The Alphabetic Principle
Effective Strategies For Early Readers
Definition
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The alphabetic principle
involves the understanding that
letters represent sounds and
that the sounds of letters are
combined to form words.
It is also understood that there
is a connection between spoken
sounds and written language.
The alphabetic principle is the
concept that each letter of the
alphabet has one or two
sounds associated with it and
that these letter-sound
relationships are stable. This
means that children become
used to the idea that the B in
the name Brent makes the
same sound in the words ball,
baby, and cab.
Why is the Alphabetic Principle important?
Research Says:
 Letter-sound
knowledge is
prerequisite to
effective word
identification. A
primary difference
between good and
poor readers is the
ability to use lettersound correspondence
to identify words (Juel,
1991)
Why is the Alphabetic Principle important?
Research Says:
 The combination of
instruction in
phonological
awareness and lettersounds appears to be
the most favorable for
successful early
reading (Haskell,
Foorman, & Swank,
1992)
 Good readers must
have a strategy to
phonologically recode
words (Ehri, 1991;
NRP, 2000)
Why is the Alphabetic Principle important?
Research Says:

As children begin to read
they must develop knowledge
of how print works. Key to
this understanding is
knowledge of the alphabetic
system. In order for children
to successfully learn to read
they must be able to relate
the sounds of language with
the letters of written
language. The alphabetic
principle is often regarded as
the biggest obstacle
preventing children from
learning to read. (Snow, C.E.,
Burns, M.S., & Griffin, P. ,
1998)
Teaching the Alphabetic Principle:
Critical Alphabetic
Principle skills
students should
learn:
 Letter-Sound
Correspondences
 Sounding Out Words
 Reading Connected
Text
Letter-Sound Correspondences
 An excellent source for learning lettersound relationships in the Emerging
Reading Phase is the use of Alphabet Flash
cards that show letters of the alphabet and
corresponding pictures.
 Pictorial representations of a letter and
sound help the child to establish
letter/sound correspondence
 Example:
(Teacher points to letter m on board). "The
sound of this letter is /mmmmm/. Tell me
the sound of this letter.“
Letter-Sound Correspondences
The Alphabet Song
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Sing the alphabet song on a
regular basis but vary the
ways that you do this. For
example:
point to the letters of the
alphabet as children sing.
vary the speed at which you
sing.
sing the alphabet backwards
sometimes.
tell the children to watch you
and stop singing whenever
you stop moving the pointer.
Ask, "What letter did I stop
on?"
Letter-Sound Correspondences
The Alphabet Song
Variations:
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Demonstrate singing the
sounds that the letters
make instead of singing
the names of the letters.
Another variation would
be to sing a short vowel
with each consonant,
asking children to not sing
the other vowels when
they come to them. For
example when using the
'short a' sound, sing "A,
ba, ca, da, __, fa, …" and
so on.
Letter-Sound Correspondences
Alphabet Games
 Pass out your
laminated alphabet
cards--one per child.
Display any that are
left over on the board
ledge… Sing the
alphabet song slowly.
Each child stand up
when her/his letter is
sung. Distribute the
cards randomly
whenever you repeat
this activity so that no
child is always A or
always Z.
Letter-Sound Correspondences
Instructional Design Considerations
 Teach tasks explicitly.
 Introduce continuous
sounds early on (IE.
/mmmm/).
 Practice letters that
sound and look
familiar. (b & d)
 Introduce common
letters early to allow
students to form as
many words as
possible.
 Introduce lower case
letters first.
 Build learned letters
into new, more
complex letter
configurations.
 Use a distributed
review cycle to build
retention:
NKNKKNNKKKKN (New
Sound, Known Sound)
Examples of Tasks Illustrating
Alphabetic Understanding
 Letter-sound associations: What is the sound of
this letter?
 Soundblending: Blend the sounds of these letters to
make a word /mmmmmaaaaaappp/.
 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/ to /l/?
 Reading pseudowords: What is this word, mip?
 Word identification: What is this word, map?
Alphabet Activities
 Alphabet Arch
 Alphabet Tracking Strip
 Font Sorts and Matching
Capital and Lowercase
letters
 Letter and Word Hunts
 Name Games: "Who has
this Letter in their
Name?"( use pictures)
 Sensory Exploration of
Letters (sandpaper
letters, felt letters,
magnetic letters, sand,
clay etc,)
Letter Of The Week Routines
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In each group, which words
begin with the "M m" sound?
Which word has a different
sound at the beginning? What
sound does it begin with?
mail, milk, book
Which words in these
sentences begin with the "M m"
sound? Melissa put money in
her piggy bank.
Play a Word Guessing game.
Your answers should begin with
the "M m" sound.
a. What is white, good to drink,
and comes from a cow?
_______ (milk)
b. What does a cat say?
_______ (meow)
Make a list of friends, relatives
and favorite storybook
characters with a name that
begins with the "M m" sound.