Sometimes, teaching kids to learn their alphabet can be a difficult task.
It’s another thing to think about teaching them to read and spell.
Jessie, a reading specialist posted on TikTok about the sound chart and how it can help kids to read and spell better.
Why Sound Chart Is Important
A sound chart is essentially a chart of the alphabet and the sound it makes.
Instead of learning the alphabet and its names, kids learn by phonics.
Learning by the name might be the traditional for most adults now but this doesn’t teach kids on how to spell words.
This is because they don’t know how to blend letters to make a word.
It is also important to teach by sound as some sounds in the English language are not presented by single letters.
Being able to spell relates to a child’s reading skills.
A study conducted by L.C. Ehri found that spelling improves reading skills.
Spelling builds a learner’s knowledge of the alphabetic system as it is used in reading.
Learning the alphabet this way helps students to decode written language and teach themselves new words.
It’s easier to teach the alphabet by name as there are only 26 of them.
However, there are 44 sounds that a person should learn for the English language based on ThoughtCo.
The knowledge from learning sounds can help kids learn new words they see or hear.
An excellent example of why learning by sound is better for spelling is by Kinabalu International School.
From their site, they explained the difference in the spelling process of ‘dog’ by sound and by name.
For name learners, they would spell the word dog as ‘dee’, ‘oh’, ‘gee’, which sounds nothing like the word.
However, if taught by sound, kids can make the sounds as they spell, seeing the relation of the sounds to the spelling.
Benefits of Learning by Sound
From The Classroom, there are a bunch of other benefits to learning by sound other than having kids read better.
Some other benefits include:
- Easier to sound out unfamiliar words
- Learn syllable structure
- Stronger sound and symbol recognition
- Learning words with multiple syllables is easier
Have Your Kids Read Better
Having kids read can be one of the biggest milestone they can achieve and it’s very important for them later on.
If you feel like teaching them by names works better for your child, keep it up.
Give this method a try and let us know how it works for your kids.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice from Motherhood. For any health-related concerns, it is advisable to consult with a qualified healthcare professional or medical practitioner.
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