The Word Mapping Formula
Learn the Mathematical Formula for Mapping Words Bidirectionally
The Word Mapping Standard
Our position is that a clear word-mapping formula and standard are needed so that phonemes and graphemes are identified consistently. Without one,programmes and technologies may map the same word differently, leaving teachers and children without clear, reliable information about how the alphabetic code works.
The Reading Framework explains “why teachers themselves also need to understand the alphabetic code: evidence supports the key role of phonic knowledge and skills in early reading and spelling” (Department for Education, 2023, p. 5).
Teachers identify the phonemes in a spoken word.
Teachers identify the graphemes that represent those phonemes.
They can then guide children in both directions:
Speech to print: Identify phonemes and select graphemes.
Print to speech: Identify graphemes and give their phoneme values.
Our suggestion that teachers be offered more support aligns with the DfE’s expectations, yet even the DfE’s guidance can send conflicting messages.
Is a Word Mapping Standard required? How would you map the word dinosaur?
How are you calculating the phonemes and graphemes? Is there a clear word-mapping formula being used in your school? If not, should we not be talking about this? After all, the DfE expects this to happen throughout the day, for any word, and in any grade.
The DfE may not consistently use the phrase bidirectional word mapping, but explains that it requires these processes.
PRINT → SPEECH
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, England, 2023, p. 47).
That requires teachers to know:
Which letters form the graphemes?
How many graphemes?
Which phoneme value does each represent?
SPEECH → PRINT
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, England, Writing Framework, 2025, p. 41).
That requires teachers to know:
Which phonemes?
How many phonemes?
Which graphemes represent them?
What formula is being used, to calculate the code?
“If teachers are expected to map words for reading and spelling throughout the day and across all year groups, shouldn’t they be taught the formula? Is there a Word Mapping Standard for calculating how the alphabetic code maps each word?
Without a Word Mapping Standard, the same word may be mapped differently by teachers, programmes, assessment tools and technologies. Teachers cannot be taught, tested or supported against a shared standard, and children may receive inconsistent or inaccurate information about how the alphabetic code works. There is also no reliable basis for deciding which mapping is correct.
In my experience, teachers think it is unfair to ask them to do something without making the HOW clear.
So, naturally, I want to make the HOW clear.”
Emma Hartnell-Baker MEd SEN