Because students are only required to recognize the printed form of a word spoken by the teacher, Speech to Print Phonics is about as easy an approach to phonics instruction as you can find. It also integrates phonological awareness and phonics (Vandervelden & Siegel, 1997; Bus & van Ijzendoorn, 1999). The teacher presents a vowel element, such as s = /s/, shows the students two word cards, and asks students to point to the word that contains that element. After two letter-sound correspondences have been introduced, the students are shown two words, one of which starts with the element just taught. For instance, having taught the correspondences s = /s/ and m =/m/, the teacher presents the words man and sun on cards and asks students to point to the word that says man. After a third correspondence has been taught, students choose from all three. However, as additional correspondences are introduced, drop one so that students are not required to choose from more than three correspondences. At-risk students who took part in Speech-to-Print Phonics improved in phonemic awareness, letter-sound recognition, and the ability to learn new words (Vandervelden & Siegel, 1997). An adapted lesson is presented below.
Step 1: Introducing the Correspondence
Present the correspondence m = /m/. First emphasize the sound of /m/.
Stress the way that the lips are pressed together to form the sound /m/.
Explain that man, moon, mouse, monkey, mirror, and mop begin with
/m/. Have students say the words. Write the words man and moon
on the board. Stress the sounds as you write the letters that represent them.
Explain that the letter m stands for the sound /m/ heard at the
beginning of mmman and mmmoon. If any of your students' names
begin with /m/, write their names on the board, too: Maria, Martin, Marisol,
again emphasizing the beginning sound as you do so.
Step 2: Guided Practice
Assuming that the correspondences s = /s/ and f = /f/ have been
introduced, present groups of word cards similar to the following.
Ask: Which word says man? man sun fish (These words are placed on cards.)
After each correct response, ask questions similar to the following: "How
do you know this word says man?" If the student says because it
begins with the letter m, ask, "What sound does m stand for?"
If the student says he chose the word because it begins with an /m/ sound,
ask, "What letter stands for /m/?" In that way students will
make connections between the letters and the sounds they represent. If the student
has given an incorrect response, read the word that was mistakenly pointed to
and then point to the correct word and read it: "No, this word is sun.
It begins with the letter s. S makes an /s/ sound. This is the
word man. It begins with the letter m. M makes the /m/
sound that you hear at the beginning of man. Proceed to additional word
groups.
Which word says sun? man sun fish
Which word says fish ? man sun fish
Which word says me ? me see five
Which word says five ? me see five
Which word says see ? me see five
Which word says mat ? mat sat fat
Which word says fat ? mat sat fat
Which word says sat ? mat sat fat
Which word says mat? mat sat fat
Which word says mad? mad sad fad
Which word says sad? mad sad fad
Go through the words in groups of three several times or until students seem to have some fluency with the words.
Step 3: Guided Spelling
In guided spelling, the teacher carefully articulates the words and the student
spells them with a set of plastic letters. Initially, the student might simply
select from three plastic letters the one that spells the beginning sound. Later,
as the student learns to spell whole words, he might be asked to spell two-
or three-letter words and would be given the letters in mixed-up order.
Step 4: Reading Real World Words
Also use real-world materials. Holding up a milk carton, have students point
to the word milk. Holding up a tub of margarine, have students point
to the word margarine.
After students have mastered the first set of consonants, gradually introduce additional correspondences. Taking distinctiveness and overall utility into consideration, the following correspondences are recommended: r = /r/, h = /h/, b = /b/, n = /n/, p = /p/, c = /k/, d = /d/, t = /t/, w = /w/, g = /g/, k = /k/.
After students have learned initial consonants, they are introduced to final consonants and make matches based on both the initial and final consonants. For instance, presenting the students the word cards, cat, can, cap, the teacher would say, "Which word spells can? Which word spells cat? Which word spells cap?" Introduce the following final consonants: d = /d/, m = /m/,p = /p/, t = /t/, n = /n/, g = /j/ in the same way that you introduced initial consonant correspondences.
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