A phonogram is a letter or combination of letters that represent a sound.

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How Phonograms Work

In spelling, each sound in a word is represented by a phonogram. Let's take the word past. If you pronounce the word slowly to hear the individual sounds, you will hear four different sounds: /p/–/ă/–/s/–/t/. For each sound, we write down a phonogram: p a s t.

That was an easy example. Here are some more examples:

• The word big has three sounds (/b/–/ĭ/–/g/) and three phonograms (b, i, g).

• The word bridge has four sounds (/b/–/r/–/ĭ/–/j/) and, therefore, four phonograms (b, r, i, dge).

• The word high has two sounds (/h/–/ī/) and, therefore, two phonograms (h, igh).

 

So you can see that the number of letters in a word doesn’t necessarily correspond to the number of phonograms. Why? Because of the multi-letter phonograms. One sound is represented by one phonogram, but that phonogram may have two or more letters.

 

Why Teach the Phonograms?

If a student knows the phonograms and which sounds they represent, spelling is much easier.

If he knows that the sound /j/ is spelled with dge after a short vowel, spelling the word bridge becomes simple. He does not need to remember b-r-i-d-g-e as a string of letters. Instead, each sound is simply represented by a phonogram.

 

Source: www.allaboutlearningpress.com