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Phonics Worksheets (letter pronunciation)Terms of Use

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After a mere 13 months of age, humans lose their ability to distinguish between various phonemes. We effectively lose our ability to hear them. So, when a Spanish speaker pronounces an R, English speakers have difficulty picking up on the nuanced sound. Likewise, when an English speaker pronounces an R, Chinese speakers have difficulty picking up, or even hearing, this sound. So, phonemes are important, and that's why we've devoted an entire section to them. Phonemes are defined as any of a small set of units, usually about 20 to 60 in number, and different for each language, considered to be the basic distinctive units of speech sound by which morphemes, words, and sentences are represented. They are arrived at for any given language by determining which differences in sound function to indicate a difference in meaning, so that in English the difference in sound and meaning between pit and bit is taken to indicate the existence of different labial phonemes, while the difference in sound between the unaspirated p of spun and the aspirated p of pun, since it is never the only distinguishing feature between two different words, is not taken as ground for setting up two different p phonemes in English.

On the printable phonics worksheets below, students must circle the word from a list which best describes the picture. Then, they must write a sentence using that word in the space provided. All worksheets are 7 questions long, and cover all the letter sounds of the alphabet, including combinatorial letter sounds (CH, GH, OU, PH, SH, TH). We think this length is proper as it provides enough practice that it establishes an understanding of the material yet is not so lengthy that it becomes redundant or boring.

Phonics is a method for teaching reading and writing by developing learners phonemic awareness-the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate English phonemes-in order to teach the correspondence between these sounds and the spelling patterns (graphemes) that represent them. The goal of phonics is to enable beginning readers to decode new written words by sounding them out, or in phonics terms, blending the sound-spelling patterns. Since it focuses on the spoken and written units within words, phonics is a sublexical approach and, as a result, is often contrasted with Whole language, a word-level-up philosophy for teaching reading. Since the turn of the 20th century phonics has been widely used in primary education and in teaching literacy throughout the English-speaking world.

Interested in using interactive versions of our worksheets? Want to use a study tool which automatically scores your work and allows you to review your mistakes? Have fun and help preserve the environment at the same time. Try out our online phonics quizzes here.
Phonics Worksheets A-Z
Below you will find our full list of printable phonics worksheets to be used by teachers at home or in school. Just click on a link to open a printable PDF version of the desired worksheet. We hope you find them useful.