The Science of Reading and Sound Walls: Why Sound Walls Matter

If you set foot in an elementary classroom 10 years ago, you might have noticed a colorful poster showing rows of high-frequency words arranged in order from A to Z. 

For years, teachers have used these displays to help students memorize tricky words and spellings. However, science of reading research has shown that students learn to read by recognizing sounds, not patterns of letters. According to the International Dyslexia Association®, word walls and similar materials do not teach students the predictability of phonics patterns in words, but instead stress the memorization of whole words, a strategy that does not help all children learn to read in the long run.  

That’s why sound walls, organized around the 44 speech sounds (phonemes) found in English, have largely replaced word walls in the classroom. A sound wall is a visual instructional tool that matches phonemes with their various spellings (graphemes). Unlike word walls, which are organized by letters of the alphabet, sound walls are organized by how words sound and how those sounds are vocally produced. Often, sound walls include pictures showing how your mouth should be positioned to make each sound.

What Are Sound Walls and How Do They Work?

Sound walls typically include two main sections:

• A Consonant section which groups consonant sounds by their articulation features (for example, where and how the sound is formed).

• A Vowel Valley, which arranges vowel sounds according to tongue and mouth placement during their production.

By showing how sounds correspond to letters, teachers can help students develop the decoding and encoding skills necessary to sound out and spell words. Sound walls align with the science of reading by promoting phonemic awareness and phonics through visual cues such as articulation photos and sound-spelling patterns. Research from literacy experts such as Louisa Moats supports the use of sound walls as an effective tool for helping students, especially those with reading difficulties, develop foundational skills essential for reading proficiency. 

How Sound Walls Support Science of Reading Principles

The science of reading is a body of research that emphasizes explicit, systematic instruction in the foundational elements of reading, including phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. 

1. Phonemic Awareness Development

Sound walls encourage students to focus on the sounds within words, helping them to identify, segment, and manipulate individual phonemes—a foundational skill students must develop to read and write successfully. Sound walls that include pronunciation photos (including mouth placement) help students make the connection between what they hear and how to produce each sound vocally, bolstering their phonological awareness.

2. Systematic, Explicit Phonics Instruction

Sound walls explicitly show students different spelling patterns (graphemes) that can represent each phoneme. This helps students learn the connection between spoken sounds and letters. For example, the long ‘a’ sound can be spelled ‘a,’ ‘ai,’ ‘ay,’ ‘eigh,’ and more; a sound wall visually organizes these choices in one place for students.

3. Speech-To-Print Orientation

Sound walls support a speech-to-print approach, meaning students learn words beginning with what they hear. After hearing a sound, they can map those sounds to letters and spelling patterns. This method aligns with how children naturally acquire language and how the brain organizes and stores word information.

4. Support for All Learners

Sound walls provide scaffolding for Emergent Bilinguals, students with dyslexia, and others who benefit from using multisensory supports and explicit instruction in sound-spelling relationships. They can be used in whole-class instruction, small-group interventions, and one-on-one with students.

5. Integration With Other Literacy Components

Teachers can point to sound walls during reading and writing activities, supporting both the development of decoding and encoding. Sound walls also reinforce orthographic mapping, the process by which students associate the sounds of spoken words with their printed counterparts in memory.

How the Science of Reading and Sound Walls Align

The science of reading framework is not a curriculum or instructional method, but instead refers to a comprehensive, interdisciplinary body of research that explains how humans learn to read. This research identifies the most effective, evidence-based methods for reading instruction, including the instructional practices that best support successful literacy outcomes for all learners.

Key principles and features of the science of reading framework include:

• Instruction grounded in research that is explicit, systematic, and structured, targeting specific reading skills in a logical sequence, otherwise known as Structured Literacy.

• Phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, otherwise known as The Five Pillars of Reading framework. Each element builds upon the other to support proficient reading.

• Models of reading, such as the Simple View of Reading and Scarborough's Reading Rope, explain how students develop reading comprehension after they develop word-recognition skills and language comprehension.

• Universal Design that supports all students, including Emergent Bilinguals and those with learning differences, through targeted prevention, intervention, and culturally relevant instruction.

Why Phonemic Awareness and Phonics Are Key Components

Phonemic awareness and phonics are two foundational pillars that help students decode and spell words efficiently. When students develop phonemic awareness, they more easily navigate English language conventions.

• Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It is the most advanced subset of phonological awareness. Phonemic awareness forms the foundation for understanding the alphabetic principle—how letters represent sounds in spoken language. When students develop phonemic awareness, they can segment, blend, and manipulate sounds, which is crucial for learning to decode and encode.

• Phonics refers to the relationship between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes). A strong understanding of phonics rules enables students to decode words more easily and recognize patterns in language. Instead of memorizing words, phonics skills enable students to read and spell new words with confidence. 

Phonemic awareness and phonics support one another in helping students learn to read and spell. Students develop phonemic awareness by hearing the sounds in words. Phonics skills help them map them to letters or letter combinations. If students can’t recognize sounds in words, they won’t be able to connect them to letters.

5 Key Benefits of Sound Walls in Science of Reading-Aligned Instruction

Sound walls support a science of reading-aligned approach to literacy instruction, as they emphasize phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, language acquisition, and independent literacy skills.

1. Build Stronger Phonemic Awareness

Sound walls visually organize speech sounds, helping students identify the smallest units of spoken language. By explicitly showing each phoneme alongside its possible spellings, sound walls help students recognize how sounds change within and between words—also known as phonemic awareness. 

2. Support Systematic Phonics Instruction

Sound walls explicitly connect sounds and letters. By grouping graphemes (letters or letter patterns) under their corresponding phonemes, sound walls help students learn and remember the many ways a sound can be spelled in English. When students regularly refer to a sound wall, it helps them reinforce letter-sound correspondences and strengthen their automatic word recognition and spelling skills.

3. Teach Spelling Through Visual Mapping

Sound walls can help scaffold spelling for students by showing them multiple spellings for each sound. For example, the long “a” sound on a sound wall can be represented by various graphemes (a, ai, ay, eigh), all displayed together. Students can then select the correct spelling based on context and pattern, rather than relying solely on memorization. According to Moats, understanding these spelling patterns is vital for writing proficiency.

4. Help Emergent Bilinguals Using Sound-Symbol Correspondence

Sound walls provide clear, consistent visual cues that can particularly help Emergent Bilinguals who may struggle with English sound-symbol relationships that differ from their home language. By explicitly showing students how each sound is produced, sound walls can help model oral language and connect sounds to written words. This multisensory approach aligns with best practices for English language development, helping students recognize the patterns and rules of English spelling and pronunciation.

5. Encourage Student Independence

Sound walls serve as a helpful, visual reference for sounds and spellings. Unlike word walls, which require students to know the first letter of a word, sound walls allow students to start with the sound they hear and then locate possible spellings for that word on the wall. Throughout time, regular use of the sound wall builds both reading automaticity and self-confidence, key elements of literacy independence.

How To Implement a Sound Wall in the Classroom

Sound walls are aligned with evidence-based literacy practices that show how students learn to read. They are organized by phonemes (speech sounds) and their corresponding graphemes (letter patterns), rather than by high-frequency or content-specific vocabulary words alphabetically, and take some time to organize. Teachers must organize each of the 44 English phonemes, gather mouth articulation pictures, and post multiple graphemes for each sound. Many teachers prefer to use sound wall kits or templates to streamline the setup process. 

Here’s how you can get started.

• Designate a space in the classroom. Find a wall, bulletin board, blackboard, whiteboard, or other area with enough space to accommodate all 44 phonemes. 

• Organize the sounds by category. Separate the phonemes by category, for example, consonants, vowels, and digraphs.

• Use images of mouth positions to show vocal articulation. Add mouth articulation visuals for all phonemes on the sound wall. This helps reinforce how students should move their mouths to make each sound. 

• Include images that show words that contain that sound. Add images to represent each phoneme to reinforce what words emphasize which sounds. 

• Highlight various spellings of each sound. Use your sound wall to showcase the most common spellings of each phoneme. For example, the long /o/ sound could include o, oa, oe, ow, ough, or eau.

More Ways To Bring the Science of Reading to Your Classroom

Lexia® solutions provide comprehensive literacy tools for students and professional learning for educators grounded in the science of reading. Each solution addresses the key components of reading, including: phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, offering personalized and adaptive instruction. Because each follows a systematic, explicit approach, teachers can use sound walls to reinforce instruction. 

• Lexia® Core5® Reading is an Adaptive Blended Learning program that provides students with personalized learning paths in six areas of reading, helping K–5 teachers differentiate instruction more efficiently and effectively. Educators can also access offline instructional materials to address specific skill gaps. Sound walls align well with the instructional principles of Core5. The program systematically and explicitly builds students’ foundational reading skills, beginning with the isolation and identification of sounds and progressing to phoneme-grapheme mapping—skills supported by sound walls in classroom instruction. Core5 emphasizes starting with spoken language and gradually moving to print. It includes visual, auditory, and kinesthetic supports, similar to how teachers using sound walls often integrate articulation cues and mouth visuals to reinforce the production of sounds. 

• Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® helps content-area teachers accelerate literacy skills for students in middle and high school who are reading below grade level. Teachers can personalize literacy instruction for every student, enabling students to make significant growth in a single academic year. Like Core5, PowerUp teaches explicit phoneme-to-grapheme instruction and phonemic awareness through foundational skill-building activities such as blending, segmenting, and sound-letter mapping. Students engage in interactive phonological awareness tasks, connect speech sounds to spellings, and study syllable types within structured digital lessons and printable resources. Teachers can extend PowerUp by using a sound wall to reinforce digital lessons, bridging online phonics training with hands-on, interactive learning.

Discover how you can reinforce a science of reading instructional approach with classroom tools like sound walls and Lexia solutions.