SOUND-SPELLING

CORRESPONDEN
CES
Lesson 6: Topic 3
 What is Sound-Spelling Correspondences?

• Sound
• Spelling
• Sound-Spelling Correspondences are the
rules that tell us how sounds we hear in words
are represented by letters when we write.
• English presents challenges in spelling and pronunciation,
even for learners familiar with the Roman alphabet.
• Learners often feel frustrated due to the perceived irregularity
of English spelling rules.
• Despite these challenges, English has a systematic set of
sound-spelling correspondences that guide its orthography.
(Chomsky and Halle 1968; Schane 1970: Venezky 1970).
• These sound-spelling correspondences enable
the second or foreign language teacher to
combine the teaching of phonetic units with
graphemic units and to give students practice in
pronunciation along with practice in spelling
(Celce-Murcia. Brinton, and Goodwin 1996).
The English
Consonant
• In English, consonants are speech sounds that
are produced when airflow is obstructed in
some way by the vocal tract, either by the lips,
teeth, tongue, or other parts of the mouth. They
are contrasted with vowels, which are sounds
produced with an open vocal tract.
• Consonant is a sound in which the airflow is partially or
completely blocked during its articulation. This can happen at
various places in the vocal tract, such as the lips, teeth, or
palate.
• Consonants are typically classified by their place of
articulation (where the obstruction occurs), manner of
articulation (how the sound is made), and voicing (whether
the vocal cords vibrate).
• There are 24 consonant sounds in
standard English. These sounds are
represented by 21 letters in the English
alphabet (since some letters represent
more than one sound).
 Some examples of consonant sounds include:

1. Stops: These are produced by completely blocking the

airflow and then releasing it.

/p/ (as in "pat") /b/ (as in "bat")

/t/ (as in "top") /d/ (as in "dog")
/k/ (as in "cat") /g/ (as in "go")
2. Fricatives: These are produced by forcing air
through a narrow space, causing friction.

/f/ (as in "fan") /v/ (as in "van")

/s/ (as in "sit") /z/ (as in "zip")
/ʃ/ (as in "shoe") /ʒ/ (as in "measure")
3. Affricates: These sounds combine a stop and a
fricative.
/ʧ/ (as in "church") /ʤ/ (as in "judge")
4. Nasals: These are produced by allowing air to flow
through the nose.
/m/ (as in "man") /n/ (as in "no")
/ŋ/ (as in "sing")
5. Liquids: These sounds involve partial closure of
the vocal tract.
/l/ (as in "lip") /r/ (as in "red")
6. Glides: These are sounds that involve a smooth
transition from one position to another.
/w/ (as in "wet") / j / (as in "yes")
Examples of English Consonants in
Words:

/b/ in "bat" /k/ in "cat"

/s/ in "snake" /m/ in "man"
 Letter-Sound
Correspondences in
English Consonant
• In English, consonant letters like c and g do not
always follow a direct letter-sound
correspondence. Instead, their sound is
influenced by the surrounding letters. For
example: c can sound like /s/ (as in "city") or /k/
(as in "cat") depending on the environment.
• The letter h has a significant effect on the
sounds of the consonants it follows:

ch = /ʧ/ (e.g., "chocolate")

sh = /ʃ/ (e.g., "shoe")
th = /θ/ or /ð/ (e.g., "think," "this")
• Students whose native alphabets are similar to English (like
Latin-based scripts) should focus on the differences in sound-
spelling correspondences.
• Learners from languages with completely different writing
systems (e.g., Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean)
need extra support. They may struggle with recognizing
individual consonant letters and sounds, similar to how young
native English-speaking children learn to read and write.
The English Vowel
• In English, vowels are speech sounds that are produced
without any significant constriction or blockage of airflow
in the vocal tract. There are five primary vowel letters in
the English alphabet: A, E, I, O, U.

• Sometimes, Y is also considered a vowel, especially

when it represents a vowel sound in certain words.
• Here are examples for each vowel letter:

1. A - as in "cat," "bat," or "cake."

2. E - as in "bed," "met," or "meat."
3. I - as in "sit," "kit," or "ride."
4. O - as in "dog," "pot," or "hope."
5. U - as in "cup," "luck," or "blue."

• When Y acts as a vowel, it is commonly found in words like "my,"

"fly," or "gym."
Two Types of Vowel Sounds:

1. Short vowels: These vowels are pronounced quickly and

with a simple sound, like in the words (cat, bed, sit, hot, cup).
2. Long vowels: These vowels sound like their name, often
saying the letter itself, like in the words (cake, see, bike,
rope, cube).
 CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant)

• The CVC pattern is a common syllable structure, where

a word starts with a consonant, followed by a vowel, and
then ends with another consonant. In CVC words, the
vowel typically has a short sound.
Examples of CVC words:
1. cat (C= /k/, V= /æ/, C= /t/)
2. bed (C= /b/, V= /ɛ/, C= /d/)
3. sit (C= /s/, V= /ɪ/, C= /t/)
4. hop (C= /h/, V= /ɒ/, C= /p/)
5. mud (C= /m/, V= /ʌ/, C= /d/)
 CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant)

• The vowel sound in these words is

short, and they are generally simple,
one-syllable words.
 CVCe (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-e)

• The CVCe pattern is similar to the CVC pattern, but with

an e at the end, which is silent. The presence of this "e"
often makes the vowel sound long (the vowel says its
name). This is sometimes called the silent e rule.
Examples of CVCe words:
1. cake (C= /k/, V= /eɪ/, C= /k/, e= silent)
2. bike (C= /b/, V= /aɪ/, C= /k/, e= silent)
3. rope (C= /r/, V= /oʊ/, C= /p/, e= silent)
4. time (C= /t/, V= /aɪ/, C= /m/, e= silent)
5. cute (C= /k/, V= /juː/, C= /t/, e= silent)
 CVCe (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant-e)

• In these words, the vowel becomes long

(the sound is like the letter itself), and the
final "e" is not pronounced.
 Importance of English
consonants and vowels in
sound-spelling
correspondences
• The importance of English consonants and vowels in
sound-spelling correspondences lies in how they help
learners understand the relationship between spoken and
written language. These correspondences guide the way
words are pronounced and written, which is key to both
spelling and pronunciation skills.
• Understanding which consonant and vowel combinations
are allowed in English helps learners decode and spell
words correctly.

• Understanding the correct consonant-vowel

correspondences helps with spelling words accurately
and predicting how unfamiliar words should sound
• In summary, learners of English as a second or foreign language
should understand from the start that English spelling is not a simple
one-to-one letter-sound system. Instead, it follows consistent
patterns based on how letters combine with their surrounding letters,
creating what we call sound-spelling correspondences. By practicing
the correct pronunciation of sounds in relation to specific spelling
patterns, learners can build a strong foundation for both
pronunciation and reading and writing skills.
THANK YOU!