Sound Walls vs. Word Walls: Which One Supports Reading Development?

Walk into most primary classrooms and you’ll see the familiar sight: an alphabetically organized word wall with sight words taped up under each letter.

But a growing number of teachers are swapping those word walls for something called a sound wall—a tool that aligns much more closely with how children learn to read and spell.

In this post, we’ll break down:

• What a sound wall is

• How it differs from a traditional word wall

• Why sound walls better support beginning readers

• Practical tips for using sound walls effectively

What Is a Word Wall?

A traditional word wall is a bulletin board with high-frequency or thematic words organized by first letter under headings A–Z. For example:

• Under B: but, big, blue

• Under T: the, they, this

Word walls are common in early literacy classrooms, especially in Balanced Literacy settings. The idea is that students will use them as a reference to read and write familiar words.

But here's the issue: word walls are based on how words look—not how they sound.

That doesn’t help students connect speech to print, which is how skilled reading actually develops.

What Is a Sound Wall?

A sound wall is organized by phonemes (speech sounds), not letters. It shows all the sounds in spoken English and maps them to the different graphemes (spellings) that represent them.

There are two main parts:

1. Consonant Sound Wall – arranged by place and manner of articulation (how and where the sound is made in the mouth)

2. Vowel Valley – a visual representation of the vowel sounds, ordered by tongue position in the mouth

Each sound is paired with:

• A picture of a mouth showing how to form the sound

• Common graphemes (spellings) that represent that sound

• Optional example words (once the grapheme is introduced)
  
  Why Sound Walls Support Reading Development

  Here’s why more classrooms are making the switch to sound walls:

  ✅ They align with how kids learn language

  Children learn to speak long before they read. Sound walls tap into that natural development by starting with speech sounds, not abstract letter names.

  ✅ They build phonemic awareness

  By focusing on sounds first, sound walls strengthen the core skill behind decoding, spelling, and word recognition.

  ✅ They support orthographic mapping

  Students learn to link phonemes to graphemes, which is exactly how words are stored in long-term memory for fluent reading.

  ✅ They’re especially helpful for struggling readers

  Students who struggle with traditional reading instruction benefit from explicit speech-to-print instruction, which is exactly what a sound wall supports.

  Tips for Using a Sound Wall in the Classroom

  1. Introduce sounds gradually
     Only add a sound to the wall after it’s been explicitly taught in your phonics scope and sequence.

  2. Use mouth visuals and mirrors
     Help students become aware of how their mouth moves. This supports articulation and phoneme identification.

  3. Model how to use it
     Students need to be shown how to reference the wall when reading or writing. Use prompts like:

     • “What sound do you hear at the beginning of ‘ship’?”

     • “Let’s find that sound on the wall.”

  4. Keep it interactive
     Add graphemes, example words, and student name cards as you go. Let students help build the wall over time.

  5. Pair it with daily phonemic awareness routines
     Sound walls are most powerful when used alongside oral practice like blending, segmenting, and manipulating sounds.

  Final Thoughts

  Word walls may be familiar—but they don’t reflect how the brain learns to read.

  Sound walls, on the other hand, are rooted in the Science of Reading. They give students the tools to connect speech to print, which is the foundation of decoding, spelling, and fluent reading.

  If you’re ready to rethink your classroom environment, start with how you display and teach sounds. The wall you choose can make a lasting impact.