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The Role of Hebrew Letter Names in Early Literacy: The Case of Multi-phonemic Acrophonic Names

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Literacy Development and Enhancement Across Orthographies and Cultures

Part of the book series: Literacy Studies ((LITS,volume 2))

Abstract

English-speaking children more often spell letters correctly when the letters’ names are heard in the word (e.g., B in beach vs. bone). Hebrew letter names have been claimed to be less useful in this regard. In Study 1, kindergartners were asked to report and spell the initial and final letters in Hebrew words, including full (CVC), partial (CV), and phonemic (C) cues derived from these letter names (e.g., kaftor, kartis, kibεl, spelled with /kaf/). Correct and biased responses increased with the length of congruent and incongruent cues, respectively. In Study 2, preschoolers and kindergartners were asked to report the initial letters of monosyllabic or disyllabic names (e.g., /kaf/ and /samεx/, respectively) that included the cues described above. Correct responses increased with cue length; the effect was stronger with monosyllabic over disyllabic letter names, probably because the cue covered a larger ratio of the letter name. Phonological awareness was linked to the use of letter names.

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Acknowledgments

I am very grateful to Bracha Nir-Sagiv for her contribution to the analysis of a corpus of words in children’s books, for counting letter name cues. Thanks are also extended to Yafit Melamed and Danit Ben-Amar for their involvement in the empirical study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Iris Levin

Authors
  1. Iris Levin
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Correspondence to Iris Levin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Constantiner School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Dorit Aram

  2. School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52100, Israel

    Ofra Korat

Appendices

Appendix 5.A. Words Used for Tests of Letter Reporting, Letter Spelling, and Phoneme Isolation, in Study 1

Cue function

Cue length – initial position

Cue length – final position

Congruent

Letter name cue

Full letter name

Partial letter name

Phonemic

Letter name cue

Full letter name

Partial letter name

Phonemic

(CVC)

(CV)

(C)

(CVC)

(VC)

(C)

/Sin/

Sinuj

Siul

Saxor

/mεm/

ximεm

Silεm

olam

(ןיש)

(Change)

(Cough)

(Black)

 

(Warmed)

(Paid)

(World)

ש

יוניש

לועיש

רוחש

ם

םמחמ

םליש

םלוע

/kaf/

kaftor

kartis

kivsa

/nun/

tsinun

tsijun

aSan

(ףכ)

(Button)

(Ticket)

(Ewe)

 

(Cold)

(Score)

(Smoke)

כ

רותפכ

סיטרכ

השבכ

ן

ןוניצ

ןויצ

ןשע

/taf/

tafkid

talmid

tikra

/tεt/

xitεt

Sakεt

paSut

(ףת)

(Role)

(Pupil)

(Ceiling)

 

(Dug)

(Quiet)

(Simple)

ת

דיקפת

דימלת

הרקת

ט

טטיח

טקש

טושפ

Incongruent

/kaf/

kafats

kaSar

kibεl

/kuf/

Sakuf

saruf

magaf

Spelled /kuf/

(Jumped)

(Tied)

(Received)

Spelled /fεi/

(Trans-parent)

(Burnt)

(Boot)

(ףוק)

   

(יפ)

   

ק

ץפק

רשק

לביק

ף

ףוקש

ףורש

ףגמ

/tεt/

tεtakεn

tεvakεS

torid

/xεt/

Soxεt

boεt

tsavat

Spelled /taf/

(Will repair)

(Will ask)

(Will bring down)

Spelled /tεt/

(Butcher)

(Kicks)

(Pinched)

(ףת)

   

(תט)

   

ת

ןקתת

שקבת

דירות

ט

טחוס

טעוב

טבצ

/taf/

tafsan

tardan

tilon

/taf/

kataf

anaf

Sotεf

Spelled /tet/

(Scaffolder)

(Trouble-maker)

(Popsicle)

Spelled /fεi/

(Picked)

(Branch)

(Fluent)

(תט)

   

(יפ)

   

ט

ןספט

ןדרט

ןוליט

ף

ףטק

ףנע

ףטוש

  1. Note: All these Hebrew words are stressed on the last syllable; Hebrew words are spelled from right to left

Appendix 5.B. Words Used for Test of Letter Reporting, in Study 2 (n = 34)

Letter name length

Cue length – initial position

Percentage of correct responses

Mono-syllabic

Letter name cue

CVC

CV

C

CVC

CV

C

/bet/

‘bεtεn

‘bεrεz

‘bokεr

73.5

64.7

35.3

(תיב)

(Belly)

(Faucet)

(Morning)

   

ב

ןטב

זרב

רקוב

   

/vav/

vavim

varod

vilon

91.2

79.4

61.8

(וו)

(Hooks)

(Pink)

(Curtain)

   

ו

םיוו

דורו

ןוליו

   

/xεt/

xεtεf’

xεvεl’

xoSεx’

73.5

58.8

29.4

(תיח)

(Snatch)

(Rope)

(Darkness)

   

ח

ףטח

לבח

ךשוח

   

/jud/

judrax

jugaS

jiStε

82.4

76.5

5.9

(דוי)

(Will-be-guided)

(Will-be-served)

(Will drink)

   

דוי

ךרדוי

שגוי

התשי

   

/kaf/

kaftor

kartis

koxav

67.7

38.2

17.7

(ףכ)

(Button)

(Ticket)

(Star)

   

כ

רותפכ

סיטרכ

בכוכ

   

/mem/

mεmSala

mεdina

miSpaxa

91.2

70.6

44.1

(םמ)

(Government)

(State)

(Family)

   

מ

הלשממ

הנידמ

החפשמ

   

/kuf/

kufsa

kulmus

kotzim

73.5

26.5

20.6

(ףוק)

(Box)

(Pen)

(Thorns)

   

ק

הספוק

סומלוק

םיצוק

   

/rεS/

‘rεSεt

‘rεxεv

‘ra’al

79.4

61.8

47.1

(שיר)

(Net)

(Car)

(Poison)

   

ר

תשר

בכר

לער

   

/Sin/

Sinuj

Sikun

Sa’on

85.3

73.5

55.9

ןיש

(Change)

(Neighborhood)

(Watch)

   

ש

יוניש

ןוכיש

ןועש

   

/taf/

tafkid

targil

tinok

73.5

32.4

11.8

(ףת)

(Role)

(Exercise)

(Baby)

   

ת

דיקפת

ליגרת

קונית

   

Di-syllabic

/gimεl/

gimur

giSur

gozal

58.8

50.0

23.5

(למיג)

(Finish)

(Bridging)

(Chick)

   

ג

רומיג

רושיג

לזוג

   

/dalεt/

dalik

dagim

doker

70.6

38.2

26.5

(תלד)

(Flammable)

(Fish)

(Pricking)

   

ד

קילד

םיגד

רקוד

   

/zajn/

‘zajit

‘za’am

‘zεvεl

70.6

64.7

47.1

(ןיז)

(Olive)

(Rage)

(Trash)

   

ז

תיז

םעז

לבז

   

/lamεd/

‘lama

‘laka

‘lεxεm

76.5

61.8

41.2

(דמל)

(Why)

(Nail polish)

(Bread)

   

ל

המל

הכל

םחל

   

/samεx/

samal

salat

sipur

47.1

50.0

38.2

(ךמס)

(Sergeant)

(Salad)

(Story)

   

ס

למס

טלס

רופיס

   

/ajin/

ajir’

Ako’

ovεsh’

64.7

20.6

8.8

(ןיע)

(Donkey)

(Acre)

(Mold)

   

ע

ריע

וכע

שבוע

   

/tsazik/

tsadu

tsamu

tzemer

76.5

35.3

52.9

(קידצ)

(Hunted)

(Fasted)

(Wool)

   

צ

ודצ

ומצ

רמצ

   
  1. Note: All Hebrew words marked by ‘ at the beginning are stressed on the first syllable. Other words are stressed on the last syllable; stress had no significant effect on frequency of correct responses either as a main effect or in interaction with cue length. Hebrew words are spelled from right to left.

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Levin, I. (2010). The Role of Hebrew Letter Names in Early Literacy: The Case of Multi-phonemic Acrophonic Names. In: Aram, D., Korat, O. (eds) Literacy Development and Enhancement Across Orthographies and Cultures. Literacy Studies, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0834-6_5

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