Which of the following best describes "synthetic phonics"?

Synthetic phonics is an instructional approach that emphasizes the process of breaking down words into their individual phonemes—the smallest units of sound in spoken language. This method involves teaching students how to segment words into these phonemes, and then blend them back together to read the words. For example, in the word "cat," students would be taught to identify and articulate the sounds /k/, /æ/, and /t/ individually before combining them to pronounce the word.

This approach is grounded in the idea that understanding the relationship between letters and sounds is critical for effective reading and spelling. By focusing on these foundational skills, synthetic phonics helps students develop the ability to decode new words, thereby bolstering their overall reading competency. In contrast, recognizing whole words, contextual reading, and using pictures serve different instructional purposes that do not align with the focus of synthetic phonics on phoneme manipulation and decoding.