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The role of letter names in children's learning of phoneme–grapheme relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Rebecca Treiman ,
Sarah Weatherston  and
Denise Berch
Rebecca Treiman*
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
Sarah Weatherston
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
Denise Berch
Affiliation:
Wayne State University
*
Rebecca Treiman, Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, 71 W. Warren Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Three studies were performed to explore the role of letter names in children's learning of correspondences between phonemes and graphemes. Some preschoolers and kindergartners were found to spell initial /w/ as y. They made this error because the name of y, /wai/, begins with /w/. Kindergartners in another study often said that y makes the sound /wdoubt/, even after they had been taught otherwise. Other results suggested that children benefit from letter-name knowledge to spell phonemes such as /b/, which occur at the beginning of a consonant-vowel letter name. Letter-name knowledge is less helpful for phonemes such as /1/, which occur at the end of a vowel-consonant letter name. Our findings suggest that children use their knowledge of letter names and their phonological segmentation skills when they learn the correspondences between phonemes and graphemes. They do not memorize these links in a rote, paired-associate manner.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , January 1994 , pp. 97 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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