Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of effective phonics instruction?

Effective phonics instruction is based on the understanding that students should learn to decode words using sound-symbol relationships, which is foundational to reading. This promotes a systematic and explicit approach to teaching phonics, where students are guided through the sounds associated with letters and letter combinations.

Focusing on sound-symbol relationships allows students to make connections between spoken sounds and their written representations, fostering better reading and spelling skills. Encouraging sound blending further aids students in combining individual sounds (phonemes) into words, which is a critical skill for reading fluently.

In contrast, emphasizing guesswork undermines the structured approach of phonics instruction. Guesswork does not build the necessary decoding skills and can lead to reliance on context clues rather than on the systematic application of phonics knowledge, which is essential for reading proficiency. This makes choice A the clear option that does not align with effective phonics instruction characteristics.