Alphabetic Principle

EDRD 6600

Alphabetic Principle Alphabetic Understanding: Words are composed

of letters that represent sounds. Phonological Recoding: Using systematic

relationships between letters and phonemes (letter-sound correspondence) to retrieve the pronunciation of an unknown printed string or to spell words. Regular word reading Irregular word reading Advanced word analysis

Definitions Alphabetic Awareness: Knowledge of letters of the

alphabet coupled with the understanding that the alphabet represents the sounds of spoken language and the correspondence of spoken sounds to written language.

Alphabetic Understanding: Understanding that the left-to-right spellings of printed words represent their phonemes from first to last.

Decodable Text: Text in which the majority of words can be identified using their most common sounds.

Definitions Cont. Decoding: The process of using letter-sound

correspondences to recognize words. Grapheme: the individual letter or sequence of

written symbols (e.g., a, b, c,) and the multi-letter units (e.g., ch, sh, th) that are used to represent a single phoneme.

Irregular Word: A word that cannot be decoded because either the sounds of the letters are unique to that word or the student has not yet learned the letter-sound correspondences in the word.

Regular Word Reading Beginning decoding

Read from left to right, simple, unfamiliar regular words

Generate the sounds for all letters Blend sounds into recognizable words

Beginning spelling Translate speech to print using phonemic

awareness and knowledge of letter-sounds

Importance of Word Reading Our language is alphabetic Decoding is an essential and primary

means of recognizing words There are simply too many words in the

English language to rely on memorization as a primary word identification strategy

Importance of Word Reading in Text

A primary goal of beginning reading instruction is to prepare students to read text fluently so that they are able to construct meaning as the read.

Irregular Words Do Not introduce irregular words until students

can reliably decode words at a rate of one letter-sound per second.

Initially, introduce one word every several lessons, then one each second or third lesson

Irregular words require systematic review. New words should appear in word-list exercises for several days, then appear in either or both passages and word-list exercises. .

Advanced Word Analysis Knowledge of advanced word analysis

skills is essential if students are to progress in their knowledge of the alphabetic writing system and gain the ability to read fluently and broadly.

Advanced Word Analysis Letter Combination: A group of

consecutive letters that represents a particular sound(s) in the majority of words in which it appears.

VCe Pattern Word: Word pattern in which a single vowel is followed by a consonant, which, in turn, is followed by a final e (e.g., lake, stripe, and smile).

Letter-Sound Correspondence Example: Teacher points to letter m on the

board. “The sound of this letter is /mmmmmm/. Tell me the sound of this letter.”

Conspicuous Strategies: Teacher actions should make the task explicit. Use consistent and brief wording.

Mediated ScaffoldingSeparate auditorily and visually similar lettersIntroduce some continuous sounds earlyIntroduce letters that can be used to build many wordsIntroduce lower case letters first unless upper case letters are similar in configuration

Strategic Integration – Simple Before Complex

Once students can identify the sound of the letter on 2 successive trials, include the new letter-sound correspondence with 6-8 other letter sounds

When students can identify 4-6 letter-sound correspondences in 2 seconds each, include these letters in single-syllable, CVC, decodable words

Review Cumulatively and JudiciouslyUse a distributed review cycle to build retention:

NKNKKNNKKKKNN = new sound; K = known soundExample (r= new sound; m, s, t, I, f, a = known sounds): r m r s t r r i f a m r

Sounding Out Words Example: Teacher points to the word map on the board, touches

under each sound as the students sound it out, and slashes finger under the word as students say it fast. “Sound it out.” (/mmmmmmmmaaaaaap/) “Say it fast. “ (map)

Conspicuous Strategies: Students orally produce each sound in a word and sustain that

sound as they progress to the next. Students must be taught to put those sounds together to make a

whole word Students sound out the letter-sound correspondences “in their

head” or silently and then produce the whole word.

Mediated Scaffolding: For students to learn and apply knowledge of letter-sound correspondences and use that knowledge to reliably decode words, words must be carefully selected for both the letters in the words and the complexity of the words.

Letters in words for initial sounding-out instruction should:

consist of continuous sounds as these sounds can be prolonged in the voice stream

be ones students know

Words in sounding-out practice and instruction should:

Progress from short vowel-consonant and CVC (2-3 letter) words in which letters represent their most common sounds to longer words (4-5 – phoneme words) in which letters represent their most common sound

Not contain consonant blends (e.g., /st/, /tr/, /pl/) until students are proficient with CVC configurations

Begin with continuous sounds in early exercises to facilitate blending. Stop sounds may be used in final positions of words.

Represent vocabulary and concepts in which students are familiar.

Judicious Review

Prior to reading the words, review the letter-sound correspondences that have been recently introduced or are problematic for learners

As you progress to each new phase of word reading (sounding out>saying whole word>sounding out the word in your head), students may need a reminder of the procedure

Once students learn a number of word types (e.g., CVC with continuous, CVCC with continuous, CVC with stop), include examples of all taught word types in the list

Keep word lists to a manageable length (6-8 words per list)

Reading Connected Text Accurately and Fluently Instructional Design Considerations A primary goal of beginning reading instruction

is to prepare learners to read passages in order to communicate that print has purpose and meaning

Once students can accurately decode CVC and VC word types, these words should be introduced in short, highly controlled passages

Do Not assume that learners will automatically transfer from reading words correctly in lists to reading words in passages.

Conspicuous Strategies – 2 components

First component: teacher provides direct wording for students to “figure out the word, say the sounds in the word to yourself.” This component generally lasts 1-2 weeks.

Second component of transitioning to passage reading involves a modified prompt where teachers give a direction at the beginning of the passage.For example, the teacher says, “Figure of the first word” and then asks students to read the word. Note the prompting to say the sounds is eliminated.

A final technique is to increase the pace of word reading. In initial passage reading exercises, allow 3 seconds of “think time” per word. As students become proficient (I.e., reading the passage with no error), reduce the think time to 2 seconds and later to 1.5 seconds.

Mediated Scaffolding

Ensure students can read the words in lists at a rate of one word per 3 seconds

Include only words students can decode in passages

Include repeated opportunities to read passages to develop accuracy and fluency

Make clear the connections between sounding out the words in lists and reading those words in passages

Progress form the highly prompted sight reading strategy to the less-prompted strategy

Reduce the time for sight reading words from 3 seconds to 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds

Tasks Illustrating Alphabetic Understanding

Letter-sound associations: What is the sound of this letter?

Soundblending: Blend the sounds of these letters to make the word /mmmmmaaannn/.

Segmenting: What sounds do you hear in this word?

Manipulating letter-sound correspondences in words: What word would you have if you change the /n/ in /nap/?

Reading pseudowords What is this word, mip? Word identification: What is this word, map?

Considerations for Selecting Materials

Letter-Sounds Separate auditorily and/or visually similar letters

(e.g., e/i, d/b) Introduce some continuous sounds early (e.g., /m/,

/s/) Teach the sounds of letters that can be used to build

many words (e.g., m, s, a, t). Introduce lower case letters first unless upper case

letters are similar in configuaration (e.g., similar: S, s, U, u, W, w; Dissimilar: R, r, T, t, F, f)

Acceptable Sequence for Introducing Letters

a m t s i f d r o g l h u c b n k v e w j p y

T L M F D I N A R H G B x q z J E Q

Features of Letter-Sound Correspondence Instruction

Are easily confused sounds separated over several lessons? (d/b/p, e/i, m/n)

Are letter-sounds that occur in a large number of words introduced early in the sequence?

Is the rate of letter-sound correspondence introduction manageable for the learner but adequate to allow multiple words to be made within 2-3 weeks?

Does the sequence include a few short vowels early to allow students to build words?

Does the sequence begin with several continuous sounds.

What I Expect Students in Kindergarten to Demonstrate

Letter-Sound Correspondence Identifies the letter when someone produces the

corresponding sound Says the most common sound associated with

individual letters Decoding

Blends the sounds of individual letters to read one-syllable, short-vowel, decodable words (e.g., sun; map)

Sight-Word Reading Recognizes some words by sight including a few

common, high-frequency words (e.g., a, the, I , my, you, of, is are)

What I Expect Students in First Grade to Demonstrate

Letter-Sound and Letter-Combination Knowledge Produces the sounds associated with all individual letters

fluently (e.g., 1 letter-sound per second) Produces the sounds that correspond to frequently used

letter combinations (e.g., sh, er, th) Decoding

Decodes words with consonant blends (e.g., mask, slip, play)

Decodes words with letter combinations accurately (diagraphs: fish, bath, chin; common letter combinations: book, farm, toy)

Decoding in First Grade Cont. Uses knowledge of individual letter-sound

correspondences and letter-combinations to read regular monosyllabic words fluently (e.g., mask, skip, play, fish, them, chin, at a rate of one word every 1 to 1.5 seconds)

Reads words with common words parts (e.g., ing, all, ike)

Sight Word ReadingIncreases knowledge of common sight words and reads them automatically (e.g., have, would, there, said)

What I Expect Students in Second Grade to Demonstrate

Letter-Sound Knowledge Produces the sounds that correspond to frequently used

dipthongs ou, oy, and digraphs sh, th, ea Decoding and Word Recognition

Uses knowledge of advanced phonic elements (e.g., digraphs and dipthongs), special vowel spelling, and word endings to recognize words

Reads compound words, contractions, possessives, and words with inflectional endings

Uses word context (semantics: Does it make sense?) and order in the sentence (syntax: Does it sound right?)

Reads multisyllabic words (2-3 syllables) using syllabication and word structure (e.g., base/root word, prefixes, and suffixes) in word recognition

Sight Word Reading: Increases the # words read accurately and quickly