Print-to-Speech and Speech-to-Print: Mapping Early Literacy

When children are told that the letter ‘m’ stands for the sound /mm/, they understand that a letter stands for a sound that they say and hear. However, to read and spell a word like mat, children also must recognize that they are saying three different sounds when they say the word mat. Spelling words requires focusing on the pronunciation of each sound as the word is segmented. The crucial and most difficult step is becoming aware of the full sequence of sounds as a word is spoken so that those speech sounds can be linked to letters and used to spell out a meaningful word.

Segmenting the word’s sounds is not easy for many students and must be learned through instruction and practice, until it becomes automatic. Phoneme awareness and segmenting should be taught in parallel with letter knowledge and phonics instruction. If children segment a familiar word like mat in order to spell it, the speech sounds get linked to concrete letters that are used to make that spoken word visible.

The visible letters they assemble or write can help them to retain the memory of pronouncing that sound. The physical act of writing also adds more motor learning to these multi-modal links. This process is called encoding.

Children do not need to learn the names, shapes, and sounds of all 26 upper- and lower-case letters before they tackle the construction of real words. Children as young as four can develop PA and practice a few phoneme–letter pairs as they learn to encode simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. Using letters to spell meaningful words is physically engaging and constructive. For example, children might begin by listening to a sentence with the word cat in it. Then they can be shown how to segment cat into its sounds and use movable alphabet tiles to spell cat — C-A-T. They can point to the letters as they blend them back into the word cat. 

A new word mat can be used in a sentence, segmented, spelled, decoded, and connected to meaning in the same way. Now the ‘m’ can be removed from mat leaving at. When children proceed to try the word sat, they should be asked what sound they are saying at the beginning of the word sat. At this point, children need to say the word sat, and try to identify the first sound they are saying on their own. This process may need repetition and scaffolding at first.

As they learn their letter-sounds, children begin to choose the letters and spell out the words by themselves. They are turning words they can say into words they can see. As they read back the word that they have spelled, children are also practicing decoding. Some children may need more deliberate steps to encoding by practicing oral segmenting and blending of spoken words, or by manipulating blank tiles before tackling letters. By mastering both functions of the alphabet code (encoding and decoding), children may be surprised to discover that they can independently read and write real words.

Segmenting and spelling their own spoken words, then blending those letter sounds back into spoken words, contributes powerfully to skilled reading. It is important that children know the meaning of the words they are learning to encode and decode. Through these activities, they are developing linked pathways in the brain connecting what they already know about words (their pronunciation, meaning and use) with the new symbols used for reading and writing. They can listen with pleasure to books with rich vocabularies and exciting stories that you read and discuss with them, and tackle more decodable books on their own.

It is possible for children to “discover” on their own some of the rules involved in how spoken words are made visible. A few children seem to learn to read with little or no systematic instruction. They have learned to master the code through other source — a helpful adult, software, or television — and generalize the patterns they recognize to figure out how letters stand for the sounds they say and hear.

However, for many children this implicit learning that involves recognizing patterns does not come easily, and they will need more intensive and explicit instruction, and time for practice. Patterns are recognized when they are repeated over and over. Introducing too many words that are not regularly spelled, like said or was, can interrupt the process of noticing the regular patterns of spelling. As children learn to encode and decode, it is helpful to work with regularly spelled words as much as possible.

Once children grasp the concept that letters stand for sounds that they say, whether in English or other European languages, they begin to figure out that they can write any word they can say. As they learn to express their own ideas on paper, they will spell words phonetically for a while, practicing PA and phonics as they write.

Spelling corrections can be made as they write to dictation, and orthographic patterns can be introduced gradually, so that a child’s early pleasure in writing is not dampened by too many “mistakes.” Time for encoding/writing should be scheduled daily.

Brain research shows that early reading requires development of neural pathways linking speech to new learning about print. Memorizing the visual appearance of words does not require the same participation of speech. More efficient brain pathways develop as children master PA, phonics, the alphabet code, and word knowledge in order to encode and decode meaningful text.

These networks will be elaborated over time as new words, (their pronunciations, spellings, usage, and sometimes multiple meanings) are mapped and stored. When these neural maps are created and repeated, familiar words are no longer decoded intentionally, but are recognized automatically. Introducing morphemes to change words like play into plays, player, played, and playing can dramatically increase the number of words that are recognized automatically.

Mastering the early foundation skills of letter recognition, PA, word knowledge, decoding, and encoding, requires conscious attention and effort at first. Like learning to ride a bicycle, with practice these skills become automatic and unconscious for most children. Automaticity with a code requires both encoding and decoding. When both become proficient and automatic, reading and writing enable a lifetime of enjoyment and learning.

In summary, it is our view that early literacy, like breathing, requires equal measures of in and out: both print-to-speech and speech-to-print instruction.

Instigating author

Contributing critics and editors

• Jane Ashby, Ph.D., Professor of Reading Science, Mount St. Joseph University, OH,
• Kelly Butler, M.Ed., Chief Executive Officer, Barksdale Reading Institute, Jackson, MS
• Linnea Ehri, Ed.D. Educational psychologist, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Graduate Center, CUNY
• Margie B. Gillis, Ed.D., Educational consultant, President Literacy How, Inc., Research Affiliate, Haskins
• Margaret Goldberg, M.A., Literacy Coach, co-founder of the Right to Read Project
• Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D. Researcher/Consultant. JH Educational Services, Co-author, Reading Fluency
• Louisa Moats, Ed.D. Psychologist, author of LETRS Professional Development, and Speech to Print
• Laura Stewart, M.F.A., CAO, 95 Percent Group, co-author The Everything Guide to Informational Text
• Jan Wasowicz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, CEO SPELL-Links/Learning by Design, Inc., Inventor Earobics
• Maryanne Wolf, Ph.D., Professor-in- Residence, UCLA, Author, Proust and the Squid, Reader Come Home

Supporting colleagues

• Donald Bolger, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Human Development, University of Maryland
• Jan Burkins, Ed. D., Co-author of Shifting the Balance, co-founder of “The Six Shifts”
• Mary E. Dahlgren, Ed.D. CEO Tools 4 Reading
• Linda Diamond, author Teaching Reading Sourcebook, founder CORE
• Steven P. Dykstra, PhD, Psychologist, Wisconsin Reading Coalition
• Elsa Cardenas Hagan Ed.D., SLP, Pres. Valley Speech Language & Learning Center, Research Associate UH, TX
• Marcia K. Henry, Ph.D., Professor Emerita San Jose State U., President, IDA 1992-1996
• Tiffany P. Hogan Ph.D., Professor, MGH Institute of Health, Research Associate Harvard University.
• Wesley A. Hoover, Ph.D. Cognitive Psychologist , EO , (retired) SEDL, AIR Austin, TX
• Ryan Lee-James, Ph.D. CCC-SLP, Chief Academic Officer, Atlanta Speech School
• Pam Kastner, Ed.D. Literacy Statewide Lead, Penn Training & Tech Assistance Network (PaTTAN)
• David Kilpatrick, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology, State University of NY at Cortland, NY
• G. Reid Lyon, Ph.D., former Chief Child Development and Behavior Branch, NIH
• Nancy Mather, PhD., Professor Emerita, University of Arizona
• Terrie Noland, Ph.D., CALP, Vice-President, Educator Initiatives, Learning Ally
• Charles Perfetti, Distinguished University Prof., Director Learning Res. & Dev Center, U. of Pittsburgh
• Ken Pugh, Ph.D., President and Director of Research, Haskins Laboratories
• Tim Shanahan, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Donald Shankweiler, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, U. of Connecticut, Research Staff, Haskins Laboratories
• Keith Stanovich, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Applied Psych. & Human Development., U. of Toronto
• Louise Spear-Swerling, Ph.D. Professor Emerita Southern Connecticut State University
• Stephanie A. Stollar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Mount St. Joseph U., Founder Reading Science Academy
• Danielle M. Thompson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Ed. Consultant, President, Transformative Reading Teacher Group
• Joseph Torgesen, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Director Emeritus FCRR
• Nancy Cushen-White, Ed.D., Clinical Professor Dept. Pediatrics UCSF, UCSF Dyslexia Research Team