Word mapping is the process of making the structure of a word visible by linking speech sounds and print in both directions. In reading, the child matches each grapheme in a word to the phoneme it represents. In spelling, the child listens to the word, identifies each phoneme in order, and selects a grapheme to represent every one of those phonemes. In both cases, the goal is the same: no sounds are missed or blurred. Accurate reading and spelling depend on every phoneme being represented by a grapheme so the word can be stored securely in memory and recognised or produced automatically in future.

This principle aligns with the Reading Framework, which defines a grapheme as a letter or group of letters that usually represents a single phoneme, and explains that the number of graphemes in a word usually corresponds to the number of phonemes, hence the term grapheme–phoneme correspondence (DfE, 2023, p. 34).

The Framework also notes that, in a small number of cases, one grapheme can represent two phonemes, such as the letter u in uniform, which represents /j/ and /u:/. Within the Spelling Framework (DfE, 2013), and referenced again in the Reading Framework (DfE, 2023, p. 47), phonics is described as continuing to play an important role in spelling beyond Key Stage 1, with teachers expected to draw pupils’ attention to grapheme–phoneme correspondences that do and do not fit with what has been taught so far. Word mapping supports this expectation by making phoneme–grapheme relationships explicit in both reading and spelling, and by giving learners a reliable way to work with any word they meet.

Children who proficiently map words are able to identify word mapping errors in phonics materials!