Phonics, Word Recognition,
and Spelling
Sharon Walpole
University of Delaware
Overview of the Session
• Look at development of the alphabetic principle in a
child’s natural writing
• Discuss stages in reading and spelling development
• Review principles of, strategies for, and research on
phonics instruction
• Look at reflection of the alphabetic principle in a child’s
developmental spelling assessments
• Review some basic concepts about the spelling system
that are helpful for teachers to know
• Consider strategies for developing teacher knowledge in
this area
Children’s spellings can give us insight into
their knowledge of the characteristics of an
alphabetic orthography.
From spellings, we can document what
children know, what they can do, and what
they need to learn.
TRNSX
“tyrannosaurus rex”
October, Kindergarten
What does the child
Know?
Need?
What does the child
Know?
Upper case letter
formation
At least some letter
sounds
Syllable-level
segmentation
Need?
Lower case letters?
Firm letter sounds?
Onset-rime
segmentation?
HTUT SAT NO DWO
WOW
“Humpty Dumpty sat on
a wall
(and I made the O into a
pumpkin!)”
October, Kindergarten
What does the child
Know?
Need?
What does the child
Know?
Upper case letter
formation
At least some letter
sounds
Syllable-level
segmentation
Need?
Concepts about
print?
Concept of word?
Fin you dot limi wrking
you ovwas s locat the
mes you mad
“Fine. You don’t like my
working. You always
say look at the mess
you made.”
Summer Between Kindergarten
and First
What does the child
Know?
Full phonemic
segmentation
Some sight words
Need?
Preconsonantal
nasals
Long vowel markers
What does the child
Know?
Need?
I like gowin g to the
moves with my mom
September, First Grade
What does the child
Know?
Need?
What does the child
Know?
Upper and lower
case letters
Sentence formation
High frequency
words
Need?
Support with spacing
WONS A BOY NAMDE
DAVY FIDID INDEIDS
HE HAD A GON AND
A NIF HE WOS the
KING of the WIYD
FROTTER TER
October, First Grade
What does the child
Know?
Story language
Combination of
conventional
spellings and
invented spellings;
Easy to interpret
Need?
Spacing
Periods
Indentation
Word with upper and
lower case
-ed morpheme
Short vowels
What does the child
Know?
Need?
I like horsis
The beste
I like anomols.
November, First Grade
What does the child
Know?
Upper case letter
formation
At least some letter
sounds
Syllable-level
segmentation
Need?
Lower case letters?
Firm letter sounds?
Onset-rime
segmentation?
What does the child
Know?
Need?
I like to ski on the hill.
I like green eggs and
ham.
January, First Grade
What does the child
Know?
Conventional
spellings for many
words
Simple sentence
structure
Upper and lower
case
Need?
More varied
sentence-level
composing
What does the child
Know?
Need?
February, First Grade
Onc my brother had a dream. We had a
krab. We boet the krab that day. That
same knite the krab crold on my brothers
head and he dreamd abuot that crab. He
wock up and said I dremd abuot a krab.
What does the child
Know?
Story language
Sentence structures
Some long vowel
markers
Sentence wrapping
Need?
/K/ sound in initial
and final position
Low-frequency vowel
patterns
-ed morpheme
What does the child
Know?
Need?
Today at library we talkt
about Sinthiea
Riyhlent. She had a
real dog naemd
mudge. And she rote
abuot Henry and
mudge. A subetot
came in and read us
a henry and mudge
book.
March, First Grade
What does the child
Know?
Many long vowel
markers
Sentence wrapping
Need?
Diphthong ou
Morpheme -ed
What does the child
Know?
Need?
My uncel came on
Saterday. He was the
kcick me chaimpieon.
He juggled 585 times
in a row. He was the
best in the word back
then. He realy was!!!!
April, First Grade
What does the child
Know?
Punctuation
Story structure
Need?
Open/closed
syllables
Cle syllables
/k/ sound
Final l-blends
What does the child
Know?
Need?
The watercress seeds
are poiting towerd the
window because it
needs sun. We are
going to be able to
eat them at the end of
school.
May, First Grade
What does the child
Know?
Longer, complex
sentence structures
Need?
Preconsonantal nasal
Capitals v. lower
case
General Questions
• Do you have adequate understanding of
developmental issues in reading and spelling?
• Do you have adequate understanding of the role
of decoding in word recognition and spelling?
• Does your reading program include adequate
attention to instruction in phonics and decoding?
• Does your reading program include a sensible
plan for assessment of phonics knowledge and
decoding skills?
• Does your reading program include adequate
attention to intervention in decoding?
General Plan
• Who needs phonics instruction? When?
– A look at literacy ages and stages
• Instructional strategies for teaching
phonics
• Research on phonics instruction
• Building a knowledge base for teaching
phonics
Development of
Reading
Emergent Stage: Before children have a
concept of word
Beginning Stage: As children are building a
sight vocabulary
Instructional Stage: Continues through years-advances with instruction
Transitional reader: Begin to read silently and
read/write with greater fluency
Intermediate and Advanced: Read to learn and write
to convey meaning
Stages in Beginning Reading
Ehri (1997)
• Pre-alphabetic
Uses environmental and visual cues
• Partial alphabetic
Reads words by forming connections between only
some of the letters
• Full alphabetic
Reads words by forming complete connections
because child can segment to the phoneme
• Consolidated alphabetic
Reads words by chunking (morphemes, syllables,
etc.)
Ehri, L. (1997). Sight word learning in normal readers and dyslexics. In B. Blachman
(Ed.), Foundations of reading acquisition and dyslexia: Implications for early
intervention (pp. 163-189). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Stages in Beginning Spelling
Gentry (1982)
• Precommunicative
Pictures or Letters, but random
• Semiphonetic
Abbreviated spellings, some sounds represented
• Phonetic
All sounds represented
• Transitional
Long vowels marked, but not always correctly
• Conventional Spelling
Mostly correct spellings
Gentry, J.R. (1982). An analysis of spelling development in GYNS AT WRK. The
Reading Teacher, 36, 192-200.
Reading and Spelling Development
Incidental Visual Cues
Letter name knowledge
Partial phoneme awareness
Grapheme-phoneme connections
Recognition of chunks
Full phoneme awareness
Decoding easily sound by sound and by analogy
Phoneme, morpheme, speech-print connections
Phoneme and morpheme awareness
How does developmental data
inform instruction?
• Core instruction mirrors developmental
sequence
• Assessments identify developmental
status
• Needs-based and intervention programs
accelerate development for struggling
readers
What does this development
really look like?
Take a few minutes to put some
developmental milestones for kindergarten
and first grade in order based on your
knowledge of beginning reading.
Notice the relationships between alphabet
knowledge, phonemic awareness, reading,
and spelling.
Principles of Good Phonics
Instruction
Good phonics instruction should develop the
alphabetic principle.
Good phonics instruction should develop
phonological awareness.
Good phonics instruction should provide a
thorough grounding in the letters.
Good phonics instruction should not teach rules,
need not use worksheets, should not dominate
instruction, and does not have to be boring.
Stahl, Duffy-Hester, & Stahl, 1998
Good phonics instruction provides sufficient
practice in reading words, both in isolation
and in stories, and in writing words, both
from dictation and using invented spelling.
Good phonics instruction leads to automatic
word recognition.
Good phonics instruction is one part of a
reading program.
Stahl, Duffy-Hester, & Stahl, 1998
To what extent does the phonics instruction
in your setting honor these principles?
What strategies might you use to improve
it?
Take time to identify the most common
instructional approaches to teaching
phonics.
To what extent are these approaches
reflected in your phonics curriculum, either
singly or in combination?
Approaches
Analogy-based
approaches
DISTAR
Orton-Gillingham
Word Study
Sources
Irene Gaskins, Benchmark
Word ID
Engleman and Bruner;
Reading Mastery
Spaulding, Recipe for
Reading, Slingerland
Words their Way; Word
Journeys
Approaches
Sources
Making Words
Cunningham
Synthetic approaches
Workbooks?
Analytic approaches
Teachable moments?
Error analysis
Reading Recovery
What does SBRR say about
phonics instruction?
No matter what
the type or types,
it has to be systematic
and explicit
Goes in a preset,
logical
order.
The teacher and the child
are clear about the
element under study.
National Reading Panel Report
General question:
What do we know about
phonics instruction
with sufficient
confidence to
recommend for
classroom use?
NRP, 2000
Method
Meta-analysis
Statistical method for combining
the results from a collection of
program evaluations to reach
an overall conclusion about
program effects
NRP, 2000
Sources
38 studies
Some type of phonics instruction
compared with unsystematic or nonphonics instruction
School-based rather than laboratorybased curricula
Measure of reading
Not used in the PA meta-analysis
NRP, 2000
Coding Variables
Characteristics of
training
Characteristics of
participants
Type of phonics
Type of control group
Training unit (tutoring, smallgroup, whole-class)
Length of training
Grade
Reading ability
SES
NRP, 2000
Findings
Systematic phonics instruction had a
significant effect on children’s reading
achievement compared to controls.
Synthetic, larger-unit (onset-rime), and other
phonics programs all were more effective
than controls, but no one type of
instruction or instructional program was
significantly more effective.
NRP, 2000
Tutoring, small groups, and whole classes
are all effective delivery systems for
phonics instruction.
Phonics instruction is more effective when it
occurs in kindergarten and first grade than
later.
Phonics instruction is effective for at-risk
kindergarteners, at-risk first graders, and
disabled students. The findings for older
weak readers are confusing.
NRP, 2000
Phonics instruction improves students’ ability
to read real words, pseudowords, and
irregular words (to a lesser extent).
Phonics instruction improves reading
comprehension in kindergarteners, first
graders, and disabled readers, but not
necessarily in older readers.
Phonics instruction improves spelling in
kindergarten and first grade, but not for
older readers.
NRP, 2000
Phonics instruction is effective for children at
different levels of SES.
Phonics instruction was more effective than
all forms of control groups (basal, whole
language, whole word, regular curriculum).
NRP, 2000
And here’s what they said they
didn’t know . . .
1. How long should phonics instruction be?
Years? Minutes?
2. How many letter-sound relationships should be
taught?
3. How can we maintain consistency in
instruction and interest and motivation of
teachers?
4. What is the role of teacher knowledge?
5. How should teachers be trained to teach
phonics?
NRP, 2000
Given the new core programs you are using,
to what extent are these questions
answered for you? Are they answered in a
satisfactory way? What are the big issues
in the schools right now?
What are some ways we can go
wrong?
•
•
•
•
•
Rely solely on teachable moments
Invent phonics curriculum as we go
Pace inappropriately
Ignore developmental data
Forget to provide practice of phonics taught
in real reading and spelling
• Teach phonics all day long
• Forget to collect data on children’s learning
How do we measure phonics
knowledge in K and 1?
1. Nonsense word reading (mep)
2. Real word reading in isolation (map)
3. Spelling tasks, both controlled and
natural
4. Reading tasks -- but not until later
Why are each of these tasks useful? To what
extent are they part of the assessment
plan in your setting?
Watch a child acquire the alphabetic
principle during kindergarten. The
snapshots come from assessments rather
than from natural writing. Think about
what he knows about letters and sounds
and his growing phonemic awareness.
Christopher
Entering kindergarten
(8/04)
• No preschool
• Name 0 letters
• 0 letter sounds
But a great teacher!
Christopher: Mid October
9 letter names
0 letter sounds
Rudimentary spelling
fan
pet
rug
sit
mop
Christopher: Mid January
tap for top
lid
23 letter names
wag
17 letter sounds
bit for bet
Much better spelling! nit for hot
vat for that
hip for chop
dig for dog
gad for glad
pan for plan
sap for step
ran for run
hip for ship
mad for mud
fad for fed
Christopher’s journal writing
Christopher’s writing-March 10
Christopher: Mid April
paf for path
kap for camp
lap
jrip for drop
top
pop for rip
kot for cut
ship for shop
shin for chin
van
wat for wet
nast for nest
gad for glad
hot
dig
rish for rich
tab for tub
hot for hunt
tis for this
yes
sot for trot
not for stop
fish
kib for crib
job
Interpret Christopher’s spellings. What
orthographic features does he know and
use? What is he struggling with?
To what extent are the kindergarten and
first grade teachers maximizing
children’s use of phonics knowledge to
engage in spelling and writing?
What are the benefits of such an
approach for teachers and for children?
Universals of Language Study
Phonology
Discourse
Structure
Orthography
Language
Pragmatics
Semantics
Morphology
Syntax
What is the role of knowledge in expert
instruction? To what extent does teacher
knowledge interact with curriculum? Why
develop teacher knowledge if we have well
designed curriculum materials?
*Examples which follow draw from Chapter
5 of Moats, Speech to Print
Phonemes
Graphemes
Morphemes
Words
Syllables
Onsets
Rimes
Consonants
Vowels
Single
Consonants
Beginning
Blends
Ending Blends
Digraphs
Silent letter
combinations
Letters with no
individual sound
Lax, or
short vowels
Tense, or
long vowels
Diphthongs
R-controlled
L-controlled
Sound?
Mitt, Slam, Hymn, Comb
Tickle, Mitt, Sipped
Die, Loved, Handle
Nice, Knight, Gnat
Kite, Crib, Duck, Chorus,
Walk, Quiet
Girl, Pittsburgh
Sing, Bank, English
Fluff, Sphere, Tough, Calf
You, Onion, Use, Feud
Spellings?
Sound?
Sit, Pass, Science,
Psychic
Zoo, Jazz, Cheese,
Xerox
Shoe, Sure, Mission,
Charade, Conscience
Measure, Azure
Cheap, Etch, Future
Judge, Wage, Residual
Lamb, Call, Single
Spellings?
Long Vowel Graphemes
A
Ate
E
Eat
I
Ice
O
Oat
U
Use
a, a_e, a, ai, ay, ei, eigh, ey
e, y, e_e, ee, ea, ei, ie, ey
i, y, i_e, ie, igh
o, o_e, oa, ow, oe, ough
u, u_e, ue, ui, ough
Other Vowel Graphemes
Oi (Oil)
oi, oy
Ou (Ouch)
ou, ow
Air
air, are
Er (earth)
er, ir, ur
Or
or, our
Syllable Types
closed cat, camp, ant
handy,
open
he, be, open,
humid
C-le
little, beagle
Syllable Types
Vowel
Team
trainer, spoilage,
weigh, maintain
RControlled
spurn, chart,
report,
VCe
compete, inflate,
despite, ice
Let’s look at the first hundred words that
children use in their writing, and sort them
into categories. Given what we’ve
reviewed here about phonemes,
graphemes, and syllables, which are
regular and which are irregular?
Carefully consider the outline on pages 106
and 107. To what extent does the
decoding and spelling instruction in the
core programs with which you have been
working mirror this developmental
sequence? What are some issues that
you would like to discuss?
Now look at the spellings of four different
children in the same kindergarten
classroom. What is the role of teacher
knowledge in promoting literacy success
for these children? How can we develop
that knowledge?
Some strategies for building
knowledge
1. Analyze the scope and sequence for
teaching decoding and spelling in your
core program and in your intervention
program.
2. Locate and use the phonics and spelling
assessments included in your core.
3. Use a developmental spelling
assessment to learn more about your
children.
Some teacher-friendly resources
Bear, D.R., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F. (2004). Words their way:
Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson.
Fox, Barbara J. (2004). Word identification strategies: Phonics from a new
perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Ganske, K. (2000). Word journeys: Assessment-guided phonics, spelling, and
vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford.
Lyon, A., & Moore, P. (2003). Sound systems: Explicit, systematic phonics in early
literacy contexts. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Savage, J.F. (2004). Sound it out: Phonics in a comprehensive reading program.
Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
Strickland, D.S. (1998). Teaching phonics today: A primer for educators. Newark,
DE: International Reading Association.
CIERA series Every child a reader
http://www.ciera.org/library/products/ecr/index.html
PALS website
http://pals.virginia.edu/Instructional-Resources/
References from this talk
Ehri, L. (1997). Sight word learning in normal readers and
dyslexics. In B. Blachman (Ed.), Foundations of reading
acquisition and dyslexia: Implications for early intervention (pp.
163-189). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gentry, J.R. (1982). An analysis of spelling development in GYNS
AT WRK. The Reading Teacher, 36, 192-200.
Moats, L. C. (2000). Speech to print: Language essentials for
teachers. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000).
Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read:
an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research
literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction:
Reports of the subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754).
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Stahl, S.A., Duffy-Hester, A.M., & Stahl, K.A.D. (1998). Everything
you wanted to know about phonics (but were afraid to ask).
Reading Research Quarterly, 33, 338-355.