Phonics I: Letter-Sound Relations

EDC424

Why teach letter-sound relations?

Case 1: What does this student struggle with?Words known

andbatcuthehot

momno

Words not knownanbutmenot

Good sight word knowledge, but it’s masking student’s lack of understanding of the alphabetic principle: (1) sounds are represented by letters and (2) those letters represent the sounds rather consistently

Case 2: What does she struggle with? Pseudoword

kotswipgandreeshubflate

meep

Child’s responsekas

gada…er

serfa

mech

Some knowledge of first sound in a syllable, but little ability to decode the vowel and final phoneme Needs: teach vowel sounds; how to blend sounds into a word; words need to make sense*

Case 3: What does this 3rd grader struggle with? Word

coldsoonwar

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paragraph

Child’s responsecouldsamewearfingercurtur

materialpotograph

Paying attention to beginning and final grapheme but ignores middle grapheme and pulls from words he knowsNeeds: attention to medial letters/sounds and monitoring

What do children need to know and be able to do to read words?

• Know the speech sounds associated with written letters in words

• Know how to put those sounds together to form a pronounceable word

• Have a strong sense of English spelling/writing patterns

• Recognize words rapidly

Isabel Beck, 2006

Principles of Teaching Letter-Sound Correspondence

1. Instruction should highlight letter-sound relationship at all positions in the word (e.g., beginning, middle, end)

2. Instruction should link phonemic awareness with letter sound correspondence

Three perspectives: 1. Phonemic awareness Decoding2. Decoding Phonemic awareness3. ** Phonemic Awareness Decoding No evidence that engaging children in sophisticated speech-

only tasks (substitution/manipulation) will improve decoding. In fact, some evidence that knowledge of letters helps complete these sophisticated tasks (Isabel Beck, 2006).

Isabel Beck, 2006

Letter-Sound Instruction• Sequence: Consonants > Vowels > Sounds represented

by more than one letter (ee, ai, ph, ng)• Lesson Sequence for Teaching Consonant Letter-Sound

Correspondence 1. Develop phonemic awareness by focusing on the sound

represented by a particular letter in the initial position.2. Connect the printed letter with the sound the letter

represents.3. Discriminate among words that have letter-sound in the initial

position and those that do not. 4. Develop phonemic awareness by focusing on the sound in the

final position. 5. Discriminate among words that have letter-sound in the final

position and those that do not.6. Discriminate among words that have the letter-sound in the

initial and final positions.

Isabel Beck, 2006

Vowel-Sound Correspondence(same as consonants but focus on initial & medial)

1. Focus on short vowel sound in initial position2. Connect sound with letter3. Discriminate words that have that vowel sound at

beginning and other words that do not4. Focus on short vowel sound in medial position5. Discriminate words that have that vowel sound in

the middle and other words that do not6. Discriminate among words that have the letter-

sound in the initial and final positions.

Isabel Beck, 2006

Once you teach, provide LOTS of practice (model, shared, interactive, guided, independent)

Model/Shared (Sharing Circle > Centers) • Mrs. Jones’ Kindergarten Letter Names and Letter

Sounds• Song Lyrics for Children (more on YouTube) Guided/Independent (Center activities) • Read Write Think: Picture Match• Starfall: ABC AlphabetMonitor/Reteach• PALS Phonological Awareness Literacy Activities (that

correlate with PALS assessment)

Empty versions of slides for handouts

Case 1: What does this student struggle with?Words known

andbatcuthehot

momno

Words not knownanbutmenot

Case 2: What does she struggle with? Pseudoword

kotswipgandreeshubflate

meep

Child’s responsekas

gada…er

serfa

mech

Case 3: What does this 3rd grader struggle with? Word

coldsoonwar

figurecertainmineral

paragraph

Child’s responsecouldsamewearfingercurtur

materialpotograph