Which teaching method involves using known parts of words to decode unknown words?

The teaching method that involves using known parts of words to decode unknown words is analogy-based phonics. This approach encourages students to recognize familiar word patterns or word families when encountering new, unfamiliar words. For instance, if a learner knows the word "cat," they can use that knowledge to decode similar words like "hat" or "bat." This method emphasizes the relationship between words and builds on the student's existing knowledge to enhance their decoding skills.

In contrast, structural phonics focuses on teaching the sounds associated with individual letters and their combinations rather than enabling students to draw analogies from known words. Phonemic awareness involves understanding the individual sounds in words and is generally a precursor to phonics instruction, not directly related to decoding through known word parts. The whole language approach, on the other hand, emphasizes comprehension and the use of context, rather than a systematic method of phonics instruction. Thus, analogy-based phonics stands out as the method specifically geared towards utilizing known portions of words for decoding new ones.