In this method of teaching reading, letters or combinations of letters are associated with speech sounds
... We have known that it 
is the speech sound to letter/ letters that matter for teaching reading ... or so 
speech sounds (the 200 ways are combinations of the 26 letters) but it ... 'The 
NRP (National Reading Panel) charged to identify instructional methods... [DOC] [TLE] A Glossary of Phonics Terms [PAR] symbols (letters of the alphabet or graphemes) represent speech sounds (
phonemes) which can be combined into ... represented by many different letters 
or combinations of letters.