Sounds and Letters

1. Sounds and Letters

2. How many speech sounds are in the following words? • ox boil king • thank straight shout • though • Underline the consonant blends: doubt, known, first, pumpkin, squawk, scratch.

3. Linguistics This is the formal study of language and how it works. You do not have to be a linguist to be an effective teacher of reading and writing.

4. With a basic knowledge of phonics and linguistics you’ll be able to help students by • Interpreting and responding to student errors. • Choosing the best examples for teaching decoding and spelling. • Organizing and sequencing information for instruction. • Using your knowledge of morphology to explain spellings. • Integrating the components of language instruction.

5. Definitions • A phoneme is a speech sound. It is the smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another. Men has three phonemes: /m/ /e/ /n/ • A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in language • A Grapheme is the written representation of one sound. Ex: /b/ = b, /ch/ = ch

6. There are 44 phonemes in the English language (although this is debated). • They are represented by 26 letters • A letter can sometimes represent more than one sound. Ex. a sounds differently in the following words: at, ate, all, was. • There are hundreds of spellings that can be used to represent the phonemes. Only the most common need to be taught.

7. Consonants • Consonants can be categorized according to • How they are produced • Where they are produced in the mouth • Whether they are voiced or unvoiced. • The 5 major categories of consonants based on their manner of articulation include the following: • plosives (stops) /b/,/p/,/d/,/t/, • Fricatives /f/,/v/,/th/ /z/ • Nasals /m/,/n/,/ng/ • Liquids /l/,/r/ • Glides /w/,/y/,/h/

8. Vowels • 19 of the 44 English phonemes are vowel phonemes. • The consonants w and y often act as vowels. Y acts as a vowel when it appears at the end of a word or syllable. W acts as a vowel when it is used in combination with another vowel.

9. In basal readers vowels are generally classified into the following categories • Long-vowel sounds. These are also referred to as glided sounds. • Short-vowel sounds. These are also referred to as unglided sounds • Other vowel sounds. These include diphthongs, schwa, and the r-controlled vowels.

10. Diphthongs /oi/ (boil, boy), /ou/ (house,cow) These are vowel sounds that are formed by a gliding action in the mouth. R-controlled vowels /ar/ (chair), /ur/ (fern, bird, hurt), /ar/ (park) The letter r affects the sound of the vowel that precedes it in many ways.

11. Schwa (alone, happen, direct, gallop, circus) Not all linguists consider this a separate sound. The schwa is also known as as murmur or neutral sound. Up to 22 different spellings of the schwa sound have been identified.

12. A good phonics lesson: • Uses a logical sequence • is explicit in the introduction of sound-spelling relationships • Provides frequent, daily lessons • Keeps the lessons relatively brief and fast-paced • Keeps the lesson focused • Begins with what children know • Creates a classroom environment in which children become active word watchers • Provides a built in review of previously taught sound-spellings.

13. Components of a good lesson • Repeated readings • Phonemic awareness exercises • Explicit introduction of sound/spelling relationship • Blending opportunities • Word-building opportunities • Controlled text reading opportunities • Dictation