What does phonics study?

• A. Relationships between letters and sounds
• B. A method for decoding by analyzing sentence structure
• C. A system of reading comprehension strategies
• D. A measure of reading fluency

Answer: (A)

Phonics focuses on how letters map to sounds and how those sounds blend to form words, so readers can decode print by translating written symbols into spoken language. This mapping between letters (or letter combinations) and sounds is what enables sounding out unfamiliar words and building reading accuracy. For example, recognizing that "sh" represents one sound and that "a" can be a short /a/ sound helps read words like "ship" and "cat." The other options describe different aspects of reading—grammar and sentence structure for decoding, broad comprehension strategies for understanding text, and fluency measures for reading speed and ease—none of which focus on the letter-sound relationships that phonics studies.