Glossary · Letters, phonics and word reading
What is phoneme-grapheme mapping?
Definition
Phoneme-grapheme mapping is a spelling routine where the student segments a word into sounds and writes the grapheme for each sound in its own box.
It is sound boxes with letters. The student says the word, taps or pushes a token for each sound, then writes one grapheme per box. Night gets three boxes: n, igh, t. Box gets three boxes too, with x in the last one standing for two sounds, or four boxes if you split /k/ and /s/.
Mapping makes the difference between letters and sounds concrete. It also shows exactly where an error is. If a student writes nite, the boxes show they heard every sound and chose the wrong grapheme for long i, a different problem from missing a sound.
Use it daily for a few words during a new pattern, then fade to normal spelling once the pattern is steady.
In a lesson
Say “stretch.” The student taps five sounds and writes s, t, r, e, tch in five boxes. The tch fills one box, which shows that three letters can spell one sound.
Examples
Each word with its spelling units, one per sound.
- stretchs·t·r·e·tch
- nightn·igh·t
- shinesh·i_e·n
- throatth·r·oa·t
Words come from our lexicon, checked against a pronouncing dictionary. Words a student sees in our assessments are left out.
Why does this matter for the record?
Save a mapping page now and then. It shows the student's thinking about spelling, which a list of right and wrong words can't.
Rate each skill as you teach it
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