Which type of literacy instruction focuses on the relationship between sounds and letters?

Phonics instruction is centered around the relationship between sounds (phonemes) and letters or groups of letters (graphemes). This approach teaches students to decode written language by understanding how sounds correspond to letters, which is fundamental for reading development. For instance, when children learn the letter "b" makes the sound /b/, they can begin to decode words that contain that letter by blending its sound with others. Phonics not only helps in reading fluency but also aids in spelling and writing, as students become more aware of the patterns and rules that govern the relationship between sounds and letters.

Contrastingly, whole language instruction emphasizes comprehension and meaning-making through exposure to literature and whole texts, often downplaying the systematic teaching of sound-letter relationships. Contextual learning involves acquiring knowledge through context and practical experiences rather than formal instruction of phoneme-grapheme connections. Literary analysis focuses on interpreting and analyzing texts rather than decoding them, which is not aligned with sound-letter correspondence.