Secondly, they must have the opportunity to practise these phonic generalizations in text which is controlled for regularity to a reasonable degree. Phonics encourages children to seek patterns of letters they can recognize. Students also must be able to blend the letters or letter clusters. The beginning reader approximates the word by sounding it out, and then matching that approximation to a real word which fits the meaning of the sentence. This requires teaching, and time for adequate practice, and children vary in the amount of practice needed to achieve mastery.
Continuous blends make it easier to telescope the sounds into a real word.
Oral reading practice provides the teacher with opportunities to provide corrective feedback to students. Children need sufficient practice and review to develop automatic recognition. This requires overlearning, which in turn means that care is needed in selecting reading material which provides this practice. Those children who learn quickly can refine and extend their abilities in a broader based literature program, rather than progressing lock-step . As little as is possible to allow the child entry into the world of successful and enjoyable reading.