Unit 6: Teaching
Letter-Sound Associations
Barriers to Learning Letter-Sounds
Teaching Letter-Sounds
“…teaching children all the letters of
the alphabet is not easy, particularly
when they come to school knowing
few of them.”
National Reading Panel
Letters Are Abstract Shapes
Letters are abstract shapes that convey
no meaning to the uninitiated.
A B C D E F G H
d f y D l F G v
Letters Are Abstract Shapes
“...There are 52 capital
and lower-case letter
shapes, names, and
sounds to learn.”
Shape: H h
Name: aich
Sound: /h/
National Reading Panel
Letter-Names May Sound Alike
B
D
“bee”
“dee”
P
“pee”
T
“tee”
What is this?
What is this?
b
d
p
q
Letter-Shapes Are Often Similar
bdpq
hnum
VWM
l i j
The shapes of many letters are similar, and, therefore,
easily confused with one another.
Letter Forms Are Often Different
A a a
G g g
D d
E e
Each letter has two or more forms that may look very different.
Unvoiced and Voiced Letter-Sounds
Quiet Sisters
/p/
/t/
/f/
/k/
/ch/
/s/
/th/
/b/
/d/
/v/
/g/
/j/
/z/
/th/
Noisy Sisters
7 pairs of letter-sounds differ only in that 1 is unvoiced and 1 is voiced.
Letter-Sounds In Letter-Names
Letter-names that begin with the letter-sound:
b - “bee”
k - “kay”
t - “tee”
Letter-names that end with the letter-sound
f - “eff”
l - “ell”
x - “ex”
Letter-names not containing the letter-sound:
c - “see”
h - “aich”
Activity: Sounds in Letter-names:
Add all of the
consonants to the chart.
Sounds In Letter-Names
Letter-names that begin with the letter-sound:
b d j k p t v z (c, g)
Letter-names that end with the letter-sound:
f l m n r s x
Letter-names not containing the letter -sound:
c g h q w y
Barriers To Alphabet Learning
Df l
pbdq
Letters are abstract.
Shapes for different letters are similar.
Rr Nn
Capital/lowercase may be different.
dubuyu /w/
Relation of letter-name to sound inconsistent.
More Barriers: Slow Retrieval
Uh, uh…uh, don’t
tell me…uh…m!
More Barriers: Slow Retrieval Of
Letter Names And Sounds
“Letter learning requires retaining
shapes, names, and sounds in
memory and in fact, overlearning
them so that letters can be
processed automatically in reading
and writing words.”
National Reading Panel Report, 2000, p. 2-125
Unit 6: Teaching
Letter-Sound Associations
Barriers to Learning Letter-Sounds
Teaching Letter-Sounds
Instructional Principles
Applied To Letter-Sounds
 Assessment
 Sequential & Systematic
 Direct and Explicit
 Teach to Mastery & Automaticity
 Multisensory Strategies
Felton & Lillie, 2001
Strategies For Students With
Naming/Retrieval Problems
 Begin with a small set of items
 Provide cues
 Provide extensive practice - over learning
 Practice in two directions: Sound to letter and
letter to sound
 Avoid guessing
Felton & Lillie, 2001
Activity
 Review sequences of letter-sound associations
 What are the key things to consider when
determining appropriate sequence?




Is a vowel taught?
Types of Consonants (continuants/stops)
Voiced/unvoiced
Names of letters
How many words can you make using the
first 11 letters?
Recipe for Reading: c, short o, short a, g, m, l, h, t, short I,
j, k, p, ch, short u, b, r, f, n, short e, s, sh, th, w, wh, y, v, x,
and z.
Letterland: c, short and long a, d, m, t, s, short and long I,
n, g, o, p, e, u, k, l, f, b, j, r, q, v, w, x, y, and z.
Fundations: t, b, f, m, c, short a, short I, r, short o, g, d, s,
short e, short u, l, h, k, p, j, w, z, q, y, x.
Carreker: short I, t, n, s, short a, l, d, f, h, g, short o, k, c,
m, r, b, short e, y, j, u, w, v, x, z, qu
Begin With A Small Set Of Items
Possible set of letters:
vowels: a i
consonants: b t s f m
Appropriate words:
at am it if bat bit
tab Tim sat Sam sit fat
fit fib mat
Inappropriate words:
is as Ma aim
Provide Cues
 Types of cues:
 Picture
 Gesture
 Key word
 Stories, chants, rhymes
Embedding Letter-Shape
And Picture Cue
S h f
ZOO PHONICS
Cues For Short Vowels
e edge /e/
u up /u/
a apple /a/
o octopus /o/
i itch /i/
Video: Cues for Vowels
 Please click on the video
below to play.
The Story of Bossy R
You vowels think you are so
special—just because you
have to be in every word.
a…a…a…
Oh, no, here
comes Bossy
R. He’s
such a bully.
car
art
star
bark
hard
R...r...r…r
carpet
From now on
when you come
before me, you
have to say my
name.
harmony
The Story of Bossy R
Uh-oh, there’s
that Bossy-R.
Did you hear
what he did to a?
ae i o u
Now for the rest of
you vowels! I’m
like
you,
Hey,
O, come
II am
going
tospell
let
going
to
put
akid.
Okay,
O. me of
You
remind
over
here.
you
say
a
on you, e, i,word
& u.
Now,
scram!
a smiley
face.
Right
with
me.now!
pork dormant order
born
OR
horse
fork
The Story of Bossy R
better
feather
Er…er.
blender
..er
skater
skirt
fur
E-R, you are the
dirt
spurt
noisiest, so I am going
circle
urgent
I-R
and
U-R,
you
just
Ir...ir…ir
Ha,
ha!!
all
of
you
are
Ur…ur…ur
to
make
you
stay
on
You
all
sound
alike!
swirl
curtain
fight
it roosters!!!.
outoftowords.
see who’s
the
end
Now, let’s see what
going in the rest of the
words you can be in.
words.
er ir ur
Solution: Provide Extensive
Practice In 2 Directions
DEMONSTRATION:
Teaching a new letter-sound
Letter-sound drill
Visual Drill
Auditory Drill
Avoid Guessing
 Many students with reading problems have learned to
impulsively guess until they get the right answer.
 “That’s a b, no d, no, I mean p.”
 “There, where, here…”
 Remind students to use cues when they are unsure of a
letter or sound.
 “What’s your key word.”
 “Make your hand motion.”
 “Check your sound notebook”
 Tell them the answer if necessary to avoid guessing.
Letter-Sounds Are Not
Just For Beginners
 More advanced students need letter-sound cues
for more advanced spellings:
 For example, by Wilson Reading Step 5, when
shown the letter a, the student can proudly recite
the following as well as similar key words for
each vowel:
a apple /a/
a acorn /a/
a safe /a/
a Alaska /u/
Letters Are the Building Blocks for
Words
• Automatic letter recognition is
the key to automatic word
recognition
• Berninger (2000) reports that
at-risk children were found to
need over 20 times more
practice
Perspectives, Winter, 2002
Automaticity Practice: Letter-Sound
Level
 For initial learning, provide picture cues
 For fluency practice, use plain letters
 Use a key word for vowels
 Use visual drill for reading
 Use auditory drill for spelling
Felton & Lillie, 2001
Letter Names/Letter Sounds
c
a
D
S
M
t
T
C
A
d
s
m
fcrr.org
Video: Cues for Letter-Sound Associations
 Please click on the video
below to play.
Review
What makes learning letter name, shapes and
sounds so difficult?
What are some strategies to make this learning
easier?
Why are cues for short vowels especially
important?
Review Continued
What is the sound of each of these r-controlled
vowel combinations?
ar
er ir or ur
How can you help a student avoid guessing?
What is the difference between a visual drill and
an auditory drill?
Congratulations!
You have completed
Unit 6: Teaching Letter-Sound Associations
Sources
 Felton, R., & Lillie, D. (2000). Teaching Students with Persistent
Reading Problems (a multimedia CD-ROM). Greensboro, NC.
Guilford County Schools.
 National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of the National Reading
Panel: Teaching children to read– Reports of the subgroups.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH
Pub. No. 00-4764.