What is synthetic instruction primarily focused on in phonics teaching?

Synthetic instruction in phonics teaching primarily emphasizes the process of blending individual sounds, or phonemes, together to form words. This approach involves teaching students to identify the sounds associated with letters and then combine these sounds sequentially to create whole words. For example, a student might learn to say the sounds /c/, /a/, and /t/ and then blend them to pronounce the word "cat."

This method is foundational for developing decoding skills, as it equips students with the tools to sound out unfamiliar words independently. By focusing on the synthesis of sounds into words, synthetic instruction lays the groundwork for future reading proficiency, enabling learners to tackle increasingly complex texts. The approach contrasts with analytic instruction, which might focus more on breaking down known words into their constituent parts or working with context to derive meaning, but synthetic instruction specifically zeroes in on the blending aspect of phonics.