Speech to Print (S2P)
What is Speech-to-Print?
What are the benefits of S2P?
Speech-to-Print methodology, also known as Structured Linguistic Literacy (SLL) or Linguistic Phonics (LP), is a systematic and explicit approach to teaching reading and writing. Unlike traditional methods that begin with letters and their sounds, Speech to Print starts with the spoken language – the sounds from the words we speak- and then matches the spellings (graphemes) to the sounds (phonemes).
The core principle of Structured Linguistic Literacy is that spoken language is the foundation of written language as opposed to the other way around. This approach recognizes that children come to school with a well-developed ability to use spoken language and brains that naturally recognize patterns, and it leverages these strengths to teach reading and writing.
Speech-to-Print approaches provide explicit instruction in the concepts that are the foundational basis of the English alphabetic code, which circumvents the need to teach students an excessive amount of the code. Once students have a firm understanding of how the code functions, they can transition more quickly to implicit learning or self-teaching. This important distinction accelerates the acquisition of accurate, automatic reading and writing.
What are the benefits of S2P?
What are the benefits of S2P?
The Speech to Print method offers several advantages:
- Efficiency: By starting with sounds students already know, the learning process is accelerated.
- Inclusivity: This method has shown significant success with all students, including those who struggle with traditional reading instruction and students diagnosed with dyslexia.
- Reduced Cognitive Load: By focusing on patterns rather than rules, students often find the process less mentally taxing.
- Integrated Skills: The simultaneous teaching of reading, writing, and spelling reinforces learning across all areas.
- Flexibility: Students learn to approach unfamiliar words with confidence, applying their knowledge of sound-spelling relationships.
- Rapid Progress: Many students advance quickly to reading a wide range of texts.
What is the science of S2P?
What is the science of S2P?
The effectiveness of Speech-to-Print is rooted in cognitive science and research on how the brain processes language. Dr. Mark Seidenberg, a cognitive scientist and expert in the Science of Reading, has contributed significantly to our understanding of the reading process.
Seidenberg’s research emphasizes the importance of phonological awareness and the ability to map sounds to letters in learning to read. He describes a phenomenon he calls “escape velocity,” where students transition from explicit instruction to self-teaching. Speech to Print methodology aims to achieve this transition efficiently.
The process works as follows:
- Students are explicitly taught how the English alphabetic code works.
- They learn to apply these concepts to all words.
- As their skills develop, they require less support and can increasingly teach themselves new words.
This approach aligns with what cognitive scientists call the “Simple View of Reading,” which posits that reading comprehension is the product of decoding ability and language comprehension.
October 21, 2024 EBLI Blog
At Altitude, our expert practitioners follow the Structured Linguistic Literacy (SLL) approach using the EBLI resource. SLL teaches the logic of the English alphabetic code in a way that helps learners more easily apply this code to accurate, automatic reading and spelling. SLL begins instruction with a word, breaking each word into its individual sounds, providing the letter(s) that represent the sounds (spelling), and then blending those sounds back together to read the word. Reading and spelling are taught in the same activity and with the same process since these processes are reversible and utilize the same code. For emerging readers, once the simple code (1 letter representing 1 sound) is taught and applied, they move on to instruction in the more complex code.
Words containing the complex code utilize concepts that are unique and common in English:
- 1, 2, 3, or 4 letters spell a sound (am, she, sigh, dough).
- The same sound can be spelled in many ways (/s/: sit, miss, nice, horse, cent, listen).
- The same spelling can represent different sounds (‘s’: /s/ in ‘sun’, /z/ in ‘is’, /sh/ in ‘sure’).
- A strategy to decode multisyllabic words is crucial.
Many spellings for a sound can be taught at once, even to emerging learners, once they have been taught the simple code. Similarly, many sounds that go with the same spelling can also be taught. Patterns are emphasized, and application to accurate reading in text and accurate spelling in writing is part of instruction. With the Structured Linguistic Literacy approach, there is an abundance of multisyllabic word instruction, especially words with 3 syllables or more. These multisyllabic words are taught explicitly, early in instruction, and regularly for learners. This instruction with multisyllabic words facilitates vocabulary by teaching prefixes, suffixes, and root words in context. Mastery of concepts and skills is obtained over time with instruction that spirals and interleaves what has been learned by the student to help advance further learning.
Dystinct Issue 13: How and Why a Structured Linguistic Literacy Approach Closes the Gap Quickly by Nora Chahbazi
