Letter-Sound+Knowledge

** What it is: **  ** Definition: ** Letter-sound knowledge is the relationship between phonology and orthology. The focus of phonology is on the sounds each individual letter makes. Orthology is the act of writing when combing phonemes together to make a word.  ** Elements: **  · Knowledge of letter names and their associated sounds.  · Knowledge about how sounds and letters relate in English.  · Recognition of previously-seen words.  · Ability to figure out pronunciation of not-previously-seen words.   ** Why they are important: **   Letter-sound knowledge is important because in order to figure out the spelling of a word, you have to be aware of the sounds each letter makes. Also you have to know which letter combinations make up certain sounds. Without this knowledge your spelling will suffer and pronunciation of words will also be difficult.  ** How they are expected to develop: ** <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Letter-sound knowledge develops from not having any understanding of the letter names in the alphabet to having complete understanding. Further development allows students to decode unfamiliar and difficult words. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> In the development process there are steps that are non-exclusive. Decoding is blending or combining the sounds of letters to read a word. Analogy is when students use previous knowledge to decipher new words. Prediction can be incorporated by using clues within context to figure out the meaning of a word. Lastly, using sight is being able to recognize words subconsciously without thinking about the meaning because it is already stored in memory. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> (Letter-Sound Knowledge PowerPoint, 2011) <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">** How they can be assessed: ** <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> A couple of good assessments to use are alphabetic recognition and word recognition. An example of an alphabetic recognition assessment is using a chart with the upper case and lower case letter to test each letter individually. Doing this is will show the student’s understanding. This needs to be developed before word recognition can occur. An example of word recognition is giving a spelling test or even seeing a word on a page and being able to identify the word aloud. <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">** How they can be taught/instructional strategy: ** <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> <span style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"> Letter-Sound Knowledge can be assessed by presenting students with letters one at a time, and asking them to say the name of each, and then the sound of each. Teachers should avoid presenting the letters in alphabetical order, and it is helpful to present them in a grid format. Both capital and lowercase letters should be assessed, and a plain font should be used.