Have you ever been taught that, “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking”? This age-old saying suggests that when two vowels appear side by side in a word, the first vowel represents its long sound. However, this popular generalization turns out to be true less than half the time, as various analyses have revealed.

You are viewing: Unraveling the Mystery of Vowels in English Words

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Recently, I delved into a classic analysis by Francine P. Johnston, who examined a landmark study on the application of phonics generalizations. This study, conducted by Theodore Clymer in 1963, and subsequent replication studies, questioned the validity of the “when two vowels…” generalization. Johnston also conducted her own analysis, using the American Heritage Word Frequency Book, a compilation of grade 3 to 9 reading materials. Her findings showed that while broad generalizations often failed, specific vowel pairs exhibited higher regularity.

For instance, the vowel pair “aw” consistently made the sound in “saw” 100% of the time, while “oy” always represented the sound in “boy.” Similarly, “oi” consistently made the sound in “join.” Additionally, pairs like “ay,” “oa,” “ee,” “ai,” “ey,” and “au” mostly represented one specific sound over three-quarters of the time. Other pairs like “ow,” “ew,” “oo,” and “ei” regularly represented one of two sounds in the majority of cases.

The widely known “final e” or “silent e” generalization, which claims that the first vowel in a word ending with a vowel, one or two consonants, and an “e” represents its long sound while the second “e” is silent, also behaves similarly. Johnston’s analysis showed that this generalization held true 77.7% of the time for “a-e” in words like “cake,” but only 16.6% of the time for “e-e” as in “these.” The generalization was more reliable for “i-e” (74.2% of the time), “o-e” (58.4%), and “u-e” (76.9%).

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So, what can we gather from all this? Broad phonic generalizations are not as useful as we once thought. However, this shouldn’t imply that phonics instruction lacks value or that the English language is too irregular to study. Subsequent research offers alternative strategies that are still recommended today. These strategies include teaching specific sound-letter relationships (such as the sound commonly represented by “oi”), introducing phonograms or rimes (e.g., “-ake”), developing orthographic knowledge through word sorting, and encouraging students to be flexible in decoding by trying different likely vowel sounds.

English orthography cannot be reduced to a handful of simple generalizations. Nevertheless, we possess a plethora of tools to help students navigate its complexities. By adopting these research-supported strategies, we can equip learners with the skills they need to tackle the intricacies of the English language.

Nell Duke, a member of the International Reading Association’s Literacy Research Panel, welcomes reader response. Feel free to share your thoughts by emailing LRP@/.

Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHEN