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Written by Christina Novelli, M.Ed., Doctoral Student, Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education, University of Georgia

Sound walls help students make the speech-to-print connection. A sound wall displays the phonemes of English, a visual representation of how the sound is produced (mouth picture), and the graphemes that can be mapped to those phonemes. There are approximately 43 phonemes in English, divided into two types: consonants and vowels (Lindamood & Lindamood, 2011). Consonants and vowels are distinguished by the differences in how the sound is articulated. Most of the 25 consonant phonemes are made by air restriction caused by at least one of the oral articulators (e.g., lips, tongue, teeth). The 18 vowel phonemes are made by movement of the jaw in coordination with tongue position, and no air restriction is involved (Moats, 2020). In other words, the production of a consonant sound involves restricting airflow (e.g., lips opening for /p/ and /b/, tongue dropping for /d/ and /t/); in contrast, vowel production does not (e.g., mouth wide open for /ɑ/, smiling mouth for /i/).

Two Types of Sound Walls

Given the differences between the two types of phonemes, teachers typically organize the sound wall into two separate sections. The 25 consonant sounds paired with a mouth picture representative of the primary speech gesture would be displayed on the consonant sound wall. Articulatory, or speech, gestures are the actions necessary to produce speech sounds—how and where a letter sound is made in the mouth. A consonant sound wall organizes the consonants by categories specific to the manner of articulation (see Table 1). Graphemes are displayed under the corresponding sound as taught (e.g., <f>, <ff>, <ph>, <gh> are listed under /f/).

Table 1

Categories of Consonant Phonemes

Category Manner of Articulation Consonant Phonemes
Stops Air is constricted by an articulator then bursts out in a puff of air /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
Nasals Air streams out the nose /m/, /n/ /ŋ/
Fricatives Air is partially obstructed by an articulator creating friction while air passes through the small opening /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/
Affricatives A sequence of a stop and a fricative /tʃ/, /dʒ/
Glides No obstruction of air initially and immediately followed by a vowel /j/, /w/, /wh/
Liquids The tongue creates a partial closure of the mouth /l/, /ɹ/

A vowel sound wall is primarily organized in a half-circle corresponding to the shift in the jaw and the slight shift of tongue position and height when articulating the phonemes (Lindamood & Lindamood, 2011). Additional vowel phonemes are added to the wall to include the diphthongs, which are made by sliding through two speech gestures in the mouth (i.e., /aɪ/, /ju/, /ʊ/, /ɔɪ/), and the three r-controlled vowel sounds (i.e., /ɚ/, /ɑ˞/, /ɔ˞/).

Evidence supporting the use of a sound wall includes evidence that instruction in articulatory gestures—the movements necessary to produce phonemes—increases students’ phonemic awareness and grapheme-phoneme knowledge (Boyer & Ehri, 2011; Fälth et al., 2017; Galazka et al. 2021; Novelli et al., 2023). Sound walls support students' use of phonological information as they learn to map graphemes to phonemes and, conversely, phonemes to graphemes. These mappings are necessary for proficient reading and writing.

Creating the Sound Walls

First, sound walls need to be planned for or constructed before instruction. Sound walls can be created as instruction happens by adding components to the wall after instruction (i.e., after teaching /p/ and the grapheme <p>, put the corresponding mouth picture, sound card, and letter card on the display). In contrast, a complete sound wall can be created first with the individual components covered. The individual sound, mouth picture, and grapheme can be revealed or uncovered as instruction transpires.

Materials

To use sound walls in the classroom, teachers need the following materials: (a) ample wall space; (b) mouth pictures (i.e., 13 for the consonants and 11 for the vowels); (c) phoneme cards (i.e., 25 consonant and 19 vowels); and (d) grapheme cards. The number of letter cards will depend on the grade level and the scope and sequence of instruction. The most important thing to remember when setting up and using sound walls is to keep it simple. The goal of the sound wall is to support independent spelling and learning. Crowded walls, patterns, and bright colours may be more distracting than helpful. In contrast, phoneme and grapheme cards written in large, black ink against a solid background make the wall more visually accessible. Mouth pictures are available online through various websites but can also easily be created by taking pictures of your or students' mouths.

Consonant Sound Wall

First, you need to find ample space to organize the consonants into rows representing the categories specific to the manner of articulation. Next, arrange the consonant pairs. Consonants can be voiced—vocal cords activated, causing a vibration—or voiceless. Of the 25 consonant sounds, 16 can be paired together. Consonant pairs are two sounds requiring the same mouth movement, but one is voiced and unvoiced (e.g., /p/ and /b/). Consonant pairs are displayed next to each other underneath the same mouth picture. The voiced partner can be indicated with a simple box around the sound or an asterisk. In addition, the three nasal sounds also share mouth pictures with the three stop pairs (Figure 1). Initially, the most common grapheme-phoneme correspondence is taught during phonics instruction (e.g., <s> for /s/), but as additional graphemes are introduced (e.g., <ce>, <ci>, <cy> for /s/), they are added under the sound card. Common spellings for each consonant phoneme are provided in Figure 2.

consonant sound wall

Click here to view and download Figure 2: Consonant Sound Wall Information. 

Vowel Sound Wall

The vowel sound wall is arranged differently. First, find the wall space to arrange a semi-circle for most vowel sounds. The semi-circle illustrates the slight movement of the jaw paired with the tongue's placement during the vowels' articulation. The placement of the vowel phoneme on the semi-circle depicts whether the tongue is positioned toward the front, at the bottom, or the back of the mouth (see Figure 3). Next, add the five diphthongs. Diphthongs are gliding vowels where the tongue starts in one position and shifts towards another to produce the sound. These are illustrated on the wall using the associated mouth pictures for the two sounds in the diphthong. Finally, add the r-controlled vowels—when a <r> follows a vowel, it changes the pure sound of the vowel. Mouth pictures are not used with the r-controlled vowel sounds, but a picture associated with the sound can be used (e.g., car for /ɑ˞/, corn for /ɔ˞/, bird for /ɚ/). Like the consonant sound wall, graphemes are added as they are taught. Common spellings for each vowel phoneme are listed in Figure 4.

vowel mouth placement sound walls

Vowel sound wall

Click here to view and download Figure 4: Vowel Sound Wall Information.

Using Sound Walls in Coordination with Phonics Instruction

Explicit instruction of basic skills is a recommended component of beginning reading instruction and a high-leverage practice (McLeskey et al., 2017; NRP, 2000). Explicit instruction is a direct approach to teaching that incorporates models, practice, and feedback to lead students to mastery of well-defined learning targets in a stepwise, incremental process (Archer & Hughes, 2011). It incorporates high student engagement. Williams et al. (2016) investigated the effects of reading and spelling interventions on spelling outcomes for students with learning disabilities. They found explicit instruction to have one of the largest positive impacts on spelling outcomes. The use of sound walls aligns with explicit, systematic phonics instruction. As a new phoneme or spelling pattern is introduced, the grapheme is added to the sound wall. Kindergarten teachers will predominantly teach the most common spelling of a phoneme, but when students are in first and second grade, the focus of instruction shifts to teaching different spelling patterns for the known phonemes (e.g., /eɪ/ can be spelled by adding Magic E or using the vowel teams <ay> and <ai>).

Given the difficulty many students with dyslexia have learning phoneme-grapheme correspondence, these students will require more intensive instruction (i.e., more practice over a longer period), and instruction may not align with grade-level scope and sequences (Torgesen et al., 2001). Therefore, incorporating sound walls within phonics instruction will reflect the focus of instruction. For example, when introducing a new phoneme (e.g., /m/ for <m>), the teacher will model the sound, introduce the corresponding mouth picture, and teach the most common grapheme. Then, the sound, mouth picture, and grapheme will be added or revealed on the sound wall.

When instruction shifts from learning a new phoneme to a new spelling pattern, the teacher will not present a new mouth picture but add a grapheme(s) to the sound wall. For example, students will first learn the most common spelling for /k/, the letter <c>, but will also learn new spellings for the sound, such as <k>, <ck>, and <ch>. Instruction will follow a similar explicit instruction framework as when introducing a new phoneme.

Spelling routines that integrate the sound wall during instruction can further reinforce student awareness and its use. One such routine is a daily auditory review. A daily review consists of a quick (3–5 min) recall session focusing on a few phoneme-grapheme correspondences. For example, a teacher would cover the sound wall and say, “The sound is /f/. What sound?” Followed by, “You know three ways to spell /f/. Write those on your board and use your best handwriting.” After students write, students can refer to the sound wall to check their responses. Distributed practice through daily review will help students gain mastery and automaticity with phoneme-grapheme correspondences.

Summary

Sound walls are visual tools pairing phonological and orthographic information to reinforce students’ speech-to-print connections. Sound walls promote student fluency with phoneme-grapheme correspondences when explicitly and systematically incorporated within phonics instruction and provide visual support during independent writing tasks. Awareness of articulatory gestures—what the mouth looks like during phoneme production—enables students to connect to the motor movements of phonemes to graphemes. By systematically integrating sound walls within phonics instruction, teachers increase the likelihood of students making speech-to-print connections.

About the Author:

Christina Novelli is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in special education at the University of Georgia. She is also a National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention scholar. Her research interests include the intersection of quality reading, spelling, and writing assessment and instruction, particularly for students with or at risk for word-level reading disabilities. Additionally, Christina is interested in the continued application of the principles of applied behaviour analysis to academic intervention and data-based decision-making.

References:

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Novelli, C., & Ardoin, S. P. (2023). Seeing the mouth: The importance of articulatory gestures during phonics training. [Manuscript under review].

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