The Alphabetic Principle And The Sound Of Spoken Language

The Alphabetic Principle is the understanding that words are composed of letters that represent sounds. The development of children’s reading skills is dependent on their grasp of the Alphabetic Principle, as well as their recognition that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds of spoken language. Therefore, children must learn that there are predictable relationships between sounds and letters, so that they may apply these relationships to both familiar and unfamiliar words. Once the student makes this connection between letters, letter-sounds, spoken language, and written words they can begin to read with fluency. In furtherance of students understanding of the alphabetic principle, teachers need to build student’s knowledge of

For children to gain the knowledge to become fluent readers, and proficiently utilize letters to create words they need both guided and independent practice. During guided practice groups of children will have the opportunity to practice and apply their knowledge of the Alphabetic Principal, and receive immediate feedback to further their learning. A word hunt game is a fun activity for guided practice where a letter is chosen and as a group students look for items beginning with that letter sound (the letter p is selected the students point out a pen). As each object is found, children in the class can take turns writing the word on a list. This activity helps the students associate letters to pictures, remember letter names, and correspond letters to letter-sounds. Throughout independent practice, each student will have an opportunity to exercise their skills independently to build their phonemic awareness and letter comprehension. Having independent time to explore letters and letter sounds, helps the students discover and make connections between letters, words, letter sounds, and pictures. An activity for independent practice could be “word building” where students use magnetic letters to make a word, write the word, and says the word aloud (the word cat is made with magnetic letters, then the student writes the word cat, the student than say the word “cat”). Teaching children strategies for phonologically decoding words with a combination of instruction in phonological awareness and letter sounds will assist students in the goal of reading, and allowing students to practice phonologically coding the same words helps them become familiar with spelling patterns, and word families. Consistent and regular observation provides opportunities in monitoring the progress of each student to see if students are making connections between letters and