Kelly Wall

New Insights about letter learning

This article discusses five instructional implications to help children effectively learn the

alphabet and the alphabetic principle. Firstly, research suggests that explicit and systematic

instruction are more effective than implicit instructional strategies, such as shared storybook

reading. Secondly, when choosing a program, educators should consider cultural variations in

methods for teaching letters. Research suggests that American students will be more successful

with both letter sound and letter name instruction than a program with just letter sound

instruction. Thirdly, all letters should not be taught with an equal amount of effort. Research

suggests that some letters are easier to learn than others, therefore the letter of the week method

is ineffective. Fourthly, multicomponent approaches are effective and efficient instructional

practices and can help students with who struggle with phonological processing. Lastly

alphabetic instruction should be linked back to text to help students transfer those skills.

Enhancing Alphabet Knowledge Instruction: Research Implications and Practical Strategies for

Early Childhood Educators

This article offers “practical implications for increased effectiveness of teaching

alphabetic knowledge.” (Jones, C. c. Clark, S., & Reutzel, D., 2013) It looks specifically at the

research that supports the use of Enhanced Alphabet Knowledge. Like New insights about letter

learning, this article challenges the traditional “letter a week” method because some letters are

easier to learn than others. It is also pointed out that some children already know some of the

letters and don’t need to relearn them, or may not know any letters, and spending 26 weeks

learning them may put them behind their peers in literacy.

Acquiring the alphabetic principle: A case for teaching recognition of phoneme identity
Kelly Wall

This article looks at how phonemic awareness might be taught, whether certain letters

might be particularly problematic to identify, and if these skills are easily generalizable once

learned. The research in this article suggest that children can identify the final phoneme in the

word, just as well as they can identify the initial onset. This article also looks at children’s ability

to generalize skilled learned in segmentation training to all phonemes. It was found that

segmentation training was harder to generalize for children and so identity training was more

likely to be a successful practice to teach phonemic awareness.

Using tablet computers to teach preschool children to write letters: Exploring the impact

of extrinsic and intrinsic feedback

This article looks at using table computers as an instructional method of teaching children

how to write letters. It also looks at the intrinsic and extrinsic feedback that tablet computers

provide students. When looking at how many letters the student was able to correctly write, this

research suggest that the extrinsic feedback that the table computers provided did not offer any

advantage over pencil and paper. Those who practiced writing letters with their fingers

performed better on the posttest than those who write with a stylist.

Discussion

The research I found makes it clear how important it is to teach the alphabet using

explicit instructional practices. Both New Insights about letter learning and Enhancing Alphabet

Knowledge Instruction: Research Implications and Practical Strategies for Early Childhood

Educators both challenge the effectiveness of teaching only one letter a week. Teaching a letter a

week could a great method to teach the alphabet if it is modified to fit the students’ needs.

Instead of focusing on one letter a week, the focus should be on the letters that students do not
Kelly Wall

know or are more challenging for the students to learn. New Insights about letter learning also

highlights the importance of linking alphabetic instruction back to the text to help students

transfer their knowledge and apply in in a meaningful way.

It is well known now that research suggests that the development of phonemic awareness

correlates with literacy achievement later on. The article I found, suggested instructional

practices that can help support the development of phonemic awareness. Acquiring the

alphabetic Principle: A Case for Teaching Recognition of phoneme identity suggest that the most

effective instructional method is to teach children how to identify the beginning and ending

sounds of a word. When creating a program to support the development of phonemic awareness,

it is important to remember that when moving to phonics educators should teach both letter

sound and letter name instructions to insure that their students have the most support to be

successful.

While research did not support the theory that using tablet computers offers and

advantage to student learning to write letters, it did bring up the interesting concept of the

effectiveness of transferring skills. This research suggest that students are more likely to retain

information when performing tactile practice, or drawing the letters using their fingers instead of

a writing tool. As an educator I would use this information to help create my activities when

students are learning how to write. Whether I am using tablets or paper, I would have students

use their fingers instead of a writing tool to create the letters. I would also introduce tactile

manipulatives such as sand or shaving cream to help them practice writing letters. This method

along with letter name and letter sound instruction would really help support students’

development of the alphabetic principle.

Kelly Wall

References

Stahl, K. k. (2014). New Insights about Letter Learning. Reading Teacher, 68(4), 261-265.

Jones, C. c. Clark, S., & Reutzel, D. (2013). Enhancing Alphabetic Knowledge Instruction:

Research Implications and Practical Strategies for Early Childhood Educators. Early Childhood

Education Journal, 41(2), 81-89.

Byrne, B., & Fielding-Barnsley, R. (1990). Acquiring the alphabetic principle: A case for

teaching recognition of phoneme identity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 805-812.

Patchan, M. M., & Puranik, C. S. (2016). Using tablet computers to teach preschool children to

write letters: Exploring the impact of extrinsic and intrinsic feedback. Computers & Education,

102, 128-137