Alphabetic Principle

Instruction

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Programs and Materials


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Letter-Sounds Correspondence


Materials Should:

  1. Separate auditorily and/or visually similar letters (e.g., e/i, d/b).
  2. Introduce some continuous sounds early (e.g., /m/, /s/).
  3. Teach the sounds of letters that can be used to build many words (e.g., m, s, a, t).
  4. Introduce lower case letters first unless upper case letters are similar in configuration (e.g., Similar: S, s, U, u, W, w; Dissimilar: R, r, T, t, F, f).

An Acceptable Sequence for Introducing Letters

a m t s i f d r o g l h u c b n k v e w j p y T L M F D I N A R H G B x q z J E Q

(Carnine, Silbert, & Kame'enui, 1997; see References)


Features of Well-designed Letter-sound Correspondence Instruction

  1. Are easily confused sounds separated over several lessons? (d/b/p, e/i, m/n)
  2. Are letter-sounds that occur in a large number of words introduced early in the sequence?
  3. Is the rate of letter-sound correspondence introduction manageable for the learner but adequate to allow multiple words to be made within 2-3 weeks? While there are no definitive guidelines for scheduling letter-sound correspondences, a rate of introducing one new letter-sound correspondence every 2-3 days is reasonable.
  4. Does the sequence include a few short vowels early to allow students to build words?
  5. Does the sequence begin with several continuous sounds?

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Regular Word Reading


Instructional materials must be carefully designed based on:


Letters in words for initial blending (sounding-out) instruction should:

(Carnine, Silbert, & Kame'enui, 1997; see References)


Features of Well-designed Word Recognition Instruction

  1. Does instruction teach an explicit "sounding out" strategy?
  2. Do the words to be decoded contain only known letter- or letter-sound combinations?
  3. Does the instructional sequence progress systematically from simple word types (consonant-vowel-consonant), word lengths (number of phonemes), and word complexity (phonemes in word, position of blends, stop sounds, etc.) to more complex words?
  4. Does instruction progress from sounding out words to reading "whole word"?
  5. Does the teacher model instruction at each of the fundamental stages (e.g., letter-sound correspondences, blending, reading whole words)?

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Irregular Word Reading


Features of Well-designed Irregular Word Reading Instruction

  1. Does the program teach irregular words prior to their use in passages?
  2. Does the program limit the number of irregular words introduced per passage?
  3. Is there a review sequence to practice difficult irregular words?
  4. Is there an explicit strategy for teaching irregular words?

Features of Well-designed Word Reading in Passages Instruction

  1. Does the program delay passage reading until students develop proficiency with letter-sound correspondences and simple word types?
  2. Does the program introduce passage reading soon enough that students see the utility of word reading?
  3. Is there an explicit strategy for teaching students to transition from reading words in lists to reading words in connected text?
  4. Does instruction systematically increase students' reading fluency?

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For more information about evaluating and selecting reading programs and materials, visit the Curricula section of this website.