Written by: Brianna Guild, MHSc SLP(C)

Date: May 12, 2025

Letter knowledge is the foundation for understanding the sound-spelling (phoneme-grapheme) correspondences required to read and spell. It involves learning each letter’s name, common sound(s), and written form.

This knowledge is related to the alphabetic principle, “the understanding that language is made up of discrete sounds and that letters represent those sounds in a systematic way” (Huang et al., 2014).

Letter Names

The name we use to refer to a letter. There are 26 letter names in English. Think of the alphabet song that lists all the letter names (A, B, C, D, etc). Letter names are stable— each letter is always referred to by its unique name.

The ability to identify a letter’s name when shown its written form is a predictor of long-term reading success.

Letter Sounds

The sound(s) a letter is used to represent (e.g., the letter b represents the sound /b/).

There are 44 spoken sounds (phonemes) in English.

The ability to identify the sound(s) a letter represents is a strong predictor of decoding and overall reading growth. Remember, letter sounds are what we actually need to know in order to decode (read) and encode (spell) words.

Beginning readers need to learn the following concepts related to sounds and their spellings:

Letters are written symbols that represent spoken sounds.
A sound can be represented by one or more letters (e.g., a, ai, igh, eigh).
One sound can be represented by different spellings (e.g., the sound /eɪ/, commonly referred to as “long a”, can be represented by the spellings a, ai, ay, a_e, ey, eigh). Here’s my long vowel sound spellings reference.
One spelling can represent different sounds (e.g., the spelling ea can represent the sound /i/ as in eat, /ɛ/ as in bread, or /eɪ/ as in steak).

Teaching Tips:

When teaching sounds, draw attention to how the sound is produced in the mouth (e.g., the position and movement of the jaw and articulators, including lips and tongue). It is helpful to use a mirror so that students can see their mouth as they produce the sound!
Sounds can be confusing when they are formed similarly in the mouth (e.g., /m/ and /n/, “short i” and “short e”). When teaching these sounds, it is especially important to emphasize the differences in jaw and articulator position during sound production.

Letter Forms

The form or shape of the written letter (how it looks). Some letters are visually similar (e.g., b/d, p/q) while others are distinct. Students must learn the shape of each letter and how to correctly form (write) that shape.

There are 52 letter forms in English (uppercase and lowercase for each letter in the alphabet).

It is important to incorporate explicit letter formation instruction into alphabet instruction to help students learn to recognize and write letter forms! Early handwriting skills often predict spelling development, and since spelling and reading are interconnected, handwriting can also support reading development.

Teaching Tips:

When teaching letter formation, teach a consistent beginning point and end point, and a continuous stroke wherever possible. For example, the letter b is formed by 2 strokes: a vertical line down and then a circle. Letter formation cards and charts can be a helpful reference for both educators and students.
It can also be beneficial to use visuals like “sky, grass, ground” paper to help students learn how to correctly form letters and words on lined paper. For example, the letter b is formed by 2 strokes: a vertical line down from the sky, and then a circle in the grass.
When teaching visually similar letters, it is helpful to emphasize the features that make them different, and whenever possible, to try to connect how the sound is produced in the mouth to how the letter is formed in writing. For example, when you say the sound /b/, your mouth starts closed in a straight line, and when you write the letter b, you start by writing a straight line. Here are my free visuals to support b d reversals.

Recap and Takeaways

Overall, when it comes to letter knowledge, students must learn:

26 letter names
44 letter sounds
52 letter forms
and how to apply all this letter knowledge when reading and writing words regardless of different handwritings and fonts (including size and style of letters)

The goal of alphabet instruction is to ensure learners can automatically and accurately associate letter forms to their sounds and names. Therefore, one simple and effective routine is having students write/form the letter while saying the letter name and sound (e.g., student says “b /b/” while writing the letter b).

While some programs start by teaching letter names, and others teach letter sounds only, I aim to address the needs of the individual in front of me. Some individuals can handle learning letter names and sounds simultaneously, and others cannot. If I’m working with a struggling reader or a student who is stuck on letter names (e.g., they can associate letter forms to names, but don’t know any sounds), I will focus on letter sounds only. Additionally, when any of my students are spelling, I always have them say the sound as they write the letter.

Remember, while it's beneficial to teach both letter names and sounds, instruction should focus on the connection between letter forms and sounds, since this is the essential piece for reading and spelling!

Interested in reading more? Check out my blogs about effective alphabet instruction and orthographic mapping.

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References:

Huang, F. L., Tortorelli, L. S., & Invernizzi, M. A. (2014). An investigation of factors associated with letter-sound knowledge at kindergarten entry. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(2), 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.02.001

Lindsey, J. B. (2022). Reading Above the Fray: Reliable, Research-Based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills. Scholastic Professional.

Reading Rockets. (n.d.) Basics: Alphabet Knowledge. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/alphabet-knowledge