Unlocking Words: Understanding Phonograms and Their Role in Decoding for Dyslexic Learners

Welcome back to our "Decoding Dyslexia" series for teachers! We've talked about the vital role of phonics, and in this blog we're zooming in on a fundamental building block within phonics instruction: Phonograms.

Grasping what phonograms are and how they work is crucial for effectively teaching reading and spelling, especially to students with dyslexia who benefit from clear, explicit instruction.

What Exactly is a Phonogram?

Simply put, a phonogram is the letter or combination of letters that represents a sound in written language. It’s the visual representation of a speech sound (phoneme).

Think of it as the printed "symbol" for a sound:

• The single letter ‘s’ is a phonogram representing the sound /s/ (as in "sun").

• The letter combination ‘sh’ is a phonogram representing the sound /ʃ/ (as in "ship").

• The letter combination ‘igh’ is a phonogram representing the sound /aɪ/ (as in "light").

Phonograms can be made up of:

• Single letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

• Two letters (digraphs): sh, ch, th, ck, ph, wh, ee, ea, ai, ay, ow, ou, etc.

• Three letters (trigraphs): igh, tch, dge

• Four letters (quadgraphs): eigh, ough

The Tricky Part: One Phonogram, Multiple Sounds (and Vice-Versa!)

Here’s where the complexity of English orthography really comes into play, and why direct instruction is so important:

1. Some phonograms can represent more than one sound.

   • The phonogram (letter) ‘g’ can represent the /g/ sound as in "goat" OR the /dʒ/ sound as in "gent."

   • The phonogram (letter combination) ‘ow’ can represent the /oʊ/ sound as in "low" OR the /aʊ/ sound as in "how."

   • The phonogram ‘ea’ can represent /ē/ as in "bead," /ĕ/ as in "bread," or /ā/ as in "great."

2. Conversely (and just as importantly), one sound can often be represented by multiple phonograms.

   • The /k/ sound can be represented by the phonograms ‘c’ (cat), ‘k’ (kite), ‘ck’ (duck), or even ‘ch’ (choir).

   • The /f/ sound can be ‘f’ (fish), ‘ff’ (fluff), ‘ph’ (phone), or ‘gh’ (laugh).

This variability is a major reason why rote memorisation of whole words is inefficient, and why a deep understanding of phonograms is critical for students with dyslexia.

The Dyslexia Connection: Why Phonograms Matter Deeply

For students with dyslexia, who often struggle with phonological processing and the automatic retrieval of sound-symbol relationships, the concept of phonograms is key:

• Building Blocks for Decoding & Encoding: Understanding phonograms provides students with manageable "chunks" to work with when reading (decoding) and spelling (encoding). Instead of seeing a word as a random string of individual letters, they can start to recognise familiar letter patterns that represent specific sounds.

• Systematic Learning: Explicitly teaching phonograms in a systematic way (e.g., introducing one sound for 'ow' before introducing the second) helps build a reliable foundation.

• Reducing Cognitive Load: When students can automatically recognise common phonograms (like 'sh', 'th', 'ing'), it frees up cognitive resources to focus on blending sounds and comprehending meaning, rather than struggling with individual letter sounds.

• Addressing Inconsistencies: Directly teaching that some phonograms have multiple sounds, and providing strategies or rules for when to use which sound (where possible), helps demystify some of English's complexities. It acknowledges the trickiness rather than ignoring it.

• Improving Spelling Accuracy: A strong knowledge of phonograms helps students make more informed choices when spelling. If they know 'sh' makes the /ʃ/ sound, they are less likely to try and spell "ship" as "sip."

How to Effectively Teach Phonograms:

• Explicit Introduction: Clearly introduce each phonogram, its corresponding sound(s), and provide keyword examples (e.g., "‘sh’ says /ʃ/ as in ship").

• Multisensory Practice:

  • Visual: Show flashcards with the phonogram.

  • Auditory: Say the sound(s) clearly. Have students repeat.

  • Kinesthetics/Tactile: Have students trace the phonogram in sand, on a textured surface, or air write it while saying the sound.

• Blending Drills: Practice blending sounds that include newly taught phonograms (e.g., sh-i-p -> ship; ch-o-p -> chop).

• Segmentation Practice: Have students break words into sounds and identify the phonograms needed for spelling.

• Word Sorts: Sort words based on a shared phonogram or the sound a particular phonogram makes in different words.

• Decodable Texts: Use texts that feature the phonograms students are learning, allowing them to practice in a meaningful context.

• Regular Review: Consistent review is vital for committing phonograms and their sounds to long-term memory.

By focusing on phonograms as the visual representations of sounds, we give students with dyslexia a concrete tool to break the code of written English. It’s about moving beyond individual letter-by-letter drudgery to recognising meaningful patterns that unlock words and pave the way for more fluent reading and accurate spelling.