Alphabetic Principle
Culturally & Linguistically Responsive Letter/Sound Introduction
Looking for a way to teach your students sound/symbol correspondence cumulatively systematically? Look no further.
About this Thread:
This research-based alphabetic principle thread will help you introduce all 21 letter sounds and 5 short vowel sounds to your students over a 9-week period. If you have English learners or bidialectal students in your classroom, this thread includes tips for supporting their fluency with these phonics elements.
Materials:
sound cards
white boards/markers/erasers or dictation paper for students
Length of Instruction: 20 minutes a day
Duration of Instruction: 9-weeks
Frequency of Instruction: 4 - 5 days a week
Group size recommendation: Whole class, small-group, individual instruction
The creation of this thread was based on the research below focused on evidence-based suggestions for the introduction of sound/symbol correspondences, the inclusion of linguistically responsive instruction to support learners who may be new to American English dialect and language.
This research-based instructional thread focuses on alphabetic principle. Below are some key research findings to help teachers deliver this instruction to all students in the classroom including struggling readers, bi-dialectal students, and English learners:
Alphabetic Principle Research
The scope and sequence of this thread was build based on the research that culminated in the book Direct Instruction Reading (1997). In this work, Doug Carnine, Jerry Silbert, Edward Kameenui, and Sara Tarver delineate some of the key considerations for delivering direct instruction in alphabetic principal.
Separate letters that look alike (b/d, p/q, t/f) and sound alike (i/e, o/u)
Include continuous sounds in addition to stops (m, s, n and not just t, d, p)
Introduce letters early that can support immediate word blending a(m, s, t, a).
Ensure frequent opportunities for review.
Engage students in multimodal instruction by including reading and writing.
Culturally & Linguistically Relevant Instruction Research
When delivering explicit instruction in sound/symbol correspondence to students with a native language or dialect other than American English teachers can follow some research-based approaches to maximize instructional effectiveness for their students.
Dr. Elsa Cádenas-Hagan, an English Learner (EL) researcher and Speech Language Pathologist who wrote the book Literacy Foundations for English Learners explains, "ELs may have native literacy knowledge that could benefit second language literacy. Therefore, teachers need to be cognizant of the native language skills students may bring into the classroom and take full advantage of these when possible" (2020). She explains that research suggests "instruction should be focused on areas where the two languages diverge [..]" (2020). This can be done by:
Pointing out similarities and differences in the phonemes/syllables/word meanings between the native language or dialect and English.
Teach English decoding systematically through the syllable type and inform yourself of the way in which the student's native language is similar or different in order to help students draw connections.
When considering supporting students with a dialect other than General American English (GAE), students may be dealing with a similarly taxing mental load of translation from their home dialect to GAE. Research by Dr. Megan Brown and colleagues in Impact of Dialect Use on a Basic Component of Learning to Read. They write, "our research pinpoints how a difference between dialects can affect acquiring an important reading skill" (2015). Their research showed that teachers can support students by providing direct and explicit context to the language learning that brings to light dialect differences to support fluent translation. The found that, "provision of dialect-distinguishing cues is helpful [to students]" (2015). Delve deeper into the research by reviewing the books and articles listed in the References of this thread.
References:
Archer, A., & Hughes, C. A., (2020) Explicit instruction [video clip]. Retrieved from https://explicitinstruction.org/video-elementary/elementary-video-11/
Cárdenas-Hagan, E. (2020). Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing, Co.
Cárdenas-Hagan, E. (2018). Cross language connections for English learners’ literacy development. Intervention in School and Clinic, 54(1) 14–21.
Chiappe, P., Siegel, L., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2002). Linguistic diversity and the development of reading skills: A longitudinal study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 6(4) 369–400.
Brown, M. et al., “Impact of Dialect Use on a Basic Component of Learning to Read,” Frontiers in Psychology 6, no. 196 (2015)
Carnine, D. W., Silbert, J., Kameenui, E. J., & Tarver, S. (1997). Direct Instruction Reading (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.
Siegel, J. Second Dialect Acquisition (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Shollenbarger, S. et al., “How African American English-Speaking First Graders Segment and Rhyme Words and Nonwords with Final Consonant Clusters,” Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 48, no. 4 (2017): 273–85.
Tatum, A. Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap (Portland, ME: Stenhouse, 2005); and A. Tatum, “Breaking Down Barriers That Disenfranchise African American Adolescent Readers in Low-Level Tracks,” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 44, no. 1 (2000): 52–64.
Pasquarella, A., Chen, X., Gottardo, A., & Geva, E. (2014). Cross language transfer of word reading accuracy and word reading fluency in Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilinguals: Script universal and script specific processes. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107, 96–110.
Ramirez, G. (2017). Morphological awareness and second language learners. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 43, 35–41.
Washington, J. A., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2021). Teaching Reading to African American Children When Home and School Language Differ. American Educator, (Summer).
