How to teach : The literacy conventions

This section examines how to teach one of the conventions of literacy, the letter patterns used to write (that is, spell) words. The sequence of activities for any type of word involves readers learning first the phonological knowledge, followed by the appropriate phonemic knowledge, the letter cluster - sound match and the automatic reading of the letter cluster. Teaching students to read 1-syllable words initially and then words of 2- or more syllables.

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The key aspects of the teaching programme include the following areas of activity.

Activities for 1-syllable words

• before learning to read the words
• while learning to read the words
• after learning to read the words: automatising

Activities for words with > 1 syllable