If you ask this question in a Facebook group, watch out. People on both sides of the aisle have strong opinions, and many of them will tell you that their opinions are absolutely backed by research.
At a recent Reading League event, Dr. Steven Dykstra joked that people on both sides of this debate will start pulling punches if you put them in the same room!
(I think he was only sort of joking.)
So … who’s right? Should we teach letters or sounds first?
Let’s start by looking at the arguments for each side of the debate.
Why you might teach letter names first
- Learning letter names helps students remember letter sounds, because many letters’ sounds are embedded in the letter name itself.
- Letter names are the only stable property of a letter. The shape changes depending on upper or lower case and the use of different fonts. The sound changes when letters can represent more than one sound. But the name of the letter never changes.
Why you might teach letter sounds first
- When it comes to sounding out a word, the letter sounds (not names) are what’s important.
- Some children may be confused when learning both and mix up letter names with their sounds.
- Children with poor working memory may struggle to remember both letter names and sounds.
The fact is, despite claims you may hear to the contrary, there isn’t a lot of clarifying research on this topic. However, there is growing evidence that children do well learning both letter names and sounds at the same time.
Before we draw conclusions, however, we need to tackle an important question.
Why teach letter names at all?
This is a fair question, because, strictly speaking, you would not need to know letter names to read.
REASON #1
A big reason to teach letter names is that “preschoolers’ knowledge of the names of printed letters has long been known to be among the strongest predictors of success in learning to read” (Share, 2004, p. 214).
Some will say this is simply correlational, that children who know the alphabet in preschool have a strong literacy environment prior to coming to school, so it makes sense that they will be more successful as readers.
However … Share and his colleagues (1983) found that letter name knowledge has a greater effect on reading success than other variables, such as socioeconomic status or even how much parents read to their children.
Exactly why knowing letter names is a good predictor of reading success is still up for debate. (But if you want some possible reasons, check out the 2004 Share article linked below.)
REASON #2
Another reason to teach letter names is that research clearly shows that learning letter names helps students retain letter sounds when the letter name contains its sound (as in the sound /b/ and the letter B) (Share, 2004).
REASON #3
Yet another reason to teach letter names is because they are important labels for letters. Using a letter’s sound as its label – /s/ instead of S, for example, will quickly become confusing because many letters represent multiple sounds, especially when used in combination with other letters (as in sh, for example).
So … what’s the answer? Letter names or sounds first?
Based on the reading I’ve read and the research I’ve studied, my conclusion is that we should teach letters and sounds concurrently, beginning in preschool.
However, just to be clear: I don’t believe that teaching letter names (without also teaching sounds) has to be a problem when we are teaching very young learners. After all, many children come to preschool knowing at least a few letter names because of the efforts of well-meaning parents. We shouldn’t fight or lament this. When students come to us in the classroom, we can use the letter-name knowledge to our advantage as we use that knowledge to help them learn letter sounds (particularly those that are connected to the letter name).
Let me state my position again: Once children are in preschool, I believe that the best approach to teaching the alphabet is to teach letter name, sound, and letter formation at the same time.
What should this instruction look like?
Stay tuned! This is just the first in our series about teaching the alphabet.
Articles to read
- Foulin, J.N. (2005) Why is letter-name knowledge such a good predictor of learning to read? Reading and Writing 18:129-155.
- Piasta, S.B. & Wagner, R.K. (2010). Developing early literacy skills: A meta-analysis of alphabet learning and instruction. Reading Research Quarterly 45(1), 8-38.
- Piasta, S. B., Purpura, D.J. & Wagner, R.K. Fostering alphabet knowledge development: A comparison of two instructional approaches. Reading and Writing 23:607-626.
- Share, David L. (2004). Knowing letter names and learning letter sounds: A causal connection. J. Experimental Child Psychology 88 (224), 213-233.
- Treiman, R., Sotak, Lia, & Bowman, M. (2001). The roles of letter names and letter sounds in connecting print and speech. Memory & Cognition 29 (6), 860-873.
- Share, D.L., Jorm, A. F., Maclean, R., Matthews, R., & Waterman, B. (1983). Early reading achievement, oral language ability, and a child’s home background. Australian Psychologist, 18, 75-89.
Helpful video to watch
Promising New Evidence for Improving Alphabet Instruction with Robert Meyer
Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade
Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!
Zahra Seifi
Anna, I really had doubt about teaching letter names first. thanks alot for sharing such a great article.
Heather Groth, Customer Support
We’re glad to be able to share what the research says, Zahra!
Leanne
Anna, this was a great post covering both sides – thanks for providing some perspective!
Heather Groth, Customer Support
Yes! It’s great to hear where both sides are coming from!
Susan
(Kindergarten/First) Teach them simultaneously for the most part. Be sure to include a lot of Phonemic Awareness activities. Less emphasis on the mechanics of writing letters for some children. Use tactile tracing , such as screening material with the letter underneath— less emphasis on the pencil/ paper letter formation. (There are some exceptions.) By first grade begin teaching word patterns CVC, CVsilentE, vowel “teams”, R control, etc.; and “secondary” sounds— ce, ci, cy /s/ ge, gi, gy /j/ , etc. etc.
I taught for almost forty years and am now 75 years old. Oh how I miss teaching!
I saw the pendulum swing many times. There is value in many approaches, but using a combination of techniques can be advantageous. Children learn in so many different ways. Still, multi-sensory is always a great way to go with many struggling students.
I still do a lot if “educational “ reading and learning.
Thanks for letting me share my thoughts.
Susan
Anna Geiger
Thank you so much for sharing all your experience and perspective, Susan! This is so helpful for teachers!
Debbie Harwell
I’m not ready to start pulling punches, but after having taught for 33 years, I have changed my perspective on this debate. Our school uses the CKLA curriculum. It was hard at first for the teachers to change the way they teach, but it works! After four years, I’m not sure the kindergarten teachers would go back to letter names first. It’s not like we don’t ever teach the letter names. By Christmas they have learned all of the letter sounds and are reading cvc, ccvc, cvcc words. THEN, we learn the names of the lower case letters. Of course, we have many who come to kindergarten knowing their letter names. I promise we don’t tape their mouth shut so they can’t mention the names of the letters!
You have listed several reasons why letter names first is the best approach. I have copied your reasoning and added something to consider.
REASON #1
A big reason to teach letter names is that “preschoolers’ knowledge of the names of printed letters has long been known to be among the strongest predictors of success in learning to read” (Share, 2004, p. 214).
*Has there ever been a study done to show if students’ knowledge of the sounds of printed letters is a predictor of success in learning to read?
REASON #2
Another reason to teach letter names is that research clearly shows that learning letter names helps students retain letter sounds when the letter name contains its sound (as in the sound /b/ and the letter B) (Share, 2004).
* Could the converse be said about learning sounds? Learning letter sounds helps students retain letter names when the letter sound contains its name.
REASON #3
Yet another reason to teach letter names is because they are important labels for letters. Using a letter’s sound as its label – /s/ instead of S, for example, will quickly become confusing because many letters represent multiple sounds, especially when used in combination with other letters (as in sh, for example).
*I will have to agree somewhat. Although by the time they get to most of those multiple sounds, they should have learned the sounds and letter names.
Thanks for listening to a different perspective!
Anna Geiger
Debbie, I’ll be doing a podcast episode with Dr. Shayne Piasta at the end of February. She’s a lead researcher in this field, so I’ll be sure to share these questions with her!
Karen A Miller
Thank you Anna, once again! 🙂
Heather Groth, Customer Support
You’re welcome, Karen!
Anne-Marie
We teach phonics first, but still sing the alphabet pointing to the letters as we sing. We tell the children that just like they have a name so do the letters in the alphabet and then we sing the abc names. We also use lowercase letters first. Everyone has their method and I am happy with mine as the children quickly learn to spell and read. We also do flash words. We make reading come alive with both jolly phonics and Letterland. Learning should always be fun with a hands on approach. Concrete before abstract.
Anna Geiger
You have a wonderful process, Anne-Marie! I love how you explain why letters have names.
Nikki
Thanks I do the same but have not said that letters have names like us, I will use this in the future.
Louise Fitzpatrick Leach
Sensible and lots of research – thanks.
Anna Geiger
Thanks, Louise!