How Does Your Child Say 'A for Apple'?

by Rasudula Dissanayake

Once, when I was teaching English to a five year old child and asked them to read a sentence, they paused near the word 'pen'. So I asked them to tell me the sounds of the letters they see. To my question “what is the sound of the letter E”, they replied by reciting the letter’s name. I had to remind them that the sound of E is 'eh' /e/, but it did not help that one of the next words in the sentence was 'me'.

English is an inconsistent language; it is difficult to learn. Most children put letter sounds together to read words. But they often get confused between the sounds of some letters. The child I taught would get confused between the sounds of the letters I and E, as the sound of I and the name of E are the same. They did not have trouble identifying the symbol of the letter and naming it, but when reading there was some difficulty in distinguishing between the sounds. Now, they are older and display no such difficulty.

It is interesting to explore how children respond to letter name and letter sound knowledge when they are learning to read and write in English. The alphabet, along with the letter names and letter sounds is one of the first things taught to children beginning to learn English. Letter name knowledge is important as it provides a label for the symbol of the letter, and allows children to uniquely identify each letter. Letter name knowledge is also needed to be able to discuss letters and spell out words. But this knowledge is not sufficient to provide the child with reading and writing development. Letter sound knowledge is what is important for a child to learn in order to decode words. It is often assumed that letter names are easier to learn than letter sounds. There are a few reasons for this assumption. One is that before preschool, most children are already aware of the alphabet due to singing the alphabet song or hearing adults around them refer to letters by name. Hence this knowledge of letter names often reflects the educational environment prior to preschool entry. Most young children would know that A stands for apple. But not many would say that the sound of A, /æ/, stands for apple until they are taught that.

A popular view among researchers and educators is that letter names facilitate the learning of letter sounds. In fact studies have found that children were more successful in learning the sounds of those letters whose names they already knew. One reason for this is because most letter names in the English language contain the sound that it represents (E.g. M, D, B and S). This is different to letters like W, Y, and H whose letter sound is not part of its name. Interestingly, research has also found that letter sound learning is best with letters with their sounds at the beginning of their names like B and D, and poorer for sounds at the end of names such as in letters like M (es) and S (es), as young children may find it difficult to isolate those sounds.

There is an instruction method called the Enhancing Alphabet Knowledge Instruction (EAK) where a child would learn all three aspects of letters, one letter at a time: name, sound, written form. This method provides teachers with the opportunity to expose a child to a letter for as long as they need depending on the comprehension that the child is exhibiting. Even though most teachers are not aware of the name of this method, they utilize it in their teaching. Learning all three aspects of a letter together was how I was taught even though I had awareness of letter names. It is the same method that I use with the children I teach. Under this method the child is also instructed to try either the vowel’s name or sound when decoding. Therefore students learn to apply the knowledge while acquiring it.

Potential confusion is not a valid reason to refrain from teaching either letter names or sounds to children. As discussed above, it is possible for a child to have letter name knowledge before entering into any form of formal education. Then, it is a matter of combining that knowledge with the other components of language development. In this process it is natural for young children to get confused between letter sounds and names. Research does not agree on which method of teaching is better. There are only recommendations, but many studies show that some children find name to sound facilitation to be easier. However, it might be helpful to teach both letter names and sounds simultaneously as it contributes to enhancing children's literacy. Any confusion that a typically developing child may have at early stages will disappear with familiarity, practice and improved literacy. Finally, it is important to be open to what each child needs, as it will always be helpful for both the teacher/parent and the child to provide children with an instruction method that suits them the best.