Transform Your Phonemic Awareness Instruction with Letters for Lasting Gains

As teachers have increased their knowledge on the Science of Reading, we have seen a shift and increase of explicit phonemic awareness instruction happening in our early literacy instruction. Oftentimes, when students struggle with phonemic awareness, our usual response is to add more explicit opportunities through small groups or reteaching lessons. Yet, current research reveals that increasing phonemic awareness activities without changing the method often leads to stalled progress. The key to unlocking continued growth lies in a simple but powerful change: teaching phonemic awareness alongside letters. This blog is grounded in the research article A Meta-Analysis on the Optimal Cumulative Dosage of Early Phonemic Awareness Instruction by Erbeli et al (2024). (Click here for the article)

Phonemic awareness is essential for reading success, and it must connect to print to be truly effective. This post explains why more time alone does not guarantee improvement and how pairing sounds with letters can transform your instruction and help students make lasting gains.

Why Focusing Solely on Oral Phonemic Awareness Isn't Enough

Phonemic awareness involves recognizing and manipulating individual sounds in spoken words. Classroom activities like clapping syllables and saying phonemes aloud build foundational skills, but studies show students make the most progress during a short period of targeted instruction, after which progress slows. This slowdown occurs because phonemic awareness should support reading and writing, not exist in isolation. Without connecting sounds to letters, students struggle to apply their skills in reading or spelling. For example, a student might segment the sounds in "cat" but fail to link them to the letters C-A-T. Teaching these skills together strengthens neural pathways, enhancing literacy development.

How Teaching Sounds and Letters Together Changes the Game

Introducing letters alongside phonemic awareness activities helps students see sounds as part of the written language. This connection makes phonemic awareness concrete and useful. When students understand that sounds correspond to letters, they build stronger sound-symbol links, which supports reading, spelling, and strengthens working memory.

Research supports this approach:

• Students develop stronger connections between sounds and letters

• Gains in phonemic awareness continue beyond the initial learning phase

• Reading and spelling skills improve, not just oral phonemic skills

  
  

At first, students may need time to learn letter names and sounds. This learning curve is normal, but once students start mapping sounds to letters, instruction becomes more effective and meaningful.

Connecting sounds to letters helps students understand how spoken language relates to print.

Practical Ways to Integrate Letters into Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Here are some strategies to combine phonemic awareness with letter knowledge in your teaching:

• Use letter cards during sound activities

When practicing segmenting or blending sounds, show the corresponding letter cards. For example, say the sounds /c/ /a/ /t/ while displaying C, A, and T cards. This visual link reinforces the working memory and brain muscles.

• Incorporate writing into phonemic tasks

Have students write letters as they say sounds. For instance, after segmenting a word orally, students write the letters that match each sound. This practice strengthens sound-symbol mapping.

• Use multi-sensory approaches

Combine auditory, visual, and kinesthetic activities. For example, students can say a sound, trace the letter in sand or on paper, and then write it. This variety supports different learning styles.

• Create word-building activities

Provide letter tiles or magnets and ask students to build words by blending sounds. This hands-on approach makes phonemic awareness and letter knowledge interactive and fun.

Examples of Effective Letter-Sound Phonemic Awareness Activities

• Sound-to-letter matching game

Say a sound aloud and have students pick the letter that matches it from a set of cards. This game reinforces letter-sound recognition.

• Elkonin boxes with letters

Use Elkonin boxes where students push a marker into a box for each sound in a word. Add letter cards above each box so students connect sounds to letters as they segment words.

• Letter-sound dictation

Dictate simple words and have students write the letters that match each sound. This activity combines listening, phonemic awareness, and spelling.

• Phoneme substitution with letters

Ask students to change one sound in a word and write the new word. For example, change the /c/ in "cat" to /h/ and write "hat." This deepens their understanding of sound-letter relationships.

The Lasting Impact of Teaching Phonemic Awareness with Letters

Integrating letters into phonemic awareness instruction helps students connect sounds to reading and writing, transforming abstract concepts into tangible skills. This approach leads to continued progress, improved decoding and spelling abilities, and greater confidence in literacy tasks. Teachers observe increased engagement and motivation as instruction becomes more relevant. By focusing on sound-letter connections, rather than extending oral-only activities, students achieve lasting gains and become confident readers and writers.