Being able to name letters effortlessly has long been considered an important predictor of reading achievement, but this is not the entirety of the alphabetical knowledge needed to support reading development. Early readers should be taught letter names, sounds, and formation.
Letter names:
- Research indicates that children taught with different approaches, whether they learn the names before sounds or the other way around, will make different kinds of errors in letter-name and letter-sound tasks. However, as these children develop their literacy skills, the differences in performance decrease, indicating that the order in which they learn names and sounds does not matter in the long run.
- Letter names provide a helpful label for referring to the symbol and its various forms.
- Children use letter names to learn letter sounds. Additionally, children tend to learn the sound faster and more accurately when it is at the beginning of a letter name. For example, children will learn “b” more efficiently than “m.”
Letter sounds:
- Knowing the different letter sounds is necessary in order to decode print.
- Research shows that children with different backgrounds and language experiences can successfully learn around three letter-sound correspondences per week (either single letter or two-letter combinations).
- Children can learn letter names and sounds at the same time.
Letter formation:
- Being able to form (write) letters quickly and effortlessly is associated with being able to name letters fluently.
- Handwriting and drawing develops the brain in ways that keyboarding does not.
