Graphophonic cues involve a reader' s knowledge of sound-spelling relationships. Phonics instruction helps children to use these cues. Syntactic cues involve a reader's knowledge of the grammar or structure of language. These cues do NOT help children sound out words. Rather, this knowledge helps the reader to predict what type of word might appear in a certain place in a sentence.
Semantic cues involve a reader's knowledge of the world.
This knowledge helps the reader to use cues in the text to discover the meaning of a word that fits into a specific place in a particular sentence. Readers use their semantic knowledge to determine if a text makes sense. Read our Privacy Policy Statement .