What approach begins instruction with the identification of a familiar word?

The approach that begins instruction with the identification of a familiar word is known as analytic phonics. This method focuses on teaching children by starting with whole words that they recognize, breaking those words down into their constituent sounds or phonemes, and then analyzing those sounds in the context of the words.

In this approach, students are encouraged to look at words they already know and dissect them to understand their spelling and pronunciation, rather than starting with individual sounds and building words from them as in other phonics methods. This helps learners connect new vocabulary to their existing knowledge, thereby enhancing their understanding of word structure and improving their reading skills.

In contrast, other approaches like phonemic awareness emphasize the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in spoken words without necessarily linking them to written words. Synthetic phonics starts with individual sounds and teaches students to blend those sounds together to form words, which is different from analyzing already known words. The whole language method emphasizes comprehension and context over phonics, focusing on reading as a holistic experience rather than breaking down words for phonetic understanding.