Knowledge and use of vowel letter-sound relations by beginners to read and spell words

The objective of this study was to explore beginners' knowledge of short vowel letter-sounds and its relationship to children's word reading and spelling abilities. Twenty-four five and six-year-old children completed several tasks assessing knowledge of vowel letter-sound and sound-letter associations, word and pseudoword reading, and spelling. Performance on the vowel tasks was used to separate children into high and low vowel knowledge groups. All children learned to read two sets of simplified spelling words to criterion: one set with vowels, and the other set without. It was expected that children with high vowel knowledge would learn words containing vowels faster and with more ease than words without vowels, whereas children with less vowel knowledge would learn words without vowel letters with more ease.;Findings suggested that order of acquisition of short vowels reflects not only teaching, but also the distinctiveness of articulatory features among the vowels. Children's mistakes in short vowel sound production showed usage of a letter name strategy. Short vowel knowledge was significantly correlated with reading and spelling performance. Children with high short vowel letter-sound knowledge learned significantly more words and in fewer trials than children possessing low short vowel letter-sound knowledge. Contrary to our expectations, however, vowel letters in the target words did not affect learning. Individual analysis of children's performance revealed that children who reached criterion in the learning task in fewer than ten trials had achieved mastery or near mastery to at least three vowel letter-sounds.;Findings are discussed in terms of the role of automatization of letter-sound knowledge in word recognition theories, and the role of decoding in helping children acquire more vowel knowledge. Acquisition of the idea of a vowel system to represent letters and sounds may be particularly helpful in enhancing word learning and spelling.