Alphabetic Principle/Letter-sound Correspondence/

Graphophonemic Awareness/Phonics
Thompkins, pp. 155-179 (6th ed. 152-177)
What is alphabetic principle?

The ability to match letters and sounds; knowing the shapes of letters and names of
letters; knowing about irregularities in letter/sound correspondence
Better to study the orthography of words rather than one-to-one correspondence because
there is very little perfect one-to-one correspondence in English

What are some important terms to know?

Phonology-study of the sounds in speech

Orthography-study of spelling patterns in a language
Etymology-student of language/word origin
Grapheme-smallest unit of written language; a letter (there are 26 in English)
Phoneme-smallest unit of sound; there are 44 in English (there are over 500 ways to
make these 44 sounds)
Visual discrimination-ability to see similarities and differences in graphemes
Approximations-attempts of real reading and writing (invented spellings-approximations
of spelling)

What are some simple phonics rules to know?

Vowel Diphthong-two vowels glide from one sound to the other; examples are: oi
(noise); oy (boy); ou (sound); ow (cow)
Consonant Digraph-two consonants that come together to make one sound: examples are
sh (show); ch (child); th (the); wh (whale); ph (phoneme); gh (rough)
Vowel Digraphs- two vowels that come together to make one sound: examples are oo
(foot); au (sauce); ai (nail); ow (snow)
R-Controlled Vowel-when one or more vowel(s) is neither long nor short because of the
influence of an r: examples are ar (shark) and or (fork); other examples are more difficult
ear (fear, heard, bear, heart ) because the same three-letter spelling can have different
sounds, depending on their interactions with other letters.
Schwa-a vowel sound found in multisyllabic words that makes a sound like uh: examples
a (about) and i (pencil)
Blend-two sounds that are spoken together, but they still retain their original sound:
examples scold (/s/ /k/); blue (/b/ /l/); stop (/s/ /t/) spot (/s/ /p/); place (/p/ /l/)

How do we teach alphabetic principle?

1. Authentic activities with both exploratory and explicit methods of instruction.
a. Alphabetic principle instruction/learning can be accomplished at any phase of the
gradual release model of reading/writing instruction.
b. Limit generalized phonics rules to only those that work most often. See page
161 (6th ed. p. 158).
i. Sound of C, sound of g, sound of igh, sound of kn- and wr-, CVC vowel
sound, CVCe medial vowel sound, CV vowel sound in one-syllable
words, and r-controlled vowels
2. Research does tell us that systematic (based on a specific order) teaching is important.
a. For example, if children learn a few consonants and a few vowels, then they can
read and write a few simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words.
b. The key is that we want to get them reading and writing as quickly as possible.
See the sequence of instruction guide found on page 162 (6th ed. p. 160).
Just the basics about spelling

You will take an entire class to learn about spelling instruction (RDG 360), but here are
the basics for now:
o Stages of spelling instruction:
1. Emergent: scribbles and letter-like formations (approximations),
directionality, some letter knowledge with upper-case preferred, some
invented spelling
2. Letter Name-Alphabetic: alphabetic principle knowledge, knowledge of
consonant and vowel sounds, increased invented spelling
3. Within-Word Pattern: use but confuse some spelling patterns, vowel
pattern and complex consonant pattern knowledge
4. Syllables and Affixes: compound words, inflected endings, affixes
5. Derivational Relations: explore spelling in relation to meaning, complex
spelling patterns
o Notes about teaching spelling: word study based on ZPD, much practice with
reading and writing in context, and a room full of words (word walls, word sorts,
writing examples and experiences, word lists, etc.)
o Notes about ELLs: their knowledge of spelling grows much more slowly than
their knowledge of speaking or reading; teachers should learn about home
languages and focus on spelling contrasts; use the teaching notes above and focus
on spelling rules/concepts that dont exist in their own language