What is letter sound correspondence

Literacy Instruction for Individuals with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and Other Disabilities

What are letter-sound correspondences?

Letter-sound correspondences involve knowledge of

• the sounds represented by the letters of the alphabet
• the letters used to represent the sounds

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Why is knowledge of letter-sound correspondences important?

Knowledge of letter-sound correspondences is essential in reading and writing

• In order to read a word:
  • the learner must recognize the letters in the word and associate each letter with its sound
• In order to write or type a word:
  • the learner must break the word into its component sounds and know the letters that represent these sounds.

Knowledge of letter-sound correspondences and phonological awareness skills are the basic building blocks of literacy learning.

These skills are strong predictors of how well students learn to read.

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What sequence should be used to teach letter-sound correspondence?

Letter-sound correspondences should be taught one at a time.  As soon as the learner acquires one letter sound correspondence, introduce a new one.

We suggest teaching the letters and sounds in this sequence

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

This sequence was designed to help learners start reading as soon as possible

• Letters that occur frequently in simple words (e.g., a, m, t) are taught first.
• Letters that look similar and have similar sounds (b and d) are separated in the instructional sequence to avoid confusion.
• Short vowels are taught before long vowels.
• Lower case letters are taught first since these occur more frequently than upper case letters.

The sequence is intended as a guideline. Modify the sequence as required to accommodate the learner’s

• prior knowledge
• interests
• hearing

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Is it appropriate to teach letter names as well as letter sounds?

Start by teaching the sounds of the letters, not their names.  Knowing the names of letters is not necessary to read or write.  Knowledge of letter names can interfere with successful decoding.

• For example, the learner looks at a word and thinks of the names of the letters instead of the sounds.

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Sample goal for instruction in letter-sound correspondences

The learner will

• listen to a target sound presented orally
• identify the letter that represents the sound
• select the appropriate letter from a group of letter cards, an alphabet board, or a keyboard with at least 80% accuracy

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Instructional Task

Here is an example of instruction to teach letter-sound correspondences

• The instructor
  • introduces the new letter and its sound
  • shows a card with the letter m and says the sound “mmmm”

After practice with this letter sound, the instructor provides review

• The instructor
  • says a letter sound
• The learner
  • listens to the sound
  • looks at each of the letters provided as response options
  • selects the correct letter
    • from a group of letter cards,
    • from an alphabet board, or
    • from a keyboard.

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Instructional Materials

Various materials can be used to teach letter-sound correspondences

• cards with lower case letters
• an alphabet board that includes lower case letters
• a keyboard adapted to include lower case letters

Here is an example of an adapted keyboard that might be used for instruction once a student knows many of the letter-sound correspondences.

The learner must

• listen to the target sound – “mmmm”
• select the letter – m – from the keyboard

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Instructional Procedure

The instructor teaches letter-sound correspondences using these procedures:

• Model
  • The instructor demonstrates the letter-sound correspondence for the learner.
• Guided practice
  • The instructor provides scaffolding support or prompting to help the learner match the letter and sound correctly.
  • The instructor gradually fades this support as the learner develops competence.
• Independent practice
  • The learner listens to the target sound and selects the letter independently.
  • The instructor monitors the learner’s responses and provides appropriate feedback.

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Student Example

Krista is 8 years old in this video

• Krista has multiple challenges, including a hearing impairment, a visual impairment, and a motor impairment. She also has a tracheostomy.
• We started to work with Krista when she was 8 years old. At that time, she was in a special education class at school and was not receiving literacy instruction.
• She uses sign approximations to communicate with others. She also uses a computer with speech output (a Mercury with Speaking Dynamically Pro software). Because of her hearing impairment, she does best when she receives augmented input (sign and speech).
• This video was taken after 3 weeks of instruction.
• Krista is learning letter-sound correspondences. So far she has been introduced to the letter sounds for m and b
  • Janice is providing instruction; Marissa, a graduate student at Penn State, is learning about literacy instruction and helping to collect data; and Krista’s parents and nurse are watching the session, excited about her progress.
  • Janice
    • provides an array of letter cards as response options
    • says one of the target letter sounds
  • Krista
    • listens to the sound
    • points to the letter that makes the target sound
• After 3 weeks (approximately 3 hours) of instruction, Krista has successfully learned the letter sounds – m and b.
• Over the next months, we introduced the other letter sounds gradually. We also worked on recognition of high interest sight words, decoding skills, and shared reading activities.
• Krista made excellent progress in all activities. Click to learn more about Krista’s success learning literacy skills despite the many challenges she faced.

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Pointers

There are a wide range of fonts. These fonts use different forms of letters, especially the letter a.

• Initially use a consistent font in all instructional materials
• Later, as the learner develops competence, introduce variations in font.

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Last Updated: February 19, 2019

teaching letter-sound correspondence -

Teaching Letter-Sound Corrospondence

Teaching letter-sound correspondence is a critical component in learning the alphabet, teaching phonics, and essential to reading success. So let’s talk about letter-sound correspondence and how you can teach it effectively!

What is letter-sound correspondence?  Letter-sound correspondence is the knowledge of the sounds/phonemes connected to individual letters.   Although there are only 26 letters of the English alphabet, there are 44 Phonemes or individual distinct units of sound.  Phonemes also include letter combinations like blends and digraphs, but I will only be focussing on the letters of the alphabet for this post.

When to teach letter-sound correspondence?  As you teach letter recognition, it is just as important to teach letter-sound correspondence understanding.  I have found that teaching letter-sound correspondence with letter identification increases phonemic awareness, phonics understanding, decoding words, and reading skills overall.

   How do you teach letter-sound correspondence?  Teaching letter-sound correspondences should be done one at a time.  Once a letter-sound has been mastered introduce the next one.   To facilitate early reading the best, try teaching letters and letter-sounds by those found most often in text.  I use the order below.

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

HERE ARE SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN IMPLEMENTING THIS SEQUENCE.

• Teach frequently used letters first aids early reading. (e.g., a, m, t)
• Teach letters that look similar and have similar sounds (e.g. b and d) in separate lessons to help avoid confusion.
• Short vowels should be taught before long vowels.
• Lower case letters are taught before upper case letters.

• Teach unique sounds once the others are mastered. 

• Unique sounds, like hard and soft C and G, should be taught seperate from each other. These sounds are also referred to as copycat C as /s/ and copycat C as /k/ and copycat G as /j/.

• Letter X is usually found at the end of a word and may be easier to teach as an ending sound rather than beginning sound.

Letter-object association vs letter identification with letter-sound correspondence

Providing a variety of objects and visuals that begin with the focus letter increases vocabulary and understanding of the phonemes.  For more advanced students, use objects with the focus letter sound at the end or in the middle and have them identify if the sound is in the middle or end of the word.

   Be careful not to teach letter-object association like B is for ball.  Here is an example of a more effective method of teaching letters and letter sounds while using visuals.

Point to the focus letter. “This is the letter B,” “The B says, “b”  (children may say buh, but we do not emphasize the uh at the end).

“Can you say “b” too?” 

Hold up the visual, the ball for this example, and ask your child to tell you what it is.

Did you say the B sound “b?”

Let’s listen carefully and say it again.  “B-b-b-ball. Ball!”

“What letter sound did we hear?” “The letter B sound!”

    I created letter-sound correspondence mats to help students gain confidence in identifying the letter sounds for each letter of the alphabet. 

  In level 1 of the letter-sound correspondence mats, students will demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound for each picture. All eight images on the mat begin with the focus letter-sound.  In level 2, students will discriminate between pictures that begin with the focus letter-sound and those that do not. 

Included in this resource – 

There is a page for every consonant letter sound.

Vowel sounds have two sounds covered:  long and short vowels A, E, I, O, and U.

The unique or tricky sounds hard and soft C and G are included seperately.

These unique letters are also listed as copycat C as /s/ and copycat C as /k/ and copycat G as /j/.

(These letters are placed at the end of the alphabet so you can choose which version of wording you want to teach before printing.)

Unique letter X is the only letter mat that focuses on the ending sound instead of the beginning sound.

Additional resources you may like

The following resources go nicely with my letter-sound correspondence mats.  They focus on letter formation and letter-sounds.

How to do sound-letter parsing of a word?

Sound-letter analysis of a word is a characteristic of the sound and letter composition of a word. To fulfill it, transcription is written - an exact recording of the sound composition of the word.

Sound-letter (phonetic) analysis of a word is necessary for the conscious mastery of the Russian language, the correct spelling of words, especially in cases where words contain unstressed vowels, unpronounceable consonants, letters denoting two sounds, letters denoting sounds, etc.

Definition

Sound-letter analysis is an analysis of the sound composition of a word and its letter representation in writing.

Phonetic analysis is performed in several stages. Sound-letter analysis involves dividing a word into syllables in accordance with the number of vowels, placing stress, recording the sound of a word. Then a phonetic analysis of each sound is carried out. Phonetic analysis is completed by counting the number of letters and sounds.

Letters and sounds

In order to correctly perform sound-letter parsing of a word, we will learn to distinguish between what we see on paper letters , and when we pronounce the word, we hear sounds . Letters are graphic signs that can be used to represent the sounds of speech.

The Russian language distinguishes between vowels and consonants.

Vowels and sounds

Vowel sounds are produced by the free passage of air from the mouth. They consist only of voice. There are 9 in Russian0007

6 vowels: [a], [o], [y], [e], [i], [s]

and

10 vowels: a, o, u, e, i, s, i, e, e, u, i

The vowels [a], [o], [u], [e], [s] sound after solid consonants, and the letters “i”, “e”, “ e", "yu" , "i" and "b" indicate that the previous consonant is soft. This phonetic softness is indicated by a special icon - an apostrophe:

• flax [l 'on]
• radish [r 'and d' and s]
• salt [s o l’]

To perform sound-letter analysis, the word should be stressed.

Under stress, vowels sound distinct, but without stress they are distorted:

Ex.

Example

wall [s t' and n a], mountain ash [r' and b' and n a]

Each vowel alone or in combination with one or more consonants forms a phonetic syllable:

• bo-lo-to
• kra-so-ta
• u-di-vi-tel-ny
• li-ni-ya

Consonant letters and sounds

There are 36 consonant sounds in Russian speech. When they are pronounced, the exhaled air rubs against the lips, tongue and cheeks, resulting in noise.

Always voiced consonants [l], [m], [n], [r] are pronounced with the voice and minimal noise.

If consonants are pronounced with a greater share of voice and noise, then voiced consonants are formed:

[b], [c], [d], [d], [g], [h] deaf consonant, which is pronounced with more noise than voices:

• [b] - [p];
• [v] - [f];
• [g] - [k];
• [d] - [t];
• [w] - [w];
• [h] - [s].

The letters “x”, “c”, “ch”, “u” denote voiceless consonants [x], [c], [h’], [u’], which do not have paired voiced consonants.

Consonants are hard and soft:

[b] - [b'], [c] - [c'], [g] - [g'], [d] - [e'], [h] - [s '], [k] - [k '], [l] - [l '], [m] - [m '], [n] - [n '], [n] - [n '] , [p] - [p '], [s] - [s '], [t] - [t '], [f] - [f '], [x] - [x ']

Performing sound- letter analysis, we take into account that the letters "y" , "h" and "u" always denote soft sounds [y '], [h'], [u'],

a letters "g" , "sh" , "c" - solid sounds [g], [w], [c].

How to learn how to do sound-alphabetic parsing

In order to learn how to do sound-alphabetic parsing of a word, it is important to understand that often the spelling of a word and its sound do not match. A word can have:

• the same number of sounds;
• more sounds than letters;
• there are more letters than sounds.

Examples

• sky [n'e b a] - 4 letters, 4 sounds
• label [y 'arlak] - 5 letters, 6 sounds '] - 6 letters, 5 sounds

When recording the sound composition of a word, it should be taken into account that the letters "e", "ё", "yu", "ya" can denote two sounds in the following positions in the word:

1. at the beginning of a word:

• caustic [y' e t k'i y ']
• capacious [y' o m k' and y ']
• young [y' u n y y ']
• nursery [y' a s 'l'and]

2. after other vowels:

• ride [pai 'e z'd'i t']
• sing [pai 'o m]
9005 [1 cabin k a y y t a]
• beacon [m a y 'a k]

]

curiosity [kur' y' o s]

weaning [a t y' o m]

zealous [r' y' n y ']

flaw [i z' y' n]

bindweed [in 'y' n o k]

pre-anniversary [pr' and d d' u b' and l' e y 'n y']

As you can see, there are always more sounds in such words than lit.

After the consonant sounds, the letters "e", "ё", "yu", "ya" denote their softness: l' y k]

five [п'ат']

When writing down the sound of a word, it should be taken into account that in Russian there is a phonetic process of stunning voiced consonants that are before a voiceless consonant and at the end of a word, and, conversely, voiceless consonants are voiced before a voiced consonant , except for "l", "m", "n", "r", "c", "th" :

spoon [lo sh k a], knight [v 'and t'a s'], glare [o d b l 'and s k]

lubrication [with mask], shot [drop '], shift [rear 'and n u t ']

all [f s' e], pond [pr u t], station [v a g za l]

In words with the letter combination "zzh" , a long soft sound is heard [zh']:

• grumble [br 'u w' a t ']
• cerebellum [m a f' and h' o k]

afraid of [b a and c a];

creep [s’ t’ and l and c a].

In words that have "ь" , which indicates the softness of the previous consonant sound or is a morphological sign indicating that the word belongs to the feminine gender, we count more letters and fewer sounds:

• know [zna t '] - 5 letters, 4 sounds;
• speech [r ‘e h’] - 4 letters, 3 sounds.

Soft consonants can soften the preceding consonant.

Let's listen to how the words sound:

• candle [s' in' e h' k а]
• nails [g in z' d'i]
• life [zh z' n']
• umbrella [ z o n' t' and k]

Phonetic parsing example

Image source: fedsp.com

Sound letter parsing example

To perform sound-letter analysis, we write down the word and put the stress in it. Let's break it down into phonetic syllables. Taking into account all the phonetic changes in the word, we write down the letters and the corresponding sounds of the word in square brackets vertically. Let's give a phonetic description of each sound.

For example, let's perform a phonetic analysis of the word "Christmas tree" :

Christmas tree [y' o la h' ny y ']

ё-lo-chny - 3 syllables. The first syllable is stressed.

• letter “e” - [y ’] - consonant, voiced unpaired, soft unpaired;
• [o] - stressed vowel;
• letter "l" - [l] - unpaired voiced consonant, solid paired;
• letter "o" - [a] - unstressed vowel;
• letter "h" - [h '] - consonant, deaf unpaired, soft unpaired;
• letter "n" - [n] - unpaired voiced consonant, solid paired;
• letter "ы" - [ы] - unstressed vowel;
• letter "y" - [y '] - consonant, voiced unpaired, soft unpaired.

The word "Christmas tree" has 7 letters, 8 sounds.

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Supplementary material

If you have any difficulties in conducting a sound-letter (phonetic) analysis of a word, you can always check yourself on the site phoneticonline.ru.

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Video "Phonetic analysis of words"

To consolidate the material, watch the video on the topic of the lesson.

Phonetic analysis of the word. What it is? How to do it? Examples

What is phonetic parsing

Phonetic , or sound-alphabetic, analysis of the word is an analysis of the sounds and letters that make up this word.

There are 33 letters in Russian, from which we compose words and write them down on paper. When we pronounce a word, we hear sounds - this is how the letters in its composition sound. In some words, the same letter can mean two sounds at the same time or not sound at all. This is where sound-letter analysis comes in handy: it is needed so that we can analyze sounds and letters, write correctly, and also pronounce words.

Five in Russian in your pocket!

All the rules of the Russian language are at hand

How phonetic parsing of a word is done

Sound-alphabetic parsing is usually done according to the following algorithm:

1. Number of syllables, stress.

2. Full transcription of the word.

3. Vowel sounds: stressed or unstressed, which letter is indicated.

4. Consonants: voiced, sonorous or voiceless, paired or unpaired; hard or soft, paired or unpaired; which letter is indicated.

5. The total number of letters and sounds.

You can disassemble words by sounds and letters orally or in writing. These methods are slightly different from each other, so let's consider each one separately. We write down the word and all the sounds that are included in it.

Now let's use this algorithm with examples.

Example No. 1. Written phonetic analysis of the verb search

Search [abysk'ivat'] - 4 syllables, 2nd stressed.

o - [a] - ch., unstressed.

b - [b] - acc., sound. couple, tv par.

s - [s] - ch., shock.

s - [s] - acc., deaf. couple, tv par.

k - [k'] - acc., deaf. steam, soft par.

and - [and] - Ch., unstressed.

in - [in] - acc., sound. couple, tv par.

a - [a] - Ch., unstressed.

t - [t'] - acc. , deaf. steam, soft par.

b — [–]

10 points, 9 stars

Example No. 2. Written phonetic analysis of the adjective spring

Spring [v'is'en':y'] - 3 syllables, 2nd stressed.

in - [in '] - acc., sound. steam, soft par.

e - [i] - ch., unstressed.

s - [s'] - acc., deaf. steam, soft par.

e - [e] - ch., percussion.

n - [n':] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, soft par.

and - [and] - Ch., unstressed.

th - [th'] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, soft unpaired

8 points, 7 stars

Example No. 3. Written phonetic analysis of a noun professor

Professor [praf'es:ar] - 3 syllables, 2nd stressed.

p - [p] - acc. , deaf. couple, tv par.

р - [р] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, tv. par.

o - [a] - ch., unstressed.

f - [f'] - acc., deaf. steam, soft par.

e - [e] - ch., percussion.

s - [s:] - acc., deaf. couple, tv par.

o - [a] - ch., unstressed.

р - [р] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, tv. par.

9 points, 8 stars

Sample oral phonetic analysis

If you need to do sound-alphabetic analysis orally, follow this algorithm:

1. Syllables and stress. Count and name the number of syllables in a word, indicate the one that is stressed.

2. Vowel sounds. Name the vowels in the order in which they sound in the word. For each of them, determine whether it is percussion or unstressed. Then specify the letters with which they are indicated.

3. Consonants. For each of the consonants, determine whether it is voiced or voiceless, and then - paired or unpaired according to deafness-voicedness. After that, establish whether the sound is hard or soft, as well as paired or unpaired in terms of softness-hardness. At the end of the analysis of each of the consonants, specify which letter it is designated in the word.

4. Number of letters, sounds. Count and name the number of letters and sounds in a word.

Let's practice oral phonetic analysis on the example of the same words that we have analyzed above.

Example No. 1. Oral phonetic analysis of the verb search

2. Vowels:

the first is unstressed [a], marked with the letter about ;

second - shock [s], marked with the letter s ;

third - unstressed [and], marked with the letter and ;

fourth - unstressed [a], designated by the letter a .

3. Consonants:

[b] - voiced double, solid double, marked with the letter b ;

[s] - deaf double, solid double, marked with the letter from ;

[k'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter to ;

[c] - voiced double, hard double, marked with the letter in ;

[t'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter t ;

letter - does not represent sound.

4. In the word search 10 letters and 9 sounds.

Example No. 2. Oral phonetic analysis of the adjective spring

2. Vowels:

the first is unstressed [i], marked with the letter e ;

second - shock [e], designated by the letter e ;

the third is unstressed [and], marked with the letter and .

3. Consonants:

[v'] - voiced double, soft double, marked with the letter in ;

[s'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter from ;

[n'] - voiced unpaired (sonor), soft paired, marked with the letter n . The second n does not form a sound in a word;

[d'] - voiced unpaired (sonor), hard unpaired, marked with the letter and .

4. The word spring has 8 letters and 7 sounds.

Example No. 3. Oral phonetic analysis of the noun professor

2. Vowels:

the first is unstressed [a], marked with the letter about ;

second - shock [e], designated by the letter e ;

third - unstressed [a], designated by the letter about .

3. Consonants:

[p] - deaf double, hard double, marked with the letter p ;

[p] - voiced unpaired (sonor), solid paired, marked with the letter p ;

[f'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter f ;

[s] - deaf double, solid double, marked with the letter with . The second with does not form a sound in the word;

[p] - voiced unpaired (sonor), solid paired, marked with the letter p .

4. The word professor has 9 letters and 8 sounds.

Test yourself

Let's find out how well you understand what phonetic parsing is. Below you will find three tasks with which you can practice this skill.

Task 1

Disassemble the following words according to their sound composition: busy, guest, vacancy, pronounce, speaking.

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