WAYS OF DEVELOPING ENGLISH WORD DECODING SKILLS AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

Abstract: This article examines the development of English word decoding skills among primary school pupils and highlights the role of systematic phonics instruction in establishing the foundations of early English reading. Particular attention is given to the relationship between grapheme–phoneme correspondence, phonological awareness, phoneme segmentation, phoneme blending, and decoding accuracy and fluency. The article discusses the methodological challenges associated with learning to read English as a foreign language, particularly due to the complex and often inconsistent relationship between English spelling and pronunciation. It emphasizes that teaching pupils to recognize and memorize words as whole units alone may not sufficiently prepare them to decode unfamiliar words independently. Therefore, systematic instruction that enables learners to establish sound–letter correspondences, segment words into individual phonemes, blend sounds into complete words, and apply these skills in meaningful reading contexts is considered essential. Drawing on the approaches discussed by Koda (2007), Blachman (2007), Woore (2009), and Rognan et al. (2026), the article outlines a gradual sequence for developing decoding skills, beginning with sound–letter correspondence and progressing towards phoneme analysis, blending, accurate and fluent decoding, contextualized reading, and the integration of reading and writing. The article concludes that systematic phonics instruction may provide a valuable methodological foundation for strengthening primary school pupils’ ability to decode unfamiliar English words and for supporting the subsequent development of reading fluency and written language skills.