Recently examined were the parts of reading based on what is heard, by defining and exploring phonological and phonemic awareness. We know that reading cannot be done with auditory learning alone, though. This is where orthographic skills come into play in the game of literacy.
What is Orthographic Awareness?
Orthographic awareness is not as easily defined or understood like its counterparts of phonemic or phonological awareness. Orthographic knowledge is done mentally and is not seen or heard. Human nature tells us that reading is a visual process - the more you read, the more words you see, the more times you see a word, you memorize it. Research has debunked that theory, though. As experienced readers, we can read words in different fonts, handwriting, and in capital and lowercase letters. If that is the case, then we are not simply taking a picture of a word with our brain to store until we find it again in a future text.
Orthographic awareness is defined as the “formation of letter-sound connections to bond the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of specific words in memory” (Ehri, 2013). It includes alphabetic knowledge (knowing s makes the /s/ sound), orthographic pattern knowledge (ck cannot be used in the initial position in a syllable), and storage of representations of spellings in long term memory (knowing the letter sequence of hour is h-o-u-r rather than o-u-r) (Gillon, 2018). Orthographic mapping explains how children learn to read words by sight, spell words from memory, and gain vocabulary knowledge through words in print (Ehri, 2013). In other words, orthographic mapping is how a word’s pronunciation is “mapped” to specific letters or spelling (Wilson, 2022). Simply put, “orthographic mapping is when the oral language we know combines with the written form to create sight words. The letter strings are both familiar and meaningful, and so we store them away until we need to read them, seemingly effortlessly. When we see a string of letters that have meaning to us, our brains automatically pull that word and its meaning out” (Campbell, 2021).
Phases in Spelling Development
One of the largest parts of orthographic awareness is sight words and spelling. Spelling success comes from language knowledge, not from memorized letter sequencing. It has been discovered that students actually move through a series of phases in spelling development (Gillon, 2013).
1. Precommunicative Spelling: In this phase of development, students’ writing attempts may appear scribble-like with only a small amount of letter form resemblance. Familiar letters, such as those in the student’s name, may be found in the string of writing; however unfamiliar letters show no phonology connection for the intended word.
2. Semiphonetic Spelling: Just as the name suggests, students in this phase of development are starting to show their understanding of how letters are used to represent sounds in words. Here, partial mapping between letters and sounds is demonstrated. This could look like the word you being spelled as u.
3. Phonetic Spelling: The phonetic spelling phase involves closer efforts to spelling a word the way it sounds. The main phonemes are present, but more complex phoneme-grapheme connections may still be lacking. Vowel teams or consonant digraphs may not be fully represented, such as the final /k/ in track with the ck or the /o/ in boat being made with the oa.
4. Transitional Phase: In this final phase of development, the student shows his/her knowledge of orthographic conventions in spelling. Reading and vocabulary exposure helps guide spelling skills in the transitional phase. Syllable awareness and morphological knowledge are used. The student displays an integration of phonological awareness with visual orthographic knowledge, and the mastery of correct spelling begins to emerge.
Orthographic Instructional Practices
The best practices for spelling and orthographic mapping instruction can be debated, but if teachers hold tight to the ideas in the Science of Reading, then orthographic mapping will combine with the phonological pieces of reading and produce a well read, proficient spelling student. Explicit instruction should take place on phonemic knowledge. First, phonemes should be identified in spoken words and how they link to letters. Secondly, systematically teaching how to decode and encode a word is imperative. This includes word analysis, such as identifying syllables and morphemes. Finally, reading connected texts will lead to an increase in automaticity, fluency, and comprehension (Wilson, 2022).
Spelling Activities
For the beginning reader and speller, using songs and games for letter-sound recognition is the place to start. Using letter tiles, magnetic letters, or letter stickers to display, name, and match with a given sound is a hands-on, engaging way for students to show this mastery or spell out certain words.
For more knowledgeable students, Scoop and Spell will show how advanced a child is in his/her orthographic awareness and spelling development phase. Letters are put into a bucket, and the child “scoops” out a handful. Ask the child to spell as many words as he can with the letters he scooped out. Try three letter words, then four letter words, and continue the pattern. Once he has exhausted words with that group of letters, put them back in the bucket, shake it up, and scoop again. Visit the website here for the full details of Scoop and Spell (Spence, 2018).
For the advanced and automatic spellers, their practice should continue to foster their knowledge of phonics, but be playful and engaging too. Playing word games like Scrabble and competing in friendly spelling bees will continue to grow their progress and introduce them to new words too.
Intervention Approaches
For struggling readers and spellers, explicit instruction in phoneme segmentation and letter-sound relationships is most beneficial. Using letters written on Lego pieces to literally build words is visual and hands-on for these students. Start with the student’s strength and build from that foundation. If the student knows single consonant sounds and short vowels o and e, have them build a chain of words with those letters: cob, belt, slop.
Word sorts are a way to develop orthographic patterns. Students can sort words to determine, for example, when to use ck for the /k/ sound, like in truck or chicken versus a c or k for the /k/ sound, like in cake or soak (Moats et al., 2021).
It is important to teach one pattern at a time with students who struggle with decoding and spelling. Start small with spelling one syllable words and work through the progression to multisyllabic words.
Whatever the strategy used, make spelling and orthographic practice fun so that students will develop a love of word knowledge.
References
Campbell, S. (2021, September 15). Orthographic mapping. Campbell Creates Readers.
Retrieved October 14, 2022, from
https://www.campbellcreatesreaders.com/blog/orthographicmapping
Ehri, L. C. (2013, September 26). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word
reading, spelling memory, and vocabulary learning. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10888438.2013.819356
Gillon, G. T. (2018). Phonological awareness: From research to practice (Second). The Guilford
Press.
Moats, L., & Cheri Williams, C. P.-B. (2021, June 1). Spelling: In practice. Reading Rockets.
Retrieved October 14, 2022, from
https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/modules/spelling/
spelling-practice
Spence, B. (2018, June 20). Scoop & Spell - a word building and spelling activity. This Reading
Mama. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from
https://thisreadingmama.com/scoop-spell-spelling-activity/
university. Wilson Language Training. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from
http://www.mtsu.edu/dyslexia/foxConference/2022/Advanced_Orthographic_Mapping
_03.24.22.pdf
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