Why Phonics is Not Used for Teaching Speaking: An Explanation for Parents

Are you learning how to speak?

Speaking is naturally acquired through listening and interaction. Children learn to speak by hearing others and practicing in real-life contexts.

Dear Parents,

Thank you for your interest in  the role of phonics in your child's education. As an English language teacher, I want to clarify how phonics fits into the broader picture of language learning and why it is particularly relevant to reading rather than speaking.

Phonics and Reading

Phonics is a method used to teach reading by correlating sounds with letters or groups of letters. It helps children understand how letters combine to form sounds and words. By learning phonics, children can decode written words, which is a crucial skill for developing reading fluency and comprehension. Phonics is systematic and follows specific patterns, making it an effective tool for helping young readers sound out unfamiliar words.

Speaking and Language Acquisition

Speaking, on the other hand, is primarily about communication and is naturally acquired through listening and interaction. From a young age, children learn to speak by hearing the language spoken around them and practicing it in real-life situations. This natural language acquisition process involves understanding vocabulary, grammar, intonation, and social cues—all of which are picked up through everyday conversation and immersion.

Why Phonics Isn't Used for Speaking

Natural Learning Process: Speaking is learned intuitively and socially. Children absorb spoken language from their environment, imitating sounds, words, and sentence structures. This process does not rely on the systematic decoding that phonics teaches for reading.

Context and Meaning: Spoken language is context-rich and involves more than just sounds. It includes tone, emotion, and non-verbal cues, which cannot be captured by phonics. Phonics teaches the relationship between letters and sounds but does not cover the full complexity of spoken communication.

Listening Skills: For speaking, listening skills are crucial. Children learn to understand spoken language and respond appropriately through active listening and engagement. Phonics, while helping with reading, does not address the listening and comprehension skills needed for effective speaking.

Irregularities in English: English has many irregularities and exceptions in pronunciation that phonics cannot fully address. Native speakers learn these irregularities through exposure and practice, not through phonics instruction.

Phonics should not be used as the primary method for teaching speaking. Here’s why:

Purpose of Phonics: Phonics is designed to help children learn to read by teaching them the relationships between letters and sounds. It provides a systematic way to decode written language and is very effective for this purpose.

Natural Language Acquisition: Speaking is naturally acquired through listening and interaction. Children learn to speak by hearing others and practicing in real-life contexts. This process involves:

• Listening to native speakers.
• Imitating sounds and words.
• Understanding the context and meaning of words.
• Picking up grammar and vocabulary naturally.

1. Phonetic Irregularities: English has many irregularities and exceptions in pronunciation that phonics does not fully address. Native speakers learn these through exposure, not phonics.
2. Context and Usage: Speaking involves understanding context, emotion, and non-verbal cues, which are not covered by phonics.
3. Comprehensive Language Skills: Speaking requires vocabulary, grammar, intonation, and social cues, which go beyond the scope of phonics.