Which cue system focuses on the relationships between letters and sounds?

The graphophonic cue system is centered on the connections between letters and their corresponding sounds. This system plays a crucial role in understanding how written language translates to spoken language, emphasizing the alphabetic principle. In essence, it encompasses phonics, where learners associate specific letters or groups of letters with the sounds they represent, enabling them to decode words while reading.

For instance, when students learn that the letter "b" represents the sound /b/ or that the combination "th" can represent the sounds /θ/ (as in "think") or /ð/ (as in "this"), they engage with the graphophonic system. This foundation is vital for developing reading skills, as it aids learners in phonetic decoding, thus allowing them to interpret new words that they encounter.

In contrast, the other cue systems like syntactic (pertaining to the structure and grammar of sentences), semantic (focused on meaning), and phonological (concerning the sounds of spoken language in a broader sense) do not directly emphasize the relationships between individual letters and sounds, which is why they are not the focus in this context.