Which word has a short vowel sound?
find, cart, black, old
Which word has a diphthong?
oil, train, first, sheet
Which word contains a schwa?
bonnet, picture, book, camera
If moax were a word, the letter o would
probably sound like the o in: song, old, other
How many speech sounds are in the word
box?
How many syllables are in the word
anatomically?
If you are like many teachers, you may know answers to a few questions, but not all the questions. You may even say, “I feel like I should know these things, but I don’t” (Mather, Box, & Babur, 2001, p. 478). Even though you are a literate individual, you may not possess all the foundational knowledge that is essential for teaching your students to read and write. Teachers do not learn important alphabetic principles and knowledge by relying on experience, using structured curriculum, employing student screening tests, or simply implementing higher academic standards. Instead, teachers need to receive formal explicit alphabetic instruction and then be given plenty of time to practice their new knowledge when instructing students (Moats & Foorman, 2003).
In this article you will be provided with information about the alphabetic principle. You will also hear how professional develop-ment impacted four first grade teachers’ alphabetical knowledge and instruction.
The Alphabetic Principle
To define it, “The whole process of using the letters in a written alphabet to represent meaningful, spoken words is called alphabetics” (Kruidenier, 2002, p. 35). Typically alphabetics includes phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics.
Cunningham defines phonological awareness as, “an umbrella term indicating students understand that spoken language is made up of separate words that make up sentences and that words are made up of syllables” (2013, p. 240). Phonological awareness is an auditory skill that includes understanding sound concepts such as syllable and rhyme (e.g. cowboy has two syllables and cat/hat rhyme). Phonemic awareness, another auditory skill, “is the ability to manipulate the sounds in words” (Cunningham, 2013, p. 240). For example,
-The spoken word rope comprises three
phonemes, /r/, /oe/ /p/, and differs by only
one phoneme from words such as dope,
road, rip, and roach.
-Phoneme blending is the ability to hear
individual sounds and merge the sounds
together to form a word – e.g. “What word
is /s/ /t/ /o/ /p/?” (stop); phoneme blending
is important for reading.
Alphabetical Knowledge for Teachers
Resourceful Research
by Donita Shaw
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Donita Shaw is a professor of literacy education at the University of Kansas. She is passionate about helping teachers gain the knowledge they need so they can differentiate instruction and ensure all children learn how to read.