During the grade span, phonics and word recognition
instruction focuses on knowledge of letter-sound and
spelling-sound correspondences and, during grade one,
use of that knowledge to decode regular one- and two-
syllable words (that is, those that follow basic patterns).
General guidelines for teaching the correspondences and
early decoding follow; however, it is important to note that
children and their prior experiences with print at home,
in their communities, and in other educational settings
vary. This means the generalizations presented here may
have more or less applicability to individual children. These
generalizations may be most helpful in providing instruction
to children who are experiencing difficulty learning letter-
sound correspondences and basic decoding.- Capitalize on children’s knowledge of letter names. Letter-sound correspondences are generally
more difficult to learn in cases where the letter name does not contain the relevant phoneme
(letter sound). For example, the letter name for h is not pronounced with the sound /h/.
Likewise, the pronunciation of the letter name for w provides no clue to the corresponding
sound, /w/. Easier to learn are letter-sound correspondences for letters in which the name of
the letter contains the sound. Furthermore, there is evidence that letters for which the letter
sound is heard in the initial position of the corresponding letter names are easier to learn than
those for which the letter sound is heard in the final position. For example, the letter name for
b is pronounced /bē/, z is /zē/, and k is /kā/. The sounds are heard in the initial position of the
letter name. In contrast, the letter name for m is pronounced /ĕm/ and f is pronounced /ĕf/.
The sounds are heard in the final position of the letter name. The former—sounds in the initial
position of the letter name—are generally easier to learn than the latter (Treiman, Pennington,
Shriberg, and Boada 2008). - Avoid distorting sounds. For example, the phoneme /m/ is pronounced /mmm/, not /muh/.
- Be very clear when introducing letter-sound correspondences that are easily confused visually
(e.g., b, p, d, q) or auditorily (e.g., /p/, /b/, /v/ and /ĕ/, /ĭ/). Draw explicit attention to the
similarities and differences. - Teach high-utility letter sounds early in the instructional
sequence (e.g., /m/, /s/, /ă/, /t/). These are ones that can
be used to form many beginning one-syllable words. - Include a few short vowels early in the sequence so that
students can use letter-sound knowledge to form and
decode words. - Introduce several continuous sounds early (e.g., /l/, /r/,
/s/) because they can be elongated easily and so facilitate
blending. Stop sounds (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/), more difficult
in the initial position, may be used in the final position of
words. - Introduce simple word reading as soon as children have learned a small number of letter-sound
correspondences. Generally, begin with one-syllable words (containing letter sounds that have
been taught) that have a continuous sound in the initial position, such as VC (vowel-consonant)
words, (e.g., am and on) and some CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, (e.g., rat and fun)
because continuous sounds can be elongated, making them easier to blend with subsequent
sounds. (Note: All vowel sounds are continuous.)
During the grade span,
phonics and word recognition
instruction focuses on
knowledge of letter-sound and
spelling-sound correspondences
and, during grade one, use
of that knowledge to decode
regular one- and two-syllable
words (that is, those that follow
basic patterns).Be very clear when
introducing letter-sound
correspondences that are
easily confused visually (e.g.,
b, p, d, q) or auditorily (e.g.,
/p/, /b/, /v/ and /ĕ/, /ĭ/). Draw
explicit attention to the
similarities and differences.Transitional Kindergarten to Grade 1 Chapter 3 | 159