I’m telling you. When I began to truly understand the alphabetic principle, it absolutely blew my mind.
I’m sure I’d heard the phrase before. And I’m sure I had even learned what it meant. But when I actually understood its role in teaching beginning readers and helping struggling readers, it all became very clear.
I’d always thought that if learners had two important skills, they were good to go as readers and spellers.
1- Phonemic Awareness – the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words. For example, a child with a strong phonemic awareness could tell you that the word boat becomes bow when you leave off the t-sound (/t/). They’d also be able to tell you where they hear the /m/ in hammer: beginning, middle, or end. Read more about phonemic awareness.
2- Knowledge of Letter Sounds – also known as phonics. This is the knowledge that the letter s says /s/ or that the letter v says /v/.
But guess what? It’s not enough. If learners don’t also have a strong understanding of the alphabetic principle, they are missing a big piece to the puzzle when it comes to reading and spelling!
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What is the Alphabetic Principle?
So what exactly is the alphabetic principle? My favorite definition comes from Teaching Word Recognition: Effective Strategies for Students with Learning Difficulties by Rollanda E. O’Connor: The alphabetic principle is how “phonemic awareness and knowledge of letter-sound correspondences come together in the practical application of reading [and spelling].” (p. 43)
In other words, kids need to understand that there is a relationship between their awareness of sounds {phonemic awareness} and their knowledge of letter sounds {phonics}. They need to understand that letters serve a function to help them read and spell.
Learners may know their letter names and their letter sounds {strong phonics skills}.
They may even be able to tell you the answer to “What letter sound do you hear at the beginning of sock?” {strong phonemic awareness skills}
But if learners can’t APPLY their knowledge of sounds to the letters on the page for reading and spelling, they don’t know how to USE this knowledge. Without and understanding of the alphabetic principle, learners struggle to decode words {needed for reading} and segment words {needed for spelling}.
O’Connor goes on to say that kids should have this understanding in place generally by the end of first grade.
3 EASY Ways to Build the Alphabetic Principle
For many children, the alphabetic principle isn’t understood naturally. They have to be taught. This is especially true of readers who have language difficulties, such as dyslexia. But the good news is you can help learners build it with some simple activities. Here are three ideas you can start today!
1 – Use letters as you’re working on phonemic awareness skills.
Traditionally speaking, phonological and phonemic awareness activities are done WITHOUT the use of letters, as shown in our beginning blends phonemic awareness cards.
To build the alphabetic principle, add actual letters into your phonemic awareness lessons. Instead of just asking, “What letter sound do you hear at the beginning of sock?”, take it a step further.
Supply magnetic letters or letter tiles with 3-4 different letters on them. Follow up by asking, “So if you were reading the word sock, which letter would you expect to see at the beginning of the word?” {Learners touch s and say s.} “Yes, it’s an s!”
2- Manipulate letters at the beginning, middle, and end of words.
Talk about WHERE you hear these sounds in words. An easy tool to use is an Elkonin box. {Grab our free, printable Eloknin boxes at the end of this post!} Learners can move magnetic letters or letter tiles into the place where they hear the letter: the beginning, middle, or the end.
Example:
- What letter says /g/?
- Yes! It’s g.
- Find the letter g.
- Now, where do you hear the /g/ in alligator? At the beginning, middle or end?
- Say alligator out loud with me. {Learners can better “hear” the sound if they can “feel” it in their mouth when they say it out loud.}
- Yes, we hear the g in the middle of the word.
- Let’s put the g in the middle box to show that we hear /g/ in the middle of alligator.
3- Allow phonetic or invented spelling.
{This idea might be the most controversial one I share. If the idea of invented spelling makes you twitch, it help to think of invented spelling as temporary spelling.}
Whether you approve of it or not, allowing learners to use invented spelling actually helps them better understand the alphabetic principle.
I love this quote from O’Connor: “Invented spelling requires children to devote conscious attention to how they might represent the sounds in words logically, even when they have not been taught particular spoken and written word pairings. The logic children use to invent spellings for words is an internal and temporary logic, which can be replaced over time as children become more aware of the letter-sound possibilities in their language.” (p. 49)
Invented spelling not only helps kids apprehend the alphabetic principle, but it also gives them the freedom to write more than if they were only allowed to write words they can spell correctly…another bonus!
Grab our free Elkonin box cards below!
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