What is a grapheme in phonics?

A grapheme in phonics is the smallest unit of a written language that represents a sound or a combination of sounds. Graphemes can be individual letters, such as "b" or "p," or groups of letters, such as "ch" or "igh." Graphemes are used to represent the sounds in spoken language, and when students learn to read and write, they learn to recognize and manipulate graphemes to decode words.

In phonics instruction, students are taught to recognize and associate graphemes with the corresponding phonemes (sounds). This helps them to develop their phonemic awareness and reading skills by understanding the relationship between written letters and spoken sounds.

Phonics instruction typically starts with teaching students the basic grapheme-phoneme correspondences, such as the letters of the alphabet and their most common sounds. As students progress, they learn more complex graphemes and phoneme combinations that represent different sounds in the English language.

By mastering graphemes and their corresponding phonemes, students can become proficient readers and writers who are able to decode and encode words accurately and fluently. Phonics instruction plays a crucial role in helping students develop their literacy skills and become confident readers and writers.