The Questions
Where does reading begin? How does one correlate sounds and letters for literacy instruction?
Competing philosophies will be employed by people who teach reading. We challenge the two common approaches, SHAPE LOGIC (seeing whole written words, then saying them) and ABC-PHONICS (sounding-out letters).
This site is built on VC-PHONICS (vowel-consonant logic) and a conviction that sounds must always be spelled out, not the other way around.
VC-phonics is foundational literacy's soundest venture.
V = VOWELS as sound-units, never letters
C = CONSONANTS as sound-units, never letters
The VC-Phonics Protocol
This site shows WordsAhead's MAP using code-names.
VC-phonics teaches explicit {.Sound+Spellings.}, demonstrated at independentscholar.blogspot.com
VC-phonics teaches vowels and consonants as SOUNDS-to-be-spelled!!
ABC-phonics teaches letter-sounds, phonics rules, and letter-based jargon.
Shape Logic 'sees-says' enough times to learn the printed word's shape.
VC-phonics asks learners to LISTEN!! Then look.
ABC-phonics asks learners to LOOK!! Then listen.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics insists that phonemes predominate.
ABC-phonics lets graphemes predominate.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Spells-out sound-units.
ABC-phonics: Sounds-out letter-units.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Employs sound-units [V01]-[C39] on a MAP.
ABC Logic: Employs nonsense jargon 'Short-A', 'B-Sound', 'Hard-C', etc.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Learners encode first.
ABC-phonics: Learners try to decode print.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Delivers spellable SOUND sequences
– regional variances are recognized –
ABC-phoincs: Points to pronounceable LETTER sequences
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Has {.Sound+Spelling.} relationships
ABC-phonics: Has 'Letter-sound' relationships
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Pronunciations evoke spellings.
ABC-phonics: Spellings evoke pronunciations.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Practice makes permanent {.Sound+Spellings.}.
ABC-phonics: Learners struggle with "tricky" words.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Sound-units are Heard, Said, Spelled, Read... ahead of time!!
ABC-phonics: Only letter-sounds and phonics rules
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
Disambiguate!! Letters are letters. Sounds are sounds.
Spoken language always occurs before written language.
Sounds-based instruction avoids massive compensations for error.
Vocabulary expansion compounds with shared inquiry for comprehension.
LISTEN, THEN SPELL. {.Sound+Spellings.} are foolproof.
Say, "[V01] spelled Letter A." apple hat
Say, “[V01] spelled Letters Aa-split-Ee.” dance
[V01]
{.V01/a.} apple hat
{.V01/a_e.} dance ...
[V02]
{.V02/i.} inch ship
{.V02/i_e.} live ...
[V03]
{.V03/o.} off dot
{.V03/o_e.} gone ...
[V04]
{.V04/u.} up cup
{.V04/o_e.} love ...
[V05]
{.V05/e.} egg bell
{.V05/e_e.} fence ...
[V06]
Letter Aa
{.V06/a_e.} age cane
{.V06/a.} able baby ...
[V07]
Letter Ii < eye >
{.V07/i_e.} ice kite
{.V07/i.} idea kind ...
[V08]
Letter Oo < oh >
{.V08/o_e.} ode cone
{.V08/o.} old cold ...
[V09]
{.V09/u_e.} tube tune
{.V09/u.} truth ...
[C39+V09]
Letter Uu < you >
{.C39+V09/u_e.} use
{.C39+V09/u.} usual ...
[V10]
Letter Ee
{.V10/ee.} eel feet
{.V10/e.} she he we ...
[V11]
{.V11/a.} all ball
{.V11/a_e.} are false ...
[V12]
{.V12/oo.} look hook
{.V12/u.} push pull ...
[V13]
{.V13/ow.} owl down
{.V13/ou.} out clout ...
[V14]
{.V14/oy.} oyster boy
{.V14/oi.} oil coin ...
[V15]
{.V15/ir.} irk girl
{.V15/er.} germ ...
[C39+V15]
{.C39+V15/ur.} fury
{.C39+V14/ure.} cure
[C16]
Letter Pp < pea >
{.C16/p.} page shape
{.C16/pp.} happy ...
[C17]
Letter Bb < bee >
{.C17/b.} bait web
{.C17/bb.} nibble ...
[C18]
Letter Tt < tea >
{.C18/t.} tub flute
{.C18/tt.} kitty ...
[C19]
Letters Dd - Ww < double-you >
{.C19/d.} dish hid
{.C19/dd.} add odd ...
[C20]
Letter Hh
{.C20/ch.} chat chew
{.C20/tch.} itch hatch ...
[C21]
Letters Gg - Jj < gee - jay >
{.C21/j.} joy jerk
{.C21/g.} gym gem ...
[C22]
Letters Kk - Qq < ’kay - queue >
{.C22/k.} king yak
{.C22/c.} cat cow ...
[C22+C28]
Letter Xx
{.C22+C28/x.} ax fix box flux hex
[C22+C36]
Letters ‘QU’
{.C22+C36/qu.} quack quit quake quite quote
[C23]
{.C23/g.} gate good
{.C23/gg.} egg foggy ...
[C23+C29]
{.C23+C29/x.} exact exam exit example
[C24]
Letter Ff
{.C24/f.} fun feed
{.C24/ff.} off puff ...
[C25]
Letter Vv
{.C25/v.} vote have
{.C25/f.} of ...
[C26]
{.C26/th.} thank thin thought thud theft
[C27]
{.C27/th.} that this the them they thy those
[C28]
Letters Cc - Ss < sea >
{.C28/s.} sun us
{.C28/ss.} guess ...
[C29]
Letter Zz
{.C29/z.} zoom ooze
{.C29/zz.} jazz ...
[C29+V04+C33]
{.C29+V04+C33/-sm.} prism autism
{.C29/z.} zoom ooze
{.C29/zz.} jazz ...
[C30]
{.C30/sh.} shoe push
{.C30/s.} sugar ...
[C31]
{.C31/s.} vision
{.C31/g.} beige ...
[C32]
{.C32/h.} house
{.C32/wh.} who ...
[C33]
Letter Mm
{.C33/m.} man come
{.C33/mm.} summer ...
[C34]
Letter Nn
{.C34/n.} nail pain
{.C34/nn.} dinner ...
[C35]
{.C35/ng.} sing song
{.C35/n.} think ...
[C36]
Letter Yy < Wi-Fi >
{.C36/w.} wish
{.C36/wh.} wharf ...
[C36+V04]
{.C36+V04/o_e.} one once
[C32+C36]
{.C32+C36/wh.} whack which what when
[C37]
Letter Ll
{.C37/l.} lag log leg
{.C37/ll.} pill ball ...
[V12+C37]
{.V12+C37/-le.} apple nibble bottle cuddle
[C38]
Letter Rr < are >
{.C38/r.} red read
{.C38/rr.} error ...
[C39]
{.C39/y.} year yes
{.C39/i.} onion
You may have noticed that [C23+C31] {.C23+C31/x.} luxury luxurious
has been removed from the MAP and replaced by the more useful {.C29+V04+C33/-sm.}:
chasm prism schism autism racism egoism optimism etc.
The MAP will evolve as needed.
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG, DON'T GO ALONG!
I witnessed my 3rd Grade students eagerly embrace personal responsibility because empowerment itself is motivational.
Students can be taught that choices have consequences. Likewise, Leaders of Learning must consider evidence, perceive any dichotomy, use personal truth as their defense, and then achieve a fix.
In my own career, at first I used 'whole word' sight memory for new vocabulary, i.e. flashcards with no other explanation. Then I used decodable stories and phonics worksheets as our district's basal language arts curriculum, but the rich literature of a newly adopted Whole Language curriculum was far more engaging than contrived fat-cat-sat stories.
Only outside of employment have I been able to scrutinize and discover the wrongheadedness of something quite independent of 'what' is being taught. My focus turned to the 'how' of teaching spelling and reading, and to providing demonstrations of 'how' to not allow the visual modality to dominate.
Spoken language requires HEARING blended speech sounds.
Written language requires SEEING blended letters, which themselves are inert.
Hearing and seeing always dance together, but our job is to guarantee that 'hearing' always takes the lead.
Truth is not our enemy. Every parent, tutor and teacher will make choices and create consequences. Most learners can compensate and move forward in spite of errors in our teaching. (Machines rely on a reliable algorithm.) The day is coming when systemic errors will be exposed and fixed, but that shift must begin in the minds of humans who design lessons, write the curriculum, and engineer engaging software. Learning Leaders work for the benefit of our children, their children, and all children to follow.
Notions of rightness and wrongness will set up intrinsic disputes. Of course, within a home or classroom, one's own sovereignty may not be challenged. But within larger venues, advocates and adversaries will stand up. Each of our disputes may become a manageable dynamic given these precious, free relationships within contemporary society.
We may respectfully disagree, yet continue to give voice and vote.
=== REVIEW ===
Say YES to VC Logic which is intrinsically sensible, yet still an unproven outlier.
Note: Reading scientists have not yet scrutinized VC Logic.
Heard–Said–Spelled–Read (HSSR) organizes all teaching around speech sounds mapped V01 through C39.
HSSR spells-out what is spoken. There are no letter-based attributions.
Say NO to ABC Logic because it requires learners to sound-out what is on the page (Seen–Read–Said).
Say NO to ABC Logic's organization around alphabet letters and 'letter-sounds' with rules and letter-based jargon.
Say NO to all nonsense and neglect which frequently occur with ABC's letter-sounds.
Say NO to Shape Logic which simply 'sees-says' enough times to memorize whole words.
Judy Ramírez since 1997
Licensed under CC BY 4.0 since 2023
Where does reading begin? How does one correlate sounds and letters for literacy instruction?
Competing philosophies will be employed by people who teach reading. We challenge the two common approaches, SHAPE LOGIC (seeing whole written words, then saying them) and ABC-PHONICS (sounding-out letters).
This site is built on VC-PHONICS (vowel-consonant logic) and a conviction that sounds must always be spelled out, not the other way around.
VC-phonics is foundational literacy's soundest venture.
V = VOWELS as sound-units, never letters
C = CONSONANTS as sound-units, never letters
The VC-Phonics Protocol
- CORE TRUTH: Letters are inert shapes; they never make sounds. Deceptive attributions: Short-Aa, Bb-Sound, Hard-Cc, Silent-Ee, R-controlled, etc.
- SOUNDS FIRST: Hearing sound-units of the spoken word must always take the lead over seeing alphabet letters of the written word.
- HSSR: Teach relevant vocabulary ahead of time (WordsAhead) via the Heard-Said-Spelled-Read protocol, which explicitly maps spellings onto the sound-units of speech. Sounds come first.
This site shows WordsAhead's MAP using code-names.
VC-phonics teaches explicit {.Sound+Spellings.}, demonstrated at independentscholar.blogspot.com
VC-phonics teaches vowels and consonants as SOUNDS-to-be-spelled!!
ABC-phonics teaches letter-sounds, phonics rules, and letter-based jargon.
Shape Logic 'sees-says' enough times to learn the printed word's shape.
VC-phonics asks learners to LISTEN!! Then look.
ABC-phonics asks learners to LOOK!! Then listen.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics insists that phonemes predominate.
ABC-phonics lets graphemes predominate.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Spells-out sound-units.
ABC-phonics: Sounds-out letter-units.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Employs sound-units [V01]-[C39] on a MAP.
ABC Logic: Employs nonsense jargon 'Short-A', 'B-Sound', 'Hard-C', etc.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Learners encode first.
ABC-phonics: Learners try to decode print.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Delivers spellable SOUND sequences
– regional variances are recognized –
ABC-phoincs: Points to pronounceable LETTER sequences
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Has {.Sound+Spelling.} relationships
ABC-phonics: Has 'Letter-sound' relationships
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Pronunciations evoke spellings.
ABC-phonics: Spellings evoke pronunciations.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Practice makes permanent {.Sound+Spellings.}.
ABC-phonics: Learners struggle with "tricky" words.
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
VC-phonics: Sound-units are Heard, Said, Spelled, Read... ahead of time!!
ABC-phonics: Only letter-sounds and phonics rules
Shape Logic: Whole-word sight memory
Disambiguate!! Letters are letters. Sounds are sounds.
Spoken language always occurs before written language.
Sounds-based instruction avoids massive compensations for error.
Vocabulary expansion compounds with shared inquiry for comprehension.
LISTEN, THEN SPELL. {.Sound+Spellings.} are foolproof.
Say, "[V01] spelled Letter A." apple hat
Say, “[V01] spelled Letters Aa-split-Ee.” dance
[V01]
{.V01/a.} apple hat
{.V01/a_e.} dance ...
[V02]
{.V02/i.} inch ship
{.V02/i_e.} live ...
[V03]
{.V03/o.} off dot
{.V03/o_e.} gone ...
[V04]
{.V04/u.} up cup
{.V04/o_e.} love ...
[V05]
{.V05/e.} egg bell
{.V05/e_e.} fence ...
[V06]
Letter Aa
{.V06/a_e.} age cane
{.V06/a.} able baby ...
[V07]
Letter Ii < eye >
{.V07/i_e.} ice kite
{.V07/i.} idea kind ...
[V08]
Letter Oo < oh >
{.V08/o_e.} ode cone
{.V08/o.} old cold ...
[V09]
{.V09/u_e.} tube tune
{.V09/u.} truth ...
[C39+V09]
Letter Uu < you >
{.C39+V09/u_e.} use
{.C39+V09/u.} usual ...
[V10]
Letter Ee
{.V10/ee.} eel feet
{.V10/e.} she he we ...
[V11]
{.V11/a.} all ball
{.V11/a_e.} are false ...
[V12]
{.V12/oo.} look hook
{.V12/u.} push pull ...
[V13]
{.V13/ow.} owl down
{.V13/ou.} out clout ...
[V14]
{.V14/oy.} oyster boy
{.V14/oi.} oil coin ...
[V15]
{.V15/ir.} irk girl
{.V15/er.} germ ...
[C39+V15]
{.C39+V15/ur.} fury
{.C39+V14/ure.} cure
[C16]
Letter Pp < pea >
{.C16/p.} page shape
{.C16/pp.} happy ...
[C17]
Letter Bb < bee >
{.C17/b.} bait web
{.C17/bb.} nibble ...
[C18]
Letter Tt < tea >
{.C18/t.} tub flute
{.C18/tt.} kitty ...
[C19]
Letters Dd - Ww < double-you >
{.C19/d.} dish hid
{.C19/dd.} add odd ...
[C20]
Letter Hh
{.C20/ch.} chat chew
{.C20/tch.} itch hatch ...
[C21]
Letters Gg - Jj < gee - jay >
{.C21/j.} joy jerk
{.C21/g.} gym gem ...
[C22]
Letters Kk - Qq < ’kay - queue >
{.C22/k.} king yak
{.C22/c.} cat cow ...
[C22+C28]
Letter Xx
{.C22+C28/x.} ax fix box flux hex
[C22+C36]
Letters ‘QU’
{.C22+C36/qu.} quack quit quake quite quote
[C23]
{.C23/g.} gate good
{.C23/gg.} egg foggy ...
[C23+C29]
{.C23+C29/x.} exact exam exit example
[C24]
Letter Ff
{.C24/f.} fun feed
{.C24/ff.} off puff ...
[C25]
Letter Vv
{.C25/v.} vote have
{.C25/f.} of ...
[C26]
{.C26/th.} thank thin thought thud theft
[C27]
{.C27/th.} that this the them they thy those
[C28]
Letters Cc - Ss < sea >
{.C28/s.} sun us
{.C28/ss.} guess ...
[C29]
Letter Zz
{.C29/z.} zoom ooze
{.C29/zz.} jazz ...
[C29+V04+C33]
{.C29+V04+C33/-sm.} prism autism
{.C29/z.} zoom ooze
{.C29/zz.} jazz ...
[C30]
{.C30/sh.} shoe push
{.C30/s.} sugar ...
[C31]
{.C31/s.} vision
{.C31/g.} beige ...
[C32]
{.C32/h.} house
{.C32/wh.} who ...
[C33]
Letter Mm
{.C33/m.} man come
{.C33/mm.} summer ...
[C34]
Letter Nn
{.C34/n.} nail pain
{.C34/nn.} dinner ...
[C35]
{.C35/ng.} sing song
{.C35/n.} think ...
[C36]
Letter Yy < Wi-Fi >
{.C36/w.} wish
{.C36/wh.} wharf ...
[C36+V04]
{.C36+V04/o_e.} one once
[C32+C36]
{.C32+C36/wh.} whack which what when
[C37]
Letter Ll
{.C37/l.} lag log leg
{.C37/ll.} pill ball ...
[V12+C37]
{.V12+C37/-le.} apple nibble bottle cuddle
[C38]
Letter Rr < are >
{.C38/r.} red read
{.C38/rr.} error ...
[C39]
{.C39/y.} year yes
{.C39/i.} onion
You may have noticed that [C23+C31] {.C23+C31/x.} luxury luxurious
has been removed from the MAP and replaced by the more useful {.C29+V04+C33/-sm.}:
chasm prism schism autism racism egoism optimism etc.
The MAP will evolve as needed.
WHEN THINGS GO WRONG, DON'T GO ALONG!
I witnessed my 3rd Grade students eagerly embrace personal responsibility because empowerment itself is motivational.
Students can be taught that choices have consequences. Likewise, Leaders of Learning must consider evidence, perceive any dichotomy, use personal truth as their defense, and then achieve a fix.
In my own career, at first I used 'whole word' sight memory for new vocabulary, i.e. flashcards with no other explanation. Then I used decodable stories and phonics worksheets as our district's basal language arts curriculum, but the rich literature of a newly adopted Whole Language curriculum was far more engaging than contrived fat-cat-sat stories.
Only outside of employment have I been able to scrutinize and discover the wrongheadedness of something quite independent of 'what' is being taught. My focus turned to the 'how' of teaching spelling and reading, and to providing demonstrations of 'how' to not allow the visual modality to dominate.
Spoken language requires HEARING blended speech sounds.
Written language requires SEEING blended letters, which themselves are inert.
Hearing and seeing always dance together, but our job is to guarantee that 'hearing' always takes the lead.
Truth is not our enemy. Every parent, tutor and teacher will make choices and create consequences. Most learners can compensate and move forward in spite of errors in our teaching. (Machines rely on a reliable algorithm.) The day is coming when systemic errors will be exposed and fixed, but that shift must begin in the minds of humans who design lessons, write the curriculum, and engineer engaging software. Learning Leaders work for the benefit of our children, their children, and all children to follow.
Notions of rightness and wrongness will set up intrinsic disputes. Of course, within a home or classroom, one's own sovereignty may not be challenged. But within larger venues, advocates and adversaries will stand up. Each of our disputes may become a manageable dynamic given these precious, free relationships within contemporary society.
We may respectfully disagree, yet continue to give voice and vote.
=== REVIEW ===
Say YES to VC Logic which is intrinsically sensible, yet still an unproven outlier.
Note: Reading scientists have not yet scrutinized VC Logic.
Heard–Said–Spelled–Read (HSSR) organizes all teaching around speech sounds mapped V01 through C39.
HSSR spells-out what is spoken. There are no letter-based attributions.
Say NO to ABC Logic because it requires learners to sound-out what is on the page (Seen–Read–Said).
Say NO to ABC Logic's organization around alphabet letters and 'letter-sounds' with rules and letter-based jargon.
Say NO to all nonsense and neglect which frequently occur with ABC's letter-sounds.
Say NO to Shape Logic which simply 'sees-says' enough times to memorize whole words.
Judy Ramírez since 1997
Licensed under CC BY 4.0 since 2023