alphabetics

Noun

alphabetics (uncountable)

1. (dated) The science of representing spoken sounds by letters.
   • As the English race has sinned most in the matter of bad spelling and an incomplete alphabet, so it ought to take the lead in restoring the science of alphabetics to a form which shall be perfectly and completely phonographic.1870 October, C. E. Aprague, “Visible Speech”, in The American Educational Monthly, volume 7, page 413
   • The examinations of living Indian pronunciation (pp. 1136-1140), though merely elementary, together with the account of ancient Indian alphabetics as collected, through Prof. Whitney's translation, from the Atharva Veda Prâtiçâkhya (pp. 1336-1338), may also prove of use in Aryan philology.1874, Alexander John Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation, page 992
2. The study of the alphabet, the sounds associated with each letter, and the construction of written words.
   • Almost all of the studies with results related to alphabetics were conducted with adult non-readers or beginning readers and none compared the effects of alphabetics instruction across reading levels.2002, John Kruidenier, Research-based Principles for Adult Basic Education Reading Instruction, page 48
   • Direct and explicit instruction in alphabetics involves systematically teaching students how to manipulate the sounds in words, develop their knowledge of letter-sound relationships, and apply this knowledge to reading words.2012, Barbara H. Wasik, Handbook of Family Literacy, page 187