Alphabetic Principle

Assessing students' alphabetic knowledge and decoding skills provides important information for language teachers. Identifying weak skills and providing early intervention will help students to progress in all areas of learning. Assessing Younger Students

- Have students point to letters on a card as the teacher says the name of the letter or the sound the letter makes - Have students sing the alphabet song or make the sound associated with a specific letter

The alphabet should not be introduced in sequence (a,b,c,d...). Instead, teachers should:

1. Introduce 4-6 high frequency consonants, with a focus on those that have a "stretchy" characteristic and are able to be blended well. (M, S, L, N, R) 2. Next, teach two short vowels so students can quickly begin to read and write consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words such as "man", "ram", etc. Teach short a, short o, and short u first, because the sounds of short e and short i are easily confused by many learners. 3. Then, teach other consonants and vowels, while reviewing the ones previously learned. The next sections do not have a specific order of introduction, though CVCe words are usually introduced next and play a key role in the evaluation of student writing skills (covered in Competency 9).

Digraphs

A sound made when two or more letters join together to make a new sound, specifically: ch, sh, th and wh.

Diphthongs

A sound made when two vowel "slide together" and make a new sound, specifically: oi, oy, ou, etc.

Word Walls

An effective classroom tool that utilizes environmental print, word walls are alphabetized, interactive displays of learned words or words that are about to be learned. Word Walls help with acquisition of graphophonemic knowledge by reinforcing letter recognition and letter names.

Assessing students' alphabetic knowledge and decoding skills provides important information for language teachers. Identifying weak skills and providing early intervention will help students to progress in all areas of learning. Assessing Older Students

Have students write all of the letters in a set, such as all of the consonants, all of the vowels, or all of the letters/letter combinations that can make a specific sound

Skills Observation Recording

It is important to keep a chart that records the observed and assessed skills of each student. Look for patterns and find areas of weakness. Use assessment data to plan individualized instruction that helps each child grow.

3. Full Alphabetic Stage

Learners begin connect letters with sounds, and using this connection between their oral vocabulary (words they know in spoken language) to determine the meaning of written words.

2. Partial Alphabetic Phase

Learners begin to connect the shape of letters with sounds, such as the first letter of their classmates' names. This early stage is supported by playing with blocks (that have letters on them) and being exposed to the alphabet indirectly through environmental print (written words and letters on signs, and within the environment).

4. Consolidated Alphabetic Stage

Learners begin to understand that they can use parts of words they know to help them decode new words. They begin to make new words using onsets and rimes, word families, and letter chunks (such as, "tion").

1. Pre-Alphabetic Phase

Learners in this stage can identify stores by the shape of their logo or symbols within the logo, instead of by specific letters in the logo. "Look, Mom, there's Burger King. I see the crown!" This introduction to environmental signage leads to awareness of environ- mental print.

Diacritic Marks

Marks such as the cedilla beneath the c or the tilde above the n in Spanish or French, marks which tell the reader to change how the sound or word is pronounced.

Environmental Print

Parents can help children develop alphabetic skills in many ways, including by pointing out and nam- ing letters within the child's environment. Teachers should maintain a "word-rich environment", or a setting in which words are posted throughout the classroom to allow students greater exposure to words and letters.

Syllabic Writing System

Syllables are depicted through the use of unique symbols. Examples: Linear B (ancient Greek), Cherokee, Kana (Japanese)

Systematic, Explicit Instruction

Teaching letters and related sounds in a regular, planned way, coupled with frequent review will help students build alphabetic skills.

Multisensory Techniques

Teaching letters and sounds using multiple senses and methods help students master alphabet skills more rapidly, and retain these skills over time. Examples: practicing letter writ- ing in sand trays, in shaving cream, with waxed yarn, on sandpaper; singing and listening to alphabet songs and watching alphabet video clips and presentations; eat- ing alphabet shaped noodles or crackers, and creating edible letter shapes with fruit rollups or vegetables; creating physical letters using body positions

Alphabetic Recognition

The ability to recognize the printed letters of the alphabet based on each letter's unique shape. Students should be able to recognize all of the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet by the end of kindergarten. Late developing alphabetic recognition includes the distinction between block letters and cursive letters, which should be learned by the end of third grade.

Phonics

The alphabetic principle is the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds of spoken language) and graphemes (the letters and spellings that rep- resent those sounds in written language). Teaching these relationships is phonics. When letters and sounds come together, the student is developing phonics skills.

Nonsense Word Decoding

Used to assess a student's ability to use letter-sound knowledge to decode words. In these tests, the student reads a list of "non-words" and the teacher records decoding strengths and weaknesses. Example: tould, gree, pixed, bunder These tests should be administered: middle and end of year in kindergarten; middle and end of the year in first grade. If the teacher is administering this test, he/she is evaluating the student's decoding skills.

Alphabetic Writing System

Uses the sounds of the language as a basic unit for writing. Examples: Latin, English, Greek

Pictographic Writing System

Words, ideas, and concepts are represent- ed with a visual or image. Example: Aztec

Graphemes

Written letter(s) that represent a spoken sound. For example, a student writes the letter "B" when they hear the sound /b/. The English language contains 26 graphemes (letters) and 44 phonemes (sounds). The English language has 5 letters that represent 12 vowel sounds. A single grapheme or a group of graphemes may represent a sound. Example: The word "eight" has two phonemes, /A/ and /t/. The first phoneme is represented by 4 graphemes (eigh) and the last phoneme is represented by a single phoneme (t).

Letter-sound knowledge

a student's ability to apply graphophonemic aware- ness and decode written words.

Alphabetic recognition builds at the same time as graphophonemic skills. If a student has weak phonemic awareness skills, the teacher should

combine letter recognition activities with phonemic building, so students build skills with both simultaneously.

Once students have learned all consonants and short vowel sounds, they should learn

the long vowel sounds and the silent e marker (where e is added to the end of the word, and is silent, but controls the vowel and makes it "say" the long vowel sound). Examples: ride, mile, tame (CVCe) • Students should learn vowel digraphs (two vowels go walking, the first does the talk- ing, and it says its own name). Examples: Read, Peek, Toad (CVVC) • Students should learn that double letters make a single sound. Examples: Hill, Miss (CVCC) • Students should learn consonant-vowel words, and the common long vowel sound associated. Examples: My, Be, By, Hi (CV)

Alphabetic Phases

the order in which alphabetic knowledge develops.

Graphophonemic Awareness

the understanding that a sequence of written letters rep- resents a sequence of spoken sounds. Graph = Write, Phone = Sounds, so the word literally means to write (letters) that represent sounds (phonemes). Without these skills, a child will have a difficult time reading.

Decoding

using graphophonemic awareness to "figure out", "sound out" new words. Unless the reader can convert the "code" (the lines and symbols, or letters written on the page) into sounds, he or she will not be able to make sense of what is read.

Teachers must understand the developmental stages of alphabetic awareness (what they are) as well as their progression (the order in which they develop), so they can:

• Determine where a child is in their alphabetic knowledge development. • Plan activities that help them build to the next level.

Alphabetic Principle is:

• The ability to associate sounds with letters and to use these sounds to form words • The understanding that words in spoken language are represented by letters in print • Sounds in words have a predictable rela- tionship with the letters that represent these sounds