One of the most common questions parents and teachers ask during the early stages of reading development is: “My child can read familiar words, so why do they struggle when they see a new word?” This situation is quite common among young learners and does not necessarily mean that a child is not capable of learning to read. It often indicates that the child may be relying on memory, visual recognition, or familiar word patterns rather than using phonics skills to decode unfamiliar words.
Understanding this difference is particularly important for preschool and early-primary teachers. A teacher who understands how children develop reading skills can identify where a child needs support and provide appropriate strategies rather than simply asking the child to memorise more words.
A child may be able to read familiar simple words but struggle when faced with new or unfamiliar words because reading involves more than memorising words – it requires the child to decode them.
Some examples:
1. If a child is relying on memorisation
- Words like cat, dog, sun, or bus may have been practised many times.
- The child recognises them by sight rather than working out the sounds.
2. If Phonics skills are not fully developed
- The child may know individual letter sounds but find it difficult to blend them smoothly.
- For example, they may know s – h – i – p but struggle to blend them into ship.
3. If there is difficulty with blending
- Some children can identify sounds but have difficulty putting them together.
- For example- the word “map.” The child may identify: /m/ – /a/ – /p but struggle to combine them. The teacher can use continuous blending: /mmmmaaap/ → map
4. If the word contains a new phonics pattern
- A child who has learnt rain and train may struggle with a new word such as brain if the pattern has not been sufficiently practised.
5. If the child has weak phonemic awareness
- Children need to hear and manipulate sounds—identify the first sound, segment a word, blend sounds, etc.
- Eg: In the word – mask, the vowel a is in the second place or third place
6. Limited vocabulary can also play a role
- If a child has never heard a word before, they may struggle not only to decode it but also to understand it.
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Phonics Then and Now: How Reading Instruction Has Changed
Phonics itself is not new, but the way reading was taught has changed over time. In many schools, especially in India, children were traditionally taught through a combination of:
- Alphabet and letter-name learning – A, B, C, etc.
- Memorising sight words and common spellings
- Reading aloud and repetition
- Textbook-based reading
- Learning words as complete units rather than systematically decoding them
The understanding that children benefit from explicit, systematic phonics instruction has become much more prominent in teacher training and early-years education in recent decades.
For example, instead of simply asking a child to memorise cat, phonics teaches:
- c → /k/
- a → /æ/
- t → /t/
- c-a-t → cat
This is particularly useful because once children understand the sound–letter relationship.
So, if you grew up without formal phonics, that doesn’t mean you were taught to read incorrectly. You may simply have learned through a different reading approach that was common at that time.
Reading Familiar Words v/s Decoding New Words
When a child repeatedly sees a word such as “cat,” “dog,” or “sun,” they may eventually recognise it automatically. They may remember what the whole word looks like or recall it because they have encountered it many times.
However, when they encounter a new word such as “map,” “sip,” or “rug,” they cannot rely entirely on memory. They need to look at the letters, recall their sounds, blend those sounds together, and work out the pronunciation.
This ability to use letter-sound relationships to read unfamiliar words is known as decoding.
The Journey Towards Independent Reading
Children who can approach a word, sentence, or simple text with confidence and use their own reading strategies rather than depending on an adult to provide the answer can be called as independent readers. Such children can apply their knowledge of letter-sound relationships, phonics patterns, blending, segmenting, and decoding to work out unfamiliar words.
For example, if a child comes across the unfamiliar word “sunshine,” instead of immediately asking the teacher, they can break it into manageable parts, identify the sounds, blend them, and read the word.
The aim of early phonics instruction is therefore not simply to help children read a set of familiar words. It is to give them the skills, strategies, and confidence to tackle words they have never seen before. This is an important step towards developing fluent, confident, and lifelong readers.
The Role of Blending
Blending is an essential part of early reading. A child may know individual letter sounds but still struggle to combine them smoothly into a word.
For example:
/s/ + /a/ + /t/ → sat
The teacher gradually helps the child move from identifying separate sounds to blending them together to hear the complete word.
With regular practice, blending can become increasingly automatic. This allows children to approach unfamiliar words with greater confidence.
What About Sight Words?
Some words cannot always be decoded easily using the phonics patterns children have learned at that stage. These words may need additional practice and, depending on the word, attention to parts that are regular or irregular.
However, this does not mean that children should be encouraged to memorise large numbers of words purely by their visual appearance. Phonics and meaningful reading practice should work together to help children develop flexible reading skills
How Can Teachers Help?
Teachers can support children by providing plenty of opportunities to practise decoding words that are new but contain phonics patterns the child already knows.
The goal should be to move the child from “I know this word” to “I know how to work this word out.”
- Practise segmenting and blending regularly.
- Encourage children to sound out unfamiliar words instead of guessing from pictures.
- Teach phonics patterns systematically.
- Give plenty of opportunities to read decodable words and short sentences containing recently taught sounds.
- Gradually introduce unfamiliar words so children develop confidence in decoding.
- Praise the strategy: “You looked at each sound and blended them—that’s how good readers work out new words.”
For example, once children have learned the sounds in s, a, t, p, i, and n, they can practise decoding words such as sat, sit, tap, pin, and nap. The purpose is not simply to memorise these words but to help children understand that their existing sound knowledge can be applied to new words.
Teachers can also use word-building activities, magnetic letters, sound cards, blending games, phonics readers, and simple decodable texts to provide repeated practice.
Avoid Guessing from Pictures
When a child encounters an unfamiliar word, it can be tempting to encourage them to look at the picture and guess what the word might be. While pictures can support comprehension and vocabulary, children should also be encouraged to look carefully at the letters and use their phonics knowledge to decode the word.
For example, if a picture shows a cat and the sentence contains the unfamiliar word cat, the child should eventually learn to read the word from its letters and sounds rather than simply guessing “cat” from the picture.
The goal is to develop independent decoding, so that children can read words even when there is no picture to provide a clue.
Why Phonics Training Is Important for Teachers
Teaching phonics effectively requires more than simply knowing letter sounds. Teachers need to understand phonemic awareness, sound-letter relationships, blending, segmenting, decoding, word-building, pronunciation, progression, and appropriate practice activities.
This is why a phonics course for teachers can be valuable for educators working with young learners. Structured training can help teachers understand how phonics skills develop and how to introduce them systematically.
A phonics teacher training course can also provide practical ideas for teaching sounds, blending, segmenting, tricky words, digraphs, and other early reading skills in an engaging way.
For teachers who want to strengthen their classroom practice, phonics training for teachers can help bridge the gap between knowing phonics concepts and confidently teaching them to children.
Make New Words an Opportunity, not a Test
When a child struggles with a new word, the teacher should avoid immediately treating it as a failure. An unfamiliar word is actually an opportunity to practise decoding.
Instead of simply telling the child the answer, the teacher can provide gentle prompts such as:
“Let’s look at the first sound.”
“What sound does this letter make?”
“Now let’s blend the sounds together.”
This approach encourages children to become problem-solvers rather than dependent on adults for every unfamiliar word.
Building Confidence Is Equally Important
Children can become hesitant readers if they repeatedly feel that they are “getting words wrong.” Teachers can therefore create a supportive environment where mistakes are treated as part of learning.
Praise the strategy and effort, not only the correct answer. Saying, “You looked at each sound and blended them- that was a good strategy,” reinforces the behaviour that will help the child become a stronger reader.
How Phonics Helps Children Become Confident, Independent Readers
A child who can read simple, familiar words but struggles when presented with new or unfamiliar words may not necessarily need more repetition or memorisation. Instead, the child may need stronger foundations in phonemic awareness, phonics knowledge, blending, segmenting, and decoding. These skills help children understand that reading is not simply about remembering what a word looks like; it is about understanding the relationship between letters and sounds and using that knowledge to work out unfamiliar words.
Systematic phonics instruction can help bridge this gap by teaching children to look carefully at the letters, identify the sounds they represent, blend those sounds together, and read the word independently.
The ultimate goal of early reading instruction is therefore not simply to help children build a large collection of familiar words. It is to develop confident, independent readers who know what to do when they encounter a word they have never seen before. When children understand how sounds work together and how different letter patterns represent those sounds, they become less dependent on adults, pictures, or memorisation.
This is also why professional development is so important for early-years educators. Enrolling in a phonics course for teachers, a phonics teacher training course, or suitable phonics training for teachers with National Academy can help educators understand how children develop early reading skills and how to teach phonics in a structured, engaging, and age-appropriate manner. Teachers can learn practical strategies for developing phonemic awareness, introducing letter-sound correspondences, teaching blending and segmenting, and supporting children who find decoding challenging.
Most importantly, phonics should not be viewed as simply another set of rules that children have to memorise. When taught effectively, it gives children a toolkit for solving words.
Each successfully decoded word strengthens their confidence, reinforces their understanding of the sound–letter relationship, and takes them one step closer to becoming fluent, motivated, and independent readers.
Ultimately, effective phonics teaching is about giving children something far more valuable than a list of words they can recognise – it gives them the skills and confidence to unlock words they have never encountered before.
