Beyond Phonics: Why Orthographic Mapping is the Missing Link

Two Paths to Fluency: How Our Brains Learn to Read

Your brain uses two different systems in tandem to read successfully. While these two systems operate differently, they support one another to create seamless fluency. If one system struggles to identify a word, the other is designed to step in and pick up the slack.

According to cognitive neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene’s extensive research in Reading in the Brain, both of these reading networks are located primarily in the brain's left hemisphere, but they process information in fundamentally different ways.

1. The "Sounding Out" System (The Phonological Route)

The first network is what we call the "sounding out" system. Located in the left temporo-parietal region of the brain, this system focuses on processing information in a strict linear order—specifically, the sequences of letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes) in a word.

When you encounter a word, this system identifies it by decoding the letters from left to right, translating them into sounds, and blending those sounds together. For experienced readers, the brain does this unconsciously and at lightning speed.

I like to test this out on my colleagues just to show off how wild the human brain is. Recently, I handed a fellow Learning Coach a slip of paper and said, "Read this out loud for me, I'm going to time you."

"When the prehensive flarmentation of the blam is over-quantified, the resulting sniggle can be highly plobblesome."

They read the entire thing flawlessly in about four seconds. They didn't stumble or hesitate once.

"You read that perfectly," I said. "Now, what are you picturing for a 'splanful brip'?"

They laughed. "I have absolutely no idea!"

That is the magic of the sounding out system. Their brain saw the sequence of letters, instinctively applied the rules of English phonics, and blended the sounds together so fast that they read nonsense just as fluently as standard English.

This "sounding out" system is essential for reading novel words you've never encountered before. However, it requires significant cognitive energy and is weak against words that aren't spelled the way they sound (like yacht or choir). For those, our brains rely on the second system.

2. The "Picture-Word" System (The Lexical Route)

The second network operates in the left occipito-temporal region, an area of the brain Dehaene calls the "brain's letterbox" (or the Visual Word Form Area). Unlike the sounding out system, which works letter-by-letter, this area processes information spatially. It instantly recognizes highly familiar written words or word-parts (morphemes) as a whole, rapidly retrieving the associated sound and meaning from your memory. Because it bypasses the step-by-step decoding process, it is vastly faster than the sounding out system. As a reader gains experience, they rely more and more on this instant recognition to read smoothly.

For languages with morphosyllabic writing systems, like Chinese, readers rely heavily on this system. Because Chinese characters represent units of meaning rather than individual phonemes, fluent readers must permanently map thousands of unique visual symbols to achieve fluency.

The Bridge: Orthographic Mapping & Concept Imagery

So, how does a word move from being a mystery we have to "sound out" to a familiar word stored for instant recall?

A common misconception is that we memorize the written words themselves as visual pictures or overall shapes. Science tells us otherwise. Instead, the bridge between these two systems is a mental process called Orthographic Mapping.

Orthographic Mapping is the process of bonding the spelling of a word (the letters) to its pronunciation (the sounds). But to truly master a word, there is a crucial third piece: meaning.

This is where concept imagery comes into play. We don't memorize the spelling of a word as a picture, but we do need to create a mental picture of the idea. Concept imagery complements the bonding of letters and sounds by forming a vibrant mental visual picture for the concept. For example, when you accurately sound out the word "hound," your brain links the letters H-O-U-N-D to the sounds /h/-/ou/-/n/-/d/, and concept imagery simultaneously summons a mental picture of a floppy-eared dog.

When a child accurately decodes a new word and connects it to a strong concept image, their brain consciously links those specific letters, sounds, and meanings together. Once that three-way bond is formed, the word is permanently mapped into the "brain's letterbox." From that point on, the symbol imagery system takes over for instant recognition!

The Dyslexic Brain and the Power of Eardley Education's Methods

What I have seen in my hundreds of hours working with dyslexic students is that, more often than not, the symbol imagery system ends up carrying water for an underdeveloped sounding out system.

This underdevelopment isn't due to a lack of effort. Rather, the very nature of dyslexia interferes with the brain's phonological processing. Dyslexic readers often have a notoriously difficult time isolating and remembering the individual sounds (phonemes) of a word in linear order.

Because their sounding out system is fed confused information, orthographic mapping cannot happen. The bridge is out. Without accurate decoding, they also struggle to trigger the accurate concept imagery, which severely impacts reading comprehension. Instead of securely mapping words into their memory via letter-sound-meaning bonds, these students are forced to rely entirely on exhausting, inaccurate guessing based on a word's shape or the sentence's context.

This is exactly why Eardley Education's structured literacy programs are so vital. We do not leave the reading process to chance. Our approach to reading fluency instruction explicitly and systematically targets the sounding out system, breaking down language into manageable, sequential steps. By building strong phonemic awareness, explicitly teaching the rules of decoding, and fostering robust concept imagery, we repair the foundation of the sounding out system.

Once a student can accurately and confidently decode, visualize symbols, and visualize meaning, the bridge is complete. They can finally use orthographic mapping to store those words permanently—transforming stressful guessing into true, lasting reading fluency and deep comprehension.

Is your child stuck on "sounding out"?
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