WESFORD 2 - Dyslexia Resources File
Literacy – Phonics
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VOICED AND UNVOICED CONSONANTS
Some children, particularly dyslexic pupils experiencing problems with
aspects of phonological awareness and those with quiet voices, find it
difficult to discriminate between voiced and unvoiced consonants. This is
often reflected in their reading and spelling.
In reading they may ‘sound out’ the phonemes correctly, but because the
sound they are producing is unclear they may blend these together
inaccurately.
In spelling they may segment a word correctly, but the phonemes may be
articulated so softly that the pupil ‘hears’ the unvoiced version instead of
the voiced one and selects the wrong grapheme.
Consonants that are frequently confused in this way are:
Voiced
Unvoiced
b
d
v
g
j
z
p
t
f
k
ch
s
How to Help
The pupil who is making this type of error should be encouraged to
articulate clearly and more loudly. Lots of scope here for noisy games!
The difference between the two types of sound can be taught by getting
the pupil to:
 Feel his neck near the larynx when speaking the sounds, or
 Cover his ears and hear the difference between the voiced and
unvoiced phonemes
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