Bidirectional Word Mapping Training for Educators and SALTS

Adults receive as much explicit instruction as THEY need. They don't need to be experts in linguistics or morphology to ensure that every child receives the explicit instruction the DfE expects teachers to provide, including being shown how the phonemes in spoken words correspond to the graphemes in written words for reading and spelling.
 

In reading, pupils are taught to decode by identifying graphemes in written words from left to right, saying the corresponding phonemes, and blending those phonemes to say the whole word (Department for Education, 2023, p. 47).

In spelling, pupils are taught to say a word clearly, segment it into phonemes, and select graphemes to represent each phoneme in writing (Department for Education, Writing Framework, 2025, p. 41). Statutory spelling guidance further states that teachers should draw pupils’ attention to grapheme–phoneme correspondences that both do and do not fit with what has been taught so far (Department for Education, Spelling Framework, p. 75).

The DfE expects teachers to extend programmes and apply phonics to all words, in all year groups, so that children continue to learn correspondences that have not yet been taught. So there is a clear gap between what synthetic phonics programmes teach and the code knowledge needed to read and spell words in KS1 and KS2, let alone KS3 and KS4. To learn the whole alphabetic code children need to transition into the self-teaching phase quickly and easily in KS1 and read for pleasure. 

Self-teaching occurs when learners use their existing grapheme–phoneme knowledge to decode unfamiliar written words independently. Each successful decoding experience provides an opportunity to bond the word's spelling, pronunciation and meaning in long-term memory through orthographic mapping, making future recognition increasingly automatic.

The goal of explicit instruction is therefore to equip learners with the knowledge and skills they need to become self-teaching, reducing their dependence on adult support for reading and spelling.

The missing link to improved literacy for all has been teacher knowledge and access to Show the Code tools. Adults need to be able to show learners how the phonemes and graphemes correspond in every word, and teach them to use the 60-Second Spelling Routine to bond the spelling, pronunciation and meaning in the orthographic lexicon. The goal is for learners to become self-teaching, recognising words automatically when reading and spelling them correctly without relying on adult support.

By giving teachers what THEY need to support decoding and encoding at the point of need, for ALL words, regardless of their morphological structure or the child's accent, we can bridge the learning gap. 

Furthermore, this system can be used by ALL educators, as the bidirectional word mapping technology does the technical work for them. Teachers develop their own word mapping knowledge simply by using the technology, without needing further explicit instruction themselves after the initial training. 

Emma Hartnell-Baker MEd SEN
Advocate for Self-Paced Orthographic Learning (SPOL) with MyWordz® Bidirectional Word Mapping Technology
WordMappingFormula.com