Orthographic Mapping: Supporting Word Learning in all Learners

A typical reader is able to read about 100 words when they begin first grade. By the time

they enter 3rd grade they can read between 3000 to 8000 words (Kilpark, 2015). If educators

only directly teach 10 words during 38 weeks of school, students only directly learn 380 words a

year (Gentry & Oullette, 2019). In two years time, this only comes to 760 words as a student

enters 3rd grade. Therefore, each student’s growth needs support through the stages of pre-

alphabetics, partial alphabetics, and full alphabetics (Ehri, 2014) reading development in order to

orthographically map and read words fluently without being taught each individual word.

Throughout these stages students learn letter to sound (grapheme-phoneme) correspondences,

begin to blend sounds together to read words, and build a large memory for sight words.

Fluent readers utilize a vast memory of stored words while reading. These stored words

are called sight words and are instantly recognized when encountered in and out of context.

Orthographic mapping is the process readers use to store written words for immediate retrieval

through connecting phonemes to their corresponding letters (Kilpatrick, 2015; Moats, 2005) in

turn building their sight word memory. While students develop more advanced phonemic

awareness skills there is a large increase in reading fluency and accuracy that is directly related

to the number of sight words. As typically developing readers work with unfamiliar words their

brains activate many connections which allows them to quickly map new words in their long

term memory for fluent reading (Gentry & Oullette, 2019). The mapping of the spelling of the

new words usually occurs after seeing it 3 to 4 times (Kilpartick, 2015).

Therefore, orthographic mapping is a critical component for building word fluency.

Students who struggle while learning to read have greater difficulty mapping and recalling both

regular and irregular words (Kilpatrick, 2015; Sight Words and Orthographic Mapping, 2023). If
a student is struggling to read words effortlessly, they may be weak in areas of phonological

awareness, letter sound knowledge or long term memory (Kilparick, 2015; Moats, 2005), all of

which begin to develop in the pre-alphabetic phase. Phonological awareness involves the ability

to manipulate sounds, along with segmenting and blending, the ability to identify and blend

syllables, and phonemic awareness skills (Moats, 2020). For phonetically regular words or

words that only vary by one sound, a student can use keywords or word families to help map

new words . For example, if a student can read /amp/ in the word lamp and change the /l/ to a

/st/, then they can read the word stamp (Ehri et al., 2009). A student's ability to quickly map

word orthographically is significantly related to their skills during early literacy (Hensbet &

Apel, 2009). Struggling readers need effective and systematic instruction in phonological

awareness to best support their development of orthographic mapping.

There are several research-based practices to support students in building their

orthographic mapping. The first is through a speech to print approach. This approach integrates

work on phonological awareness, decoding (phonics), encoding (spelling), and visual (sight)

word recognition (Gentry & Ouellette, 2019) in order for students to store correct spellings in

their brains. Unlike traditional phonics approaches, this starts with teachers giving the word

orally and having the students say it aloud and write the words based on what they know. Next,

the teacher presents them with the correct spelling to compare and analyze. In short, teachers can

think : hear-it, say-it, spell-it. Through this easy to implement approach, students are more likely

to map new words through connections between what they hear and their knowledge of print

(Gentry & Ouellette, 2019). Elkonin boxes may act as a guide for students as they “push” each

individual sound within a word as they listen and say the word while spelling it. With

phonological knowledge at the core of this process, once students are able to map connections
between letters and sounds they can apply their knowledge further to even more words (Ehri,

2014).

In addition to the speech to print approach, focus on articulation can support learners in

making more meaningful connections in their brains while learning new words (Boyer & Ehri,

2011; Bolger et al., 2008). Articulation refers to how and where the sounds are formed in the

mouth (Moats, 2020). .Research supports the attention to articulation when teaching new words

to connect meaning, speech, and print (Vadasy & Sanders, 2016). As discussed above, the

reading circuit begins with hearing : listening to sounds, analyzing the sounds, and connecting

this information to print (Gentry& Ouellette, 2019). The use of articulation contributes to the

student’s ability to recall words early on (Boyer & Ehri, 2011; Moats, 2005), as they are able to

form stronger connections between letters and sounds. This provides another level of support for

students in the orthographic mapping process.

Orthographic mapping is a crucial component in reading, as it allows students to store a

large bank of sight words which they can effortlessly recall and read, allowing them to read

fluently. Although some readers naturally develop the needed skills to orthographic map, many

need more support developing this skill. For this process to occur, students need a firm

foundation in grapheme-phoneme correspondence (letter-sound knowledge), phonological

awareness, and active long term memory. Effective research-based strategies, such as speech to

print approach, using Elkonin boxes or sound lines, and drawing attention to articulation provide

support in forming lasting connections for word reading for not just struggling readers, but all

readers. By supporting learners with effective strategies to build orthographic mapping, we are

better able to support the building of sight words and confident fluent readers.
References

Bolger, D. J., Minas, J., Burman, D. D., & Booth, J. R. (2008). Differential effects of

orthographic and phonological consistency in cortex for children with and without

reading impairment. Neuropsychologia, 46(14), 3210–3224.

Boyer, N., & Ehri, L. C. (2011). Contribution of phonemic segmentation instruction with

letters and articulation pictures to word reading and spelling in beginners. Scientific

Studies of Reading, 15(5), 440–470. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2010.520778

Ehri, L. C. (2014). Orthographic mapping in the acquisition of sight word reading, spelling,

memory, and vocabulary learning. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 5–21.

http://dx.doi.org.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1080/10888438.2013.819356

Ehri, L. C., Satlow, E., & Gaskins, I. (2009). Grapho-phonemic enrichment strengthens

keyword analogy instruction for struggling young readers. Reading & Writing

Quarterly, 25(2–3), 162–191.

http://www.informaworld.com.proxy.longwood.edu/openurl?

genre=article&id=doi:10.1080/10573560802683549

Gentry, J. R., & Ouellette, G. P. (2019). Brain words: How the science of reading

informs teaching. Stenhouse Publishers.

Henbest, V. S., & Apel, K. (2018). Orthographic fast-mapping across time in 5- and 6-

year-old children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61(8), 2015–

2027. https://dx-doi-org.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-17-0379
 Kilpatrick, D. A. (2015). Essentials of assessing, preventing, and overcoming reading

difficulties. (A. S. Kaufman & N. L. Kaufman, Eds.). John Wiley & Sons.

Moats, L. (2005). Letrs. Sopris West Educational Services.

Moats, L. C. (2020). Speech to print: Language essentials for teachers. Brookes Publishing Co.

Sight Words and Orthographic Mapping. (2023, January 17). Reading Rockets.

https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading-basics/sight-words-and-orthographic-

mapping

Vadasy, P. F., & Sanders, E. A. (2016). Attention to orthographic and phonological word

forms in vocabulary instruction for kindergarten English learners. Reading Psychology,

37(6), 833–866. http://dx.doi.org.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1080/02702711.2015.1116477