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Phonics instruction is fundamentally aimed at helping students develop their ability to decode unfamiliar words. This skill is crucial for reading proficiency because phonics teaches children the relationship between letters and sounds, enabling them to sound out words they have never encountered before. Through systematic phonics instruction, students learn to recognize phonemes (the smallest units of sound) and blend them to form words, which enhances their overall reading comprehension and fluency.

While benefits such as improved integration of literature, social-emotional learning, and creative writing are important in an educational context, they are not the primary focus of phonics instruction. The core purpose of phonics is to equip students with the skills necessary to independently tackle new vocabulary, thereby facilitating their development as confident readers. This foundational ability is critical, as it directly influences a student's capacity to engage with more complex texts and promotes lifelong learning and literacy skills.