Graphemes

Also called Grapheme-phoneme correspondence, GPC, Letter-sound correspondence, Digraphs and trigraphs

The written form of a sound: one letter, two, three or four. Knowing that "igh" is one sound is the difference between reading and guessing.

What it is

A grapheme is the way a sound is written. It can be one letter (the "s" in sun), two (the "sh" in ship, a digraph), three (the "igh" in night, a trigraph) or, rarely, four (the "eigh" in eight). The link between a grapheme and its sound is a grapheme-phoneme correspondence, GPC in school newsletters.

English has around 44 phonemes and well over a hundred common graphemes for them, because most sounds can be spelled more than one way. That's why phonics takes two years and why "sound it out" only works once you know which letters travel together.

Who it can help

Every child in Reception and Year 1, and every adult who's learning to read later. Children with dyslexia typically need far more repetition of each correspondence, and need it made explicit. Non-speaking learners need graphemes as much as anyone, arguably more: for someone who can't speak, spelling is speaking, and every grapheme learned is a word that can now be typed and said.

It's not a frame for older readers who decode fine but don't understand what they read; that's comprehension, a language problem.

How it works

Phonics programmes introduce graphemes in phases or sets. The first phase covers single letters and a few digraphs; later phases add the rest of the digraphs and trigraphs, then alternative spellings for sounds already known (ai, ay, a-e for the same vowel), then alternative sounds for graphemes already known (the "ow" in cow and snow). By the end of Year 1 a child is expected to know the common correspondences, and the phonics screening check tests it with real and made-up words.

Reading uses graphemes for blending: see "sh-i-p", say each sound, push them together. Spelling uses them for segmenting: hear "ship", pull it into three sounds, choose a grapheme for each. The split digraph (a-e in cake) is the one that catches most children, because the two letters aren't next to each other.

The Talk board uses the full UK grapheme set on its phonics keyboard, so "sh", "igh" and "ee" are single keys that say their sound, rather than letters the person has to assemble.

Getting started

Get the school's grapheme list and the order they teach it. Put this week's graphemes on the fridge. Point them out in the wild: on cereal boxes, road signs, the child's own name.

When you read together, run a finger under a word and say its sounds by grapheme, not by letter: "sh-o-p", three sounds, four letters. Children who've been taught to see "s" and "h" as separate will read "s-h-o-p" and get nowhere.

Make a personal set. Symbol cards, magnetic letters or the phonics keyboard: start with the graphemes in the child's name, pet and favourite food. Words that matter get learned first.

Where to get help

The DfE's reading framework is the reference for how graphemes are taught in England. The British Dyslexia Association has parent advice where correspondences aren't sticking. For learners who use AAC, ACE Centre publishes literacy resources.