PLAIN TALK ABOUT

LITERACY AND LEARNING

MARCH 13-15, 2017
HILTON NEW ORLEANS RIVERSIDE

Letter Names, Sounds or Both?

What the Research Says about
Alphabet Learning In Young Children
Lucy Hart Paulson

(504) 840-9786 | [email protected] | www.cdl.org

 About the Presenter
Lucy Hart Paulson
Lucy Hart Paulson, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is a speech and language pathologist and literacy
specialist with years of experience working with young children and their families in
public school, Head Start, private, and university settings. Currently, she is on the
faculty of the Communicative Sciences and Disorders Department at The University
of Montana sharing responsibilities for teaching, supervising, research, and service.
Lucy presents a unique and broad-based perspective blending areas of language
and literacy together resulting in effective and engaging language-based literacy
interventions for children. She has provided professional development for a variety
of audiences across the United States and internationally. Lucy is the lead author
of LETRS for Early Childhood Educators, Building Early Literacy and Language Skills, a resource and
activity guide for young children, and Good Talking Words, a social communication skills program for
preschool and kindergarten.

About CDL
What does CDL do when we arent doing Plain Talk? Plenty.
We provide real-time, customized professional learning services that are sustained, collaborative,
job-embedded, classroom-focused, and data-driven.

Relevant and aligned. CDLs professional learning services are relevant to the needs of your students and your teachers,
and aligned with the professional learning definition in the 2016 Every Student Succeeds Act.

Focused. We focus on the knowledge and skills to enable students become proficient learners who succeed in
core academic subjects and meet challenging standards.

Real-time. We tackle real-time issues such as critical thinking, remediating struggling readers, and building and
sustaining collective capacity.

Collaborative. We examine student and teacher data with your leadership team, and then build professional
learning in response to student and teacher needs.

Customized. Nothing canned. Nothing scripted. Our professional learning is designed, facilitated, evaluated, and
adjusted to meet the needs of your educators.

Pragmatic. With a boots-on-the-ground approach, we provide collaborative learning sessions, coaching,

modeling, and observations with feedback.

Robust. We have robust expertise in literacy, evidence-based strategies, how students learn, early childhood,
student-specific intervention and remediation, leadership, and building collective capacity.

Diversified. We have experts at every level from early childhood through high school ready to work with your
educators.

We travel. Give us a call - we are ready to travel to you.

www.cdl.org | [email protected] | (504) 840-9786

 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

Letter Names, CurrentChallenges

Sounds, or Both?
Therearewiderangesofalphabetlearninginyoungchildren.

Approachestoalphabetteachingvarygreatlywithrelativelylittle
WhattheResearchSaysabout knowledgeabouttheimpactofthesevariousmethodsofinstruction
AlphabetLearningInYoungChildren (Piasta &Wagner,2010a).

LucyHartPaulson,EdD,CCCSLP
PlainTalk,2017

Anunansweredquestion EarlyLearningStandards
EarlyLearningStandardsorGuidelinesacrossthestateshavearange
WhatarethefactorsthatunderpinhugeLetter ofletterlearningexpectationfromsometoaspecificnumber(e.g.
NamingKnowledgedifferencesobservedamong rangingfrom10to20).
prereadersandevenbeginners? NewlyrevisedHeadStartstandards(2015)haveincreasedtheletter
JeanFoulin,2005 learningbenchmarkto:
18uppercaseletternames
15lowercaseletternames
knowsthesoundsassociatedwithseveralletters

CommonCoreReadingStandards: CommonCoreReadingStandards:
KindergartenFoundationalSkills KindergartenFoundationalSkills
1. Printconcepts:Demonstrateunderstandingoforganizationand 3. Phonicsandwordrecognition:Knowandapplygradelevelandword
featuresofprint: analysisskillsindecoding words
a.Followwordsleftright,topbottom,pagepage a.Demonstrateknowledgeof1:1lettersoundcorrespondences
b. Recognizespokenwordsrepresentwrittenwordswithspecificletter b. Associatelong/shortsoundswithcommonspellingsfor5major
sequences vowels
c. Usespacesbetweenwords c. Readcommonhighfrequencywordsbysight
d.Nameallupperandlowercaseletters d. Distinguishbetweensimilarlyspelledwordsbyidentifyingsoundof
lettersthatdiffer

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 1
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

Definitions
Earlyliteracy learningisdefinedasthetime Narrow Windowfor
periodfrombirthtosixyearsofage(Robyak,Masiello, AlphabetLearning
Trivette,Roper&Dunst,2007).

Earlyreadingandwriting occurin
kindergartenintotheearlyelementarygrades. Flooreffectsinpreschoolchildren
EarlyChildhoodistheperiodfrombirth Ceilingeffectsinstudieswitholderchildren
throughage8.
(Ouellette&Haley,2013)

Agenda AlphabetKnowledge
A Researchfindingsonletterlearning Understandingofletterforms,namesand
correspondingsounds

B Characteristicsoflettersthatmay Measuredby
Recognition: askthestudenttofindtheletterM
facilitatelearning Production:showtheletterMandaskthe M
C Researchonletterlearningandteaching studenttonametheletterand/orsound
Writing:askthestudenttowritetheshapeofthe
letterM
(NationalEarlyLiteracyPanel,2008)

EarlyIdentificationofReadingDisabilities:
PredictingLaterReadingDevelopment WithinanRTIFramework
Ascreeningbatteryinkindergartenof:
The bestTWOpredictorsofreading
Letternamefluency
achievementfromearlykindergartento2nd
Phonemicawareness(soundmatching)
gradeare:
RapidNaming
Phonemicawareness(soundisolation)
Nonword repetition
Letternameknowledge
Accuratelyidentifiedgoodandpoorreaders
attheendof1st grade.
(NationalEarlyLiteracyPanel,2008;NationalReadingPanel,2000)
(Catts,Nielsen,Bridges,Liu,&Bontempo, 2015)

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 2
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

TransitionfromEarlyLiteracy
toEarlyReadingandWriting BidirectionalRelationship

AlphabeticPrinciple Phonics
Phonologicalskillsmaybethe
Alphabet Phonemic Lettername catalystforletternameto
Knowledge Awareness
cat
andsound Phonological soundknowledge
processing beingabletosegmentthe
cat knowledge
/k////t/ soundsinletternamesb
cat into/b//i/
(Piasta &Wagner2010b)

Context ThePhonologicalProcessor TheOrthographicProcessor

FourPartProcessing Processor Adams,1990 cannotusefullylearnletter cannotbegintolearnspellings
ModelforWordRecognition FromSeidenberg& soundsuntiltheOrthographic untilithaslearnedtorecognize
McClelland,1989
Processorhaslearnedto thelettersfromwhichthey
EnhancedbyMoats
Meaning
discriminatetheindividual mustbebuilt.
(LETRS)
Processor letterswithwhichtheymust
belinked.
(Adams,1990,p.362&2013)
Phonics
speech speech
soundsystem Phonological Orthographic lettermemory Phonological Orthographic
sound
Processor Processor Processor
system Processor letter
languageinput memory

writingoutput readinginput language language

languageoutput writing readinginput
input output
output

LetterNamingAbilities... LetterKnowledge...
Thereisarelationshipbetweenearlyletter
Inpreschoolandkindergartenisawellestablished knowledgeandlaterliteracyskills,independentof
predictorofchildrenslaterliteracyskills (NationalEarly
childrensage,socioeconomicstatus,IQ,orother
LiteracyPanel,2008)
emergentliteracyskills,suchasorallanguageand
Forexample,whenassessedatages3.5years,4.5years,
phonologicalawareness.
and5.5yearswasthemostconsistentpredictorof2nd
gradewordreadingandspellingdisabilities. (Puolakanaho et (National Early Literacy Panel, 2008)
al.2007)

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 3
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

LetterNameKnowledge LetterNamesSounds
LNKatentryintokindergartenwasthebest Letternamesserveasanentrypointintolearningletter
individualpredictorofKreadingachievementand soundsandunderstandingthealphabeticprinciple.
secondbestafterphonemesegmentationinfirst Childrenextractthesoundcuesinletternames(e.g.,CV
gradereadingachievement. /b/inBorVC/f/inF).
LNKallowschildrentobridgethegapbetween Evidenceforthiscanbefoundintheinventedspellingsof
visualcuestrategytophoneticcuestrategyinearly youngchildren(e.g.,rforare,yt forwhat,etc.)
literacy. (Bailet,etal.,2009;Evansetal.,2006;Foulin,2005;Piatsta &Wagner,
2010b;Treiman,Tincoff,Rodriguez,Mouzaki,&Francis,1998)
LNKcontributestophonemicsensitivity.
(Foulin,2005)

ChallengesofLetterLearning LetterProperties
Consonantorvowel
Letternamesarearbitraryanddesignatedbyculturalconvention. Mannerofarticulation
Lettershapesaresimilarandeasilyconfused. Sound/symbolassociations(i.e.,BvsC)
Manylettershavedifferentupperandlowercaseforms. Agewhenaspeechsoundistypicallyproduced
Confusabilityoflettershapeand/orpronunciationwithotherletters
Letternamesgenerallysoundsimilar.
Frequencyinprintmaterials
(Adams,2013)
Letternamestructure
Letternametosoundfacilitationeffect
(Piasta &Wagner,2010b)

WhatsinaLETTER? SimilarLooking
Graphicshape
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff
Name
Sound Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm
Recognitionrate Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss
Eachhasacontributionand
allmustbeconsideredseparately.
Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 4
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

Upper/LowerCaseContrasts VisualShapeCharacteristics
Straight i l
SAME SIMILAR DIFFERENT Curved Cc Jj Oo Ss U
StraightIntersectionsEFH I L Tt
CurvedIntersectionsBDGPQa bdefg hmnpqru
DiagonalIntersectionsAKMN(R)VWXYZkvwxyz

FoundationsofWritingDevelopment VisualContrasts
Childlearntoprintlettersbyfirstimitatinggeometricshapesbeginningwith:
E/F b/d/p/q
2years verticalstrokes
2years horizontalstrokes M/N/W m/n/u
3 years circles P/R
4years cross TheseareonestoNOTteach
5years square
C/G togetheratfirst.
Later,thesecontrastsmaybe
5years triangle O/Q importanttohighlight.
(Feder &Majnemer,2007)

SimilarSoundingLabels Acrophonic Principle

// // // (Greek:akros uppermost+phonesound)

InitialphonemeofthelettersNAME
correspondstothelettersSOUND.
Consider:V,CV,VC,inconsistentmatch,
nomatch andinterference
// / / // /ah/
Sortthelettersintothesecategories.

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 5
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

Letter NametoSoundConnection
V CV VC Inconsistent No LetterLearningOutcomes
Match Match Letternameknowledge
Lettersoundknowledge
Letternamefluency
Lettersoundfluency
Letterwriting
LetterInterference
(Piasta,Petscher,&Justice,2012)

LetterLearningatHome FactorsthatInfluenceLetterLearning
Letterpositioninalphabet
Astudylookingatlettertalkathome:
Moreofafocusonlettersinwords recency andprimacyeffect
Lessofafocusonlettersounds Acrophonic properties
Shapedistinctions
(Robins,Treiman,&Rosales,2014)
Ratesofexposure
(Jones,Clark,&Reutzel,2012)

Letternameknowledge in34yr.oldsImpactSize LetterNameLearning

(Justiceetal.,2006)
Consideringliteracyoutcomesofword
Ownnameadvantage 11X identification,spelling,andpassage
Anyletter 1.5X comprehensioninfirstgradeand...
Initialletter 7.3X
Lookingatsensitivity,specificityandpositive
Alphabetorderhypothesis 1.02X predictivepower:
Lettername/soundpronunciationeffect OptimalbenchmarkatPKtoKof:
CVvs VC n.s. 18uppercase
CVvs NOT 1.8X 15lowercaseletters
Consonantorderhypothesis 1.09X (Piasta,Petscher,&Justice,2012)

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 6
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

25 MeanforLetterNameand
LetterSoundResponses LetterName,LetterSoundsandPhonologicalAwareness:
20 AnExaminationofKindergartenChildrenAcross
(Paulson,Emmett,&Reynolds,2013) 20
17 LettersandofLettersAcrossChildren
15 15
12 12 Task Mean SD Range
10 10
7.5 8.7 U/CNames 23.1 4.9 226
5 5.6
4.6 3.6 L/CNames 19.5 6.1 126
1.3 1.5
0 0.4
0.1 L/CSounds 15.1 8.1 026
3;003;05 3;063;11 4;004;05 4;064;11 5;005;05
Uppercase Lowercase Sounds (Evans,Bell,Shaw,Moretti,&Page,2006)

TeachingLetterKnowledge TeachingLetterKnowledge
Acomparisonofalphabetinstructioninpreschool curriculashows:
Somedonotmakementionofexplicitinstructionofletters Letteroftheweekinstructionisbasedontradition
InstructioninABCorder Ittakes26weeksfortocoverthealphabet.
Instructionbasedonletterfrequency Somelettersareeasiertolearnthanothers.
Instructioninlettersoundonly Somechildrenalreadyknowsomeletters.
Instructioninlowercaseletters Repetitionandpracticearerequiredforlearning.
(Justiceetal.,2006;Piasta &Wagner,2010b)
(Justiceetal.,2006)

MetaAnalysisofAlphabetLearningandInstruction MetaAnalysisofAlphabetLearningandInstruction
Instructioninalphabetknowledgehasmodest effectsizes. Whyonlymodesteffectsizes?
Letternameinstructionledtosignificantimpactsonlettersound Alphabetlearningmayrequiresignificantamountsofrotememorizationand
knowledge. repeatedpractice.

Lettersound(only)instructionledtolettersoundlearning(notletter Letternameandsoundinstructionwereembeddedinabroaderliteracy
program.
namelearning).
Childrenhaveopportunitiestolearnaboutlettersinothersettings.
Instructioningreaterdurationwasmoreeffective.
Thismayreflectourcurrentabilitytoteachalphabetknowledgeintheearly
Smallgroups(comparedto1:1tutoring)wasmoreeffective. literacyperiod.
(Piasta &Wagner,2010a)
(Piasta &Wagner,2010a)

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 7
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

InstructionalGuidance(Piasta &Wagner,2010b) LetterInstructionComponents

Ourfindingsarecontrary tofindingsthatletternameinstruction Name
isunimportantor,worse,detrimentalforchildrenslettersound
acquisition.Suchbeliefshavepromptedapproachesforteaching
Shape(uppercase/lowercase)
earlyliteracythatdisregardletternamesaltogether(e.g.Gurney, Sound
1999.JollyLearning,n.d.;Montessori&Gutek,2004).
Targetword A a // apple
Letternamelearning,whencombinedwithsoundinstructionmay
causallyimpactstudentslettersoundacquisition. Mouthshape
Writingit B b /b/ bus

StrategiesforTeachingAlphabetKnowledge Considerthesecycles:
1. Explicitlessonformatincludesteachermodelingandguided 1. Ownnameadvantage
practicefor: Learningadvantageforinitialletterinchildrensnames
2. Upper andlowercaseletternameidentification Highlymotivatingandresponsivetodevelopmentalneeds
3. Lettersoundidentification 2. Alphabetorderadvantage
4. Recognizingtheletterintext Learningadvantageforalphabetsequence
Serialeffectswithadvantageforbeginningandending
5. Producingtheletterform
(Jones,Clark&Reutzel,2012)
(Jones,Clark&Reutzel,2012)

3. Letternamesoundrelationship 5. Consonantacquisitionorder
Learningadvantageforletterswithsoundconnectionandforletters Learningadvantageofdevelopmentalspeechsound
withsinglesound acquisition
Teachesearlierdevelopedsoundsbeforelaterdeveloping
Mayspendlesstimeonletterswithsoundconnectionsandmoreon
sounds
moredifficultletters
6. Distinctivevisualfeaturesinwriting
4. Letterfrequency
Learningadvantagebasedondistinctivefeaturesinwritten
Learningadvantageforenvironmentalexposure letterform
Teachesfocusonlettersintext Teachingemphasizesdistinctivefeaturesbetweensimilar
letters
(Jones,Clark&Reutzel,2012) (Jones,Clark&Reutzel,2012)

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 8
 PLAIN TALK ABOUT LITERACY AND LEARNING
New Orleans, LA | March 13-15, 2017

PreliminaryResults Whatdowereallyknow?
Letterperdayinstructionin9to12minutelessons Letternameknowledgeprecedeslettersoundsknowledge andboth
5weekstopresent26letternamesandsounds areimportant.
7possibledistributedreviewcyclesthroughouttheschool ThereareWIDEdevelopmentalrangesandanarrow windowof
year development.
Instructionaltimecanfocusmoreefficientlyonletternames Manycharacteristicsinfluenceletterlearning.
andsoundsthataremoredifficulttolearn. Explicitinstructionhaslargereffectsizesthanembeddedinstruction.
Results showedasignificantdecreaseinthenumberof Alphabetlearningmostlikelyrequiressignificantamountsofrote
kindergartenersbenchmarkedatrisk. memorizationandrepeatedpractice.
(Jones,Clark&Reutzel,2012) Multicomponentinstructioniseffective.

References
Adams,M.J.(2013).ABCFoundationsforYoungChildren:AClassroomCurriculum.Baltimore,MD:BrookesPublishing
Adams,M.J.(1990).Beginningtoread,thinkingandlearningaboutprint. Cambridge,MA.:MITPress.
Bailet,L.,Repper,K.,Piasta,S.&Murphy,S.(2009).Emergentliteracyinterventionforprekindergarteners atriskforreadingfailure.

Questionsandcomments? JournalofLearningDisabilities,42(4),336355.
Catts,H.W.,Nielsen,D.C.,Bridges,M.S.,Liu,Y.S.,&Bontempo,D.E.(2015).EarlyidentificationofreadingdisabilitieswithinanRTI
framework.Journaloflearningdisabilities,48(3),281297.

Thankyou Evans,M.A.,Bell,M.,Shaw,D.,Moretti,S.,&Page,J.(2006).Letternames,lettersoundsandphonologicalawareness:Anexaminationof
kindergartenchildrenacrosslettersandoflettersacrosschildren.ReadingandWriting,19(9),959989.
Foulin,J.N.(2005).Whyisletternameknowledgesuchagoodpredictoroflearningtoread?ReadingandWriting,18,129155.
InstituteforLiteracy.(2008).[Earlyliteracypredictorsoflaterreadingoutcomes].ResultsfromtheNationalEarlyLiteracyPanel.
Louisville,KY:NationalCenterforFamilyLiteracy.
Jones,C.D.,Clark,S.K.&Reutzel,D.R.(2012).Enhancingalphabetknowledgeinstruction:Researchimplicationsandpracticalstrategies
ContactInformation forearlychildhoodeducators.EarlyChildhoodEducationJournal,DOI10.1007/s1064301205349.
LucyHartPaulson,Ed.D,CCCSLP Justice,L.M.,Pence,K.,Bowles,R.B.,&Wiggins,A.(2006).Aninvestigationoffourhypothesesconcerningtheorderbywhichchildren
learnthelettersofthealphabet.EarlyChildhoodResearchQuarterly,21, 374389.
[email protected]
Moats,L.C.(2009).Languageessentialsforteachersofreadingandspelling,Longmont,CO:Sopris WestEducationalServices.
NationalInstituteofChildHealthandHumanDevelopment.(2000).Reportofthenationalreadingpanel.Teachingchildrentoread:
Reportsofthesubgroups.Retrievedfromhttp://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/readbro.htm.

Ouellette,G.P.,&Haley,A.(2013).Onecomplicatedextendedfamily:Theinfluenceofalphabeticknowledgeandvocabularyon
phonemicawareness. JournalofResearchinReading,36(1),2941.
Paulson,L.H.,Noble,L.A.,Jepson,S.,&vandenPol,R.(2001).Buildingearlyliteracyandlanguageskills,Sopris West,Longmont,CO.
Piasta,S.B,Petscher,Y.&Justice,L.M.(2012).Howmanylettersshouldpreschoolersinpublicprogramsknow?Thediagnosticefficiency
ofvarious preschoolletternamingbenchmarks forpredictingfirstgradeliteracyachievement. JournalofEducationalPsychology,104:4,
945958.
Piasta,S.B.&Wagner,R.K.(2010a).Developingearlyliteracyskills:Ametaanalysisofalphabetlearningandinstruction.Reading
ResearchQuarterly,45:1,838.
Piasta,S.B.&Wagner,R.K.(2010b).Learningletternamesandsounds:Effectsofinstruction,lettertype,andphonologicalprocessing
skill. JournalofExperimentalChildPsychology,105,324344.
Puolakanaho,A.,Ahonen,T.,Aro,M.,Eklund,K.,Leppnen,P.H.,Poikkeus,A.M.,...&Lyytinen,H.(2007).Veryearlyphonologicaland
language skills:estimatingindividualriskofreadingdisability. JournalofChildPsychologyandPsychiatry,48(9),923931.
Robins,S.,Treiman,R.,&Rosales,N.(2014).Letterknowledgeinparentchildconversations.Readingandwriting,27(3),407429.
Robyak,Masiello,Trivette,Roper&Dunst,(2007).MappingthecontemporaryLandscapeofearlyliteracylearning,CELLreviews,1(1)
Center forEarlyLiteracyandLearning, http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org/productscr.php.
Treiman,R.,Tincoff,R.,Rodriguez,K.,Mouzaki,A.&Francis,D.J.(1998).Thefoundationsofliteracy:Learningthesoundsofletters.Child
Development,69: 15241540. doi: 10.1111/j.14678624.1998.tb06175.x
U.S.DepartmentofHealthandHumanServices,AdministrationforChildrenandfamilies.(2006).HeadStartFACESfindings:New
researchonHeadStartoutcomes andprogramquality. Washington,DC: Author.
U.S.DepartmentofHealthandHumanServices,AdministrationforChildrenandfamilies.(2015).HeadStartEarlyLearningOutcomes
Framework:Ages Birthto Five.Washington, DC:Author.

Lucy Hart Paulson, EdD, CCCSLP

Center for Development and Learning
(504) 840-9786 | www.cdl.org | [email protected] 9