Pronouncing Graphemes (Letter-Sounds) Correctly

Correctly pronouncing the sounds represented by letters and letter patterns is important when teaching children to read.

The sounds of spoken English are called phonemes. In written English, phonemes are represented by graphemes. A grapheme may contain one letter, such as m, two letters, such as sh or ee, or three or more letters, such as tch, igh or eigh. For more information about the relationship between letters, graphemes and phonemes, see this link.

ReadingDoctor® Online explicitly teaches students to recognise graphemes and use the sounds they represent to decode unfamiliar words.

For a detailed guide to the graphemes taught in ReadingDoctor® Online, including audio examples of their correct pronunciation, see our English Graphemes: A Comprehensive User Guide.

Why does correct pronunciation matter?

When decoding an unfamiliar word, students pronounce the phonemes represented by the graphemes and blend those phonemes together.

For example:

s – a – t → sat

The more closely the student's pronunciation of those individual phonemes resembles the sounds in the spoken word, the easier it is to blend them successfully.

One of the most common problems is adding an unnecessary "uh" sound, called a schwa, after a consonant.

For example:

s should sound like "ssss", not "suh"

m should sound like "mmmm", not "muh"

p should be a very short /p/, not "puh"

If a student sounds out sat as "suh-a-tuh", the resulting pronunciation is much further from the spoken word sat. Keeping the phonemes clean makes blending easier.

The easiest way to learn the correct pronunciations

Before introducing a new grapheme to a student, listen carefully to the way it is pronounced in ReadingDoctor® Online and practise imitating it.

You can also hear the main graphemes used in Australian English in our English Graphemes guide. The guide includes audio and mouth animations to demonstrate how each phoneme is produced.

Pronouncing single-letter consonant graphemes

Consonant phonemes differ in the way they are produced.

Voiced and voiceless sounds

Some consonant phonemes are voiced, which means the vocal folds vibrate during their production.

For example:

m, n, l, r, v, z, b, d, g

Other consonant phonemes are voiceless, meaning that the vocal folds do not vibrate.

For example:

f, s, h, p, t, k

You can feel the difference by placing your fingers lightly on your throat while alternating between:

ssss – zzzz

or

ffff – vvvv

You should feel vibration for z and v, but not for s and f.

When producing voiceless consonants, take particular care not to add a voiced "uh" afterwards.

For example:

f, not "fuh"

k, not "kuh"

t, not "tuh"

Continuous and brief sounds

Some consonant phonemes can naturally be sustained. For example:

ffff

mmmm

nnnn

ssss

vvvv

zzzz

When modelling these sounds during early blending activities, it can be helpful to stretch them slightly.

Other consonants are naturally very brief. These include sounds such as:

p, t, k, b, d, g

These should be pronounced quickly and cleanly. For example, the sound represented by p should be a brief /p/ rather than "puh".

The important principle is:

Say the phoneme clearly, without adding another vowel sound.

See Single Letter Graphemes in our English Graphemes guide to hear each sound.

Pronouncing longer graphemes

As students progress through ReadingDoctor® Online, they learn that a single phoneme can also be represented by two, three or more letters.

When teaching these graphemes, pronounce the sound represented by the whole grapheme. Do not pronounce the individual letter names or attempt to sound out each letter separately.

For example:

sh represents the sound heard at the beginning of ship.

Do not say "s-h".

ee represents the vowel sound in see.

Do not say "e-e".

igh represents the vowel sound in light.

Do not say "i-g-h".

The letters work together as a unit.

Long vowels and split digraphs

ReadingDoctor® Online teaches the long vowel pronunciations represented by a, e, i, o and u, including their use in open syllables and split-digraph patterns.

For example:

a as in apron and a_e as in cake

e as in emu and e_e as in these

i as in ice and i_e as in time

o as in open and o_e as in home

u as in unicorn and u_e as in cube

When sounding out a split-digraph word, do not give the final e a separate sound. Instead, pronounce the vowel sound represented by the complete spelling pattern.

See Long Vowels in our English Graphemes guide for explanations and pronunciation examples.

Consonant teams

ReadingDoctor® Online teaches common consonant teams including:

ch as in cheese

ck as in kick

ng as in wing

sh as in ship

tch as in catch

th as in mouth

wh as in white

The letters within these patterns work together to represent a sound. For example, sh represents one phoneme and should be pronounced as that phoneme rather than as separate s and h sounds.

Some patterns require particular care to avoid adding a schwa.

For example:

ch, not "chuh"

shhhh, not "shuh"

thhhh, not "thuh"

ReadingDoctor® Online also teaches some spelling patterns such as qu, which usually represents the two phonemes heard at the beginning of queen. When modelling qu, pronounce it cleanly as /kw/ rather than "kwuh".

See Consonant Teams: Consonant Digraphs and Trigraphs in our English Graphemes guide for audio examples.

Vowel teams

Students also learn graphemes containing two or more letters that represent vowel phonemes.

Common examples taught in ReadingDoctor® Online include:

ee as in see

ea as in sea

oo as in spoon

aw as in paw

ai as in rain

ay as in play

igh as in light

oa as in boat

oi as in coin

oy as in boy

ou as in around

ow as in owl

Again, pronounce the vowel phoneme represented by the whole grapheme, rather than the individual letters.

For example:

ai → the vowel sound in rain

not "a-i"

igh → the vowel sound in light

not "i-g-h"

See Vowel Teams in our English Graphemes guide to hear these pronunciations and learn more about vowel digraphs, trigraphs, monophthongs and diphthongs.

r-controlled vowel graphemes

ReadingDoctor® Online also teaches common r-controlled vowel spellings, including:

er as in her

ir as in bird

ur as in turn

or as in fork

ar as in car

These patterns should also be treated as units when sounding out words.

In Australian English, the r in many of these patterns is not pronounced as a separate /r/ phoneme. For example, ar in car represents the vowel sound in car; it should not be sounded out as "a-r".

See r-Controlled Vowels in our English Graphemes guide for Australian English pronunciation examples.

Less common graphemes

Later in the ReadingDoctor® Online sequence, students learn less common ways of representing phonemes they may already know.

These include less common consonant spellings such as:

kn as in knife

ph as in phone

wr as in write

soft c as in city

soft g as in gem

ge as in cage

dge as in bridge

gn as in gnome

The same principle applies: pronounce the phoneme represented by the grapheme, not every letter.

For example:

kn in knife → /n/

ph in phone → /f/

wr in write → /r/

dge in bridge → the sound at the end of bridge

ReadingDoctor® Online also teaches less common vowel spellings, including:

oo as in book

ie as in babies

au as in caught

ew as in chew

ue as in blue

ui as in suit

ow as in blow

ie as in pie

ue as in argue

oe as in toe

eigh as in eight

These examples also demonstrate an important feature of English: the same grapheme can sometimes represent different phonemes.

Compare:

oo in spoon and book

ow in owl and blow

ie in babies and pie

When practising these graphemes, always use the example word to identify which pronunciation is being taught.

Students also encounter less common r-controlled patterns such as:

oor as in door

oar as in roar

ore as in shore

are as in share

air as in chair

ear as in earth

ear as in hear

Again, treat the complete spelling pattern as a unit and pronounce the vowel phoneme it represents in the example word.

A few important things to remember

1. Say the sound, not the letter name.

When teaching m, say the phoneme /m/, not the letter name em.

When teaching sh, say the sound in ship, not ess-aitch.

2. Avoid adding "uh".

Say:

mmmm, not muh

ssss, not suh

p, not puh

ch, not chuh

3. Treat multi-letter graphemes as units.

ee, sh, igh, ph, eigh and other multi-letter graphemes should be pronounced as the sound represented by the complete letter pattern.

4. Use the example word when a spelling has more than one pronunciation.

For example:

oo as in spoon

is different from

oo as in book.

5. Copy the pronunciations used in ReadingDoctor® Online.

The easiest way to learn the pronunciations we use is to listen carefully to the sounds in ReadingDoctor® Online and imitate them.

You can also use our English Graphemes: A Comprehensive User Guide to hear pronunciation examples for the main graphemes in Australian English.

Correct, clean pronunciation makes it easier for students to blend phonemes together and successfully decode unfamiliar words.