Chapter 1: Structure of English Teaching Reading Sourcebook 2nd edition

Phonemes The English alphabet has 26 letters used singularly or in combination to represent 42-44 sounds or phonemes. (Linguists disagree on the actual number of phonemes.) A phoneme is the smallest unit of spoken language that makes a difference in a word’s meaning. (For example, the phonemes /p/ and /s/ are different. Changing the /p/ in pit to the /s/ in sit changes the meaning of the word.)

Consonant Phonemes There are about 25 consonant phonemes. Of the total, 18 are represented by a single letter. Seven phonemes such as /sh/ /ch/ are represented by two letters. C,Q, and X do not have a unique phoneme assigned to them. The sounds they represent are more commonly represented by other letters and spellings such as the sounds /k/ or /s/ for the letter c, the sounds /kw/ for the letters qu, and the sounds /ks/ for the letter x.

Consonant Phonemes To produce a consonant sound, vocal airflow is partially or completely obstructed as it moves through the mouth. Phonemes produced for several seconds without distortion are continuous sounds. Phonemes that can be produced for only an instant are stop sounds. Phonemes are classified by the place of articulation (lips, teeth, throat, etc.), manner of articulation (stops: /b/, /d/, etc. nasals: /m/, /n/, etc.), and whether they are voiced or unvoiced (this, think). See the Consonant Phoneme Articulation chart on page 25. Continuous sounds /f/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /r/, /s/, /v/, /w/, /y/, /z/ Stop sounds /b/, /d/, /g/, /h/, /j/, /k/, /p/, /t/

Vowel Phonemes American English has 15 vowel phonemes plus at least three r-controlled vowel combinations. The five vowel letters a, e, i, o, u are used singularly or in combinations to represent different sounds. Vowels are classified according to the place of articulation (tongue position and lip position). Pronunciation of vowels may vary according to regional and dialect differences. See the Vowel Phonemes chart on page 27.

Sound/Spellings Letters or graphemes are written representations of sounds or phonemes. Phoneme/grapheme pairings are referred to as sound/spellings. In English, phonics elements and generalizations can be used to categorize the common sound/spellings which are used to form words. It is the multiple spelling representations for the same sound that students find challenging. (e.g. the long-e sound: be, sea, see, baby). See the Phonic Elements (Sound/Spelling Categories) chart on page 29. The phonic elements include: single consonants, consonant blends, consonant digraphs, silent consonants, short vowels, long vowels, long vowels with silent e, r-controlled vowels, vowel digraphs, variant vowel digraphs, diphthongs, and schwa.

Syllables A syllable is a word or part of a word pronounced as a unit; each syllable contains only one vowel sound. There are six common types of syllables found within English words. There are four useful principles of syllable division. See the Syllable Division, Syllable Type, and Most Common Syllables charts on pages 36 & 37. Six syllable types: closed, open, vowel combination, r-controlled, vowel-consonant e, consonant-le Four syllable division principles: two consonants between two vowels VC/CV, one consonant between two vowels V/CV (75%) VC/V (25%), three consonants between two vowels, VC/CCV, VCC/CV, and Consonant-le forms a separate syllable.

Onset-Rime A syllable has two parts: onset and rime. The onset is the part of the syllable that comes before the vowel; it may be a consonant, consonant blend, or digraph. The rime is the vowel and everything after it. In the one syllable words sing, bring, and thing, the rime is ing; the onsets are s, br, and th. Not all syllables have onsets: it, out, eat.

Morphemes Morphemes are meaningful parts of words. A morpheme may be one syllable (pig) or more than one syllable (elephant). The majority of English morphemes come from Greek, Latin, or Anglo Saxon. The two basic types of morphemes are free and bound. Free morphemes can stand alone as words. Bound morphemes must be attached to other morphemes to make words (dis-, un-, re-). Anglo-Saxon root words are free morphemes; Greek and Latin roots are bound morphemes.