Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondence in Beginning Reading of Disadvantaged Five-Year-Olds

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effect of grapheme-phoneme correspondence on word acquisition in beginning readers. Two groups of disadvantaged children were taught word acquisition skills, one group using a non-controlled grapheme-phoneme correspondence orthography, standard English, while the other group used a controlled grapheme-phoneme correspondence orthography, the Initial Teaching Alphabet. No differences were found between groups as a function of orthography used. Significant differences did appear as a function of level of word familiarity with familiar words being identified more easily than unfamiliar ones. Irregular words were identified significantly more easily than regular ones, which was contrary to the prediction, and was explained in terms of a model of stages of development of word recognition skills.