Phonics and early reading
What is segmenting in phonics?
Quick answer
Segmenting means breaking a spoken word into its separate sounds so you can spell it, like hearing dog as /d/ /o/ /g/ and writing a letter for each sound.
In one sentence
Segmenting is splitting a spoken word into its individual sounds, which is the first step in spelling it.
Explained
Segmenting is the mirror image of blending. Blending goes from sounds to a word (for reading). Segmenting goes from a word to sounds (for spelling).
Say the word map. Now say it slowly, like a robot: /m/ /a/ /p/. You have segmented it into three phonemes. To spell it, the child writes a grapheme for each sound: m, a, p.
Many teachers use sound fingers: hold up one finger for each sound as you say it, then write one grapheme per finger. A phoneme frame (a row of boxes, one per sound) does the same job on paper. Children quickly discover that ship needs only three boxes, because sh is one sound written with two letters.
Segmenting longer words is easier in chunks. Break sandwich into syllables first (sand-wich), then segment each part: /s/ /a/ /n/ /d/, /w/ /i/ /ch/.
Examples
| Word | Sounds | Spelling |
|---|---|---|
| dog | /d/ /o/ /g/ | d-o-g |
| sun | /s/ /u/ /n/ | s-u-n |
| chop | /ch/ /o/ /p/ | ch-o-p |
| stamp | /s/ /t/ /a/ /m/ /p/ | s-t-a-m-p |
| boat | /b/ /oa/ /t/ | b-oa-t |
| night | /n/ /igh/ /t/ | n-igh-t |
dog
sun
fish
frog
Common mistakes
- Missing sounds in clusters. Stamp is often written "stap". Say it very slowly and count again.
- One letter per sound in digraph words. Remind the child that two letters can make one sound, like sh or ee.
- Using letter names. Say the sound /k/, not "kay", while spelling.
- Right sounds, wrong choice of spelling. "Rane" for rain shows good segmenting; the next step is learning which spelling is used in which word.
Quick quiz
Segmenting
Check what you know with 4 quick questions.
Question 1 of 4
How many sounds are in the word frog?
Practise it
Try it
Build words sound by sound
For grown-ups
Related topics
Blending
Blending means saying the sounds in a written word one after another and pushing them together to hear the whole word, like /c/ /a/ /t/ → cat.
Phonics
Phonics teaches children to read and spell by linking sounds (phonemes) with the letters that write them (graphemes), then blending and segmenting those sounds.
Digraphs
A digraph is two letters that make one sound, like sh in ship, ch in chip, ck in duck or ai in rain.
Syllables
A syllable is a beat in a word, built around one vowel sound. Cat has one syllable, rab-bit has two, el-e-phant has three.
Tricky words
Tricky words are common words with a part that does not follow the phonics children know yet, like the, said, was and you. Children sound out the regular part and learn the tricky bit.
Homophones
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and usually different spellings, like there, their and they're, or see and sea.