In orthographic mapping instruction, which classroom activity best demonstrates the concept?

• A. Students use letter tiles to spell words they hear, sound by sound
• B. Students memorize a list of sight words by rote
• C. Students copy passages from a book
• D. Students chant the alphabet without linking sounds to letters

Answer: (A)

Orthographic mapping builds a mental link between the sounds we hear and the letters we see in written words. When students hear a word, break it into individual sounds, and attach each sound to a letter or letter pattern, they create a stable memory of how that word is spelled. Using letter tiles to spell words they hear, sound by sound, directly engages this process by requiring segmentation, mapping of sounds to letters, and blending to form the word.

Memorizing a list of sight words by rote doesn’t develop the sound-letter connections, copying passages is mainly a transcription task without building phoneme-to-grapheme mappings, and chanting the alphabet without linking sounds to letters misses the crucial link between phonology and orthography in real words.