Phonological Awareness: Focus on Alliteration
By: Lynn Brown, M.Ed.
Summer Literacy Pass_Week 6_ Phonological Awareness Focus on Alliteration
How initial sound play prepares the brain for decoding
In last week’s article, we explored rhyme as one of the earliest phonological awareness skills—a doorway to sound pattern recognition. This week, we shift our focus to alliteration, a skill that’s both entertaining and essential.
Alliteration is more than just tongue-twisters or silly story starters. It’s the ability to recognize and generate words that begin with the same initial sound. This playful sound awareness is a powerful bridge from broad phonological skills to the more precise level of phonemic awareness—especially phoneme isolation.
And it just might be one of the most underestimated early reading tools we have.
What Is Alliteration?
Alliteration refers to the repetition of initial sounds in a group of words:
Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Silly snakes slither south silently.
To identify alliteration, children must be able to attend to and match initial sounds, not just word meanings or beginning letters. This requires careful listening—and it builds the foundation for phoneme isolation, which in turn supports letter-sound matching and early decoding.
Alliteration and the Simple View of Reading
The Simple View of Reading reminds us that:
Decoding × Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension
Alliteration strengthens the decoding side of that equation by building students’ sensitivity to initial phonemes—the smallest units of sound at the beginning of a word.
Before a child can match b to the /b/ sound in bat, they need to hear that /b/ is what makes bat, ball, and bug go together.
Alliteration helps children:
Notice and name beginning sounds
Build readiness for letter-sound correspondence
Develop the listening precision required for phoneme isolation and segmentation
It also gives teachers and families a playful way to practice sound awareness before formal decoding instruction begins.
Developmental Milestones: What Alliteration Awareness Looks Like
Age
Milestone
Age 3–4
Laughs at or enjoys silly sound play; may recognize repetition in familiar phrases (e.g., “Mommy makes muffins”).
Age 4–5
Begins to recognize when two words start with the same sound (e.g., dog and door) and answer yes/no questions like “Do cat and car start the same?”
Age 5–6
Can identify and generate words that begin with the same sound; plays with beginning sound substitution in word games.
Age 6+
Isolates initial sounds independently and begins matching sounds to letters consistently. Can create their own alliterative sentences or sort pictures by sound.
Note: If a child can’t hear when two words start with the same sound, they may struggle to connect letters to sounds—an essential decoding skill. That makes alliteration both a learning goal and a diagnostic clue.
Why Alliteration Supports Decoding
Alliteration helps the brain focus on initial phonemes, the first sound a student needs to identify in a word to begin decoding. In order to map words to memory, students must be able to hear the sounds, then link them to letters.
Alliteration strengthens:
Auditory attention to initial sounds
Phoneme identification skills
The bridge from oral language to print awareness
In fact, alliteration can be thought of as the “first gear” in the system that drives phoneme awareness and decoding. Without this gear turning smoothly, students may memorize whole words but struggle to decode new ones—because they aren’t attuned to the sound structure beneath the word.
Educator Insight
Alliteration is a quick and powerful way to build initial sound awareness—even in just a few minutes a day.
Try using Sound Talk Routines in your small groups:
Teacher says: “I’m thinking of a word that starts like ‘snake.’ It’s something you wear on your feet.”
Students guess: “Socks!”
Or play “Name That Sound”:
Show 3 pictures: sun, shoe, cat
Ask: “Which two begin the same?”
This type of activity builds the foundation for phoneme isolation—without the pressure of reading print.
Parent Power Move
Turn everyday moments into sound games! While driving, making lunch, or walking outside, pick a letter sound and take turns naming things that start with it.
Try:
🗣 “Let’s name things that start with /b/. I’ll go first: banana.”
🚗 “What’s in the car that starts with /s/?” → seatbelt, steering wheel, snacks
Encourage playful nonsense words too! Silly Sammy sipped a slippy snack may not make sense—but it strengthens sound awareness. Don’t worry about spelling—just focus on sound.
In Summary
Alliteration may sound like just a fun language game—but it plays a crucial role in helping children build the listening skills necessary for decoding. When students can isolate and attend to beginning sounds, they’re one step closer to matching letters to those sounds and reading with confidence.
Don’t skip the silly stuff. Alliteration might just be the spark that lights the path from sound to print.
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