your child is progressing but you can't see it in actual reading tasks, ask for the specific assessment data. You have the right to it under IDEA.

What is 'phonics and stuff' or structured literacy, and how is it different from regular reading class?

You may have heard teachers or specialists say 'structured literacy', or run into it in IEP meetings and school advocacy conversations. Here's what it actually means and how it differs from the 'balanced literacy' that ran American schools for the past 20 to 30 years.

Structured literacy is an umbrella term for programs built on the science of reading: explicit phonological awareness, systematic phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension instruction, all delivered simple to complex with heavy practice and feedback. The International Dyslexia Association coined the term, and it now appears in reading laws in more than 30 states ^[10].

Balanced literacy, by contrast, leaned on student choice, lots of independent reading, and leveled readers, betting that children would pick up decoding naturally through exposure to print. The three-cueing system (look at the picture, think about what makes sense, look at the first letter) was a central strategy. That approach produces acceptable results for roughly 60 to 70% of children who probably would have learned to read under almost any reasonable method. It fails the 30 to 40% who need explicit, systematic instruction to crack the code. And it produces the worst outcomes for children with dyslexia, for whom it can do real harm.

The phonics and stuff resources now reaching parents and schools reflect this shift toward structured literacy. If your child's school still uses leveled readers as the main reading instruction tool (rather than as supplementary practice after decoding is established), that's a conversation worth having.

A practical test: ask the classroom teacher what phonics curriculum the school uses. If the answer is 'we use guided reading groups' or 'we use readers workshop', those are balanced literacy, not structured literacy. If the answer names a specific program with a scope and sequence (CKLA, Fundations, Amplify CKLA, Wonders with structured additions), that's a better sign.

Frequently asked questions

How many sounds are in the English language for phonics purposes?

English has approximately 44 phonemes, the individual sounds used to build words. That breaks into roughly 25 consonant sounds and 19 vowel sounds. The exact count depends on dialect and whether you split certain vowel combinations, so you'll see numbers from 42 to 46 across different programs. The key point for instruction: 26 letters map to 44 sounds, which is why spelling patterns and rules matter so much.

At what age should phonics instruction start?

Formal phonics usually begins in kindergarten, around age five, after children build foundational phonemic awareness in pre-K. Some structured literacy programs, including Jolly Phonics, start simple letter-sound work at age four. Starting earlier is fine if the child is ready; starting later is fine too, but gaps compound. If a child is in second grade or beyond with weak phonics skills, intervention should begin immediately, not at the start of the next school year.

Is phonics the same as the alphabet or learning ABCs?

Related but not the same. Learning the ABCs teaches letter names and shapes. Phonics teaches the sounds letters make. Knowing the letter 'c' is called 'see' doesn't tell a child it says /k/ in 'cat' and /s/ in 'city'. Alphabet phonics bridges both by teaching letter names alongside their primary sounds, but the sounds are what power reading. A child who knows all 26 letter names but can't hear or produce the sounds will still struggle to decode.

My child's school says they don't teach phonics because they use 'balanced literacy.' Is that legal?

Schools aren't federally required to use any specific curriculum unless your child has an IEP that names a particular approach. But ESSA requires evidence-based reading instruction. If your child has a reading disability and their IEP doesn't include systematic phonics, you can challenge that at the IEP meeting. More than 30 states now have laws requiring structured literacy or phonics screening, so check your state's education agency rules.

Can a child learn phonics at home without a tutor?

Yes, especially for children without significant reading disabilities. Parent-delivered programs like Barton Reading and Spelling are built for non-specialists. The keys: use a structured sequence, practice daily in short sessions (15 to 20 minutes is plenty for young children), and use decodable texts matched to the child's current skill level. For children with diagnosed dyslexia, a trained tutor produces faster gains, but parent-led reinforcement between sessions always helps.

What is the difference between a digraph and a blend in phonics?

A digraph is two letters that together make one new sound: 'sh' in 'ship', 'ch' in 'chip', 'th' in 'this'. You can't hear the individual letter sounds in a digraph; they fuse into one phoneme. A consonant blend is two or three consonants where each letter's sound is still heard: 'bl' in 'blue', 'str' in 'string'. Both come up in the first and second grade sequence, with digraphs usually taught first because they're a single sound unit.

Does phonics help kids with dyslexia, or do they need something completely different?

Phonics is the right approach, but it needs different delivery. Children with dyslexia need multisensory instruction (seeing, saying, hearing, and writing at once), far more repetition than typical instruction provides, a slower pace through the sequence, and immediate corrective feedback. Orton-Gillingham-based programs like Wilson Reading and Barton were built for this population. The content is the same phonics; the intensity and delivery are what change.

What is a decodable book and why do reading specialists keep recommending them?

A decodable book contains only words built from phonics patterns the child has already been taught. If a child knows short vowels and simple consonants, every word in that book should be readable using those skills alone. This gives the child real practice applying phonics to connected text, which is how decoding becomes automatic. They differ from leveled readers, which match a child's reading level but may use any spelling pattern, which pushes kids toward guessing.

How do I request a phonics evaluation from my child's school?

Put it in writing. Address it to the school principal and special education director. State that you're requesting a full psychoeducational evaluation for a suspected specific learning disability in reading under IDEA (20 U.S.C. § 1414). Include your child's name, grade, teacher, and a brief description of the reading concerns. Deliver it in person or by email so you have a timestamp. The school has 60 days from your written consent (not from your request) to complete the evaluation.

Are phonics programs effective for English language learners?

Yes, with caveats. English phonics benefits ELL students who are developing English proficiency, because the relationship between English letters and sounds is the same regardless of a child's home language. It works best when children also have enough English oral vocabulary to understand the words they're decoding. Pairing systematic phonics with strong English oral language development produces better outcomes than either one alone for ELL students.

What does the phonics screening check test, and should my child take one?

A phonics screening check (like the UK Year 1 Phonics Screening Check or U.S. tools like the Quick Phonics Screener) tests whether a child can decode real words and nonsense words using the patterns they've been taught. Nonsense words are included to rule out memorization. If your child is in first or second grade and you're unsure about their phonics skills, requesting a screener from the school is a completely reasonable ask. It takes 10 to 15 minutes and gives you information you can act on right away.

Is phonics instruction only for early elementary grades?

No. The early grades (K-3) are the best window, but older students who missed systematic phonics absolutely benefit from it. Structured literacy programs for older students (grades 4 through adult) exist and work. They move faster because older learners bring stronger language and cognitive skills, but they still teach the same patterns systematically. Phonics for a struggling 10-year-old looks different from a kindergarten class, but it covers the same core content.

What is morphology and when does it come up in phonics instruction?

Morphology is the study of meaningful word parts: prefixes, suffixes, and roots. It becomes central in grades 3 and up when students hit multisyllabic words. Understanding that 'un-' means not and '-tion' signals a noun helps students decode and understand words like 'unification' without memorizing each one. Most structured literacy programs bring in morphology after the basic phonics code is established, typically in second or third grade, and extend word analysis into the upper grades.

Sources

1. International Dyslexia Association, 'Dyslexia in the Classroom: What Every Teacher Needs to Know': English has roughly 44 phonemes mapped across 120 to 150 common spelling patterns, compared to far fewer in more transparent orthographies like Spanish.
2. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 'Report of the National Reading Panel' (2000): Systematic phonics instruction produces significantly better decoding, spelling, and comprehension outcomes than non-systematic or no phonics instruction; children without underlying disabilities can often catch up within one to two years of intensive intervention.
3. U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse, 'Foundational Literacy Skills' Evidence Reviews: Systematic phonics programs in grades K-2 show average effect sizes around 0.50 to 0.60 on decoding outcomes; programs including Wilson Reading and Success for All received strong or moderate evidence ratings.
4. Dehaene, S. et al., 'How Learning to Read Changes the Cortical Networks for Vision and Language,' Science (2010): Neuroimaging studies show that phonics-taught readers develop stronger left-hemisphere activation in reading networks compared to whole-language-taught readers, consistent with the brain repurposing object-recognition regions for decoding.
5. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Reading Report Card: Mississippi overhauled reading instruction in 2013 and saw fourth-grade reading scores rise more than any other state over the subsequent decade on the NAEP.
6. UK Department for Education, Phonics Screening Check and Key Stage 1 Assessment data: The UK's Year 1 Phonics Screening Check has consistently shown above 80% pass rates in schools using systematic synthetic phonics programs following the 2006 government review.
7. University of Oregon, Dynamic Measurement Group, 'DIBELS 8th Edition Technical Manual': DIBELS 8th Edition norms identify students at risk for reading difficulty in kindergarten through third grade with reasonable accuracy using benchmark assessments three times per year.
8. U.S. Department of Education, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.: IDEA requires schools to provide a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities including specific learning disabilities in reading; evaluations must be completed within 60 days of written parental consent.
9. U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 504 covers children whose disability substantially limits a major life activity; reading is a major life activity under the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, entitling qualifying children to accommodations.
10. National Center on Improving Literacy, U.S. Department of Education, State Dyslexia and Literacy Policy Resources: As of 2025, more than 40 states have passed dyslexia-specific legislation and more than 30 states require structured literacy or phonics screening; the center maintains a state-by-state policy tracker.
11. Moats, L.C. and Tolman, C., 'Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS),' Voyager Sopris Learning: Phonemic awareness is one of the strongest predictors of later reading success, outperforming IQ, socioeconomic status, and preschool attendance in multiple studies; the National Reading Panel found significant benefits from as little as 20 hours of focused phonemic awareness instruction.