Units of English spelling‐to‐sound mapping: a rational approach to reading instruction

In this paper a rationale for choosing how many and what types of spelling‐to‐sound units of English to teach children to learn to read is introduced. The rationale is based on an analysis of the frequency with which various units of spelling‐to‐sound mapping occur in monosyllabic words of the English language. Analysis of spelling‐to‐sound mappings at three levels (whole words, onsets and rimes and graphemes) reveals that the distribution of these mappings in English text approximates Zipf's Law. Further analyses reveal that a substantial proportion of text can be read if knowledge of the most frequent mappings at each level is assumed. It is suggested that viewing reading from this perspective can be useful in developing reading instruction so that children are taught information that is most useful in achieving the endpoint of learning to read. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.