Six Tips to Help Educators Support Young Readers

Key points:

In school, many kindergarten and first grade students are asked to memorize lists of common words, sometimes called “sight words.” This practice skips important steps. The idea that children learn to read by memorizing whole words is a mistake. Studies show that Teach students individual letter-sound correspondences and have them sound out words. it is more effective.

Definition of sight words

In research, a sight word is not simply one of several on a list of high-frequency words. It is any instantly recognizable word. We now know that students learn to read by assigning individual sounds to letters that represent them. The more opportunities students have to practice decoding and spelling words, the more meaning these letter-sound correspondences will make to them. Once a word can be recognized in a quarter of a second, reading scientists call it a sight word: a word that can be read as if by sight.

The problem of emphasizing whole words

Some children's books used to teach reading use repetition. For example, a book might say: “I see the police officer. I see the firefighter. I see the postman.” Repetitive books are designed based on the outdated notion that students learn to read by memorizing whole words rather than pronouncing them based on phonics skills. Prioritizing high-frequency words can lead students to believe that reading is a practice in which they must memorize words rather than use their phonetic knowledge to pronounce them. This approach to reading instruction inadvertently teaches students the habits of poor readers, leading to an overreliance on guessing words based on the context of the first letter, picture, or sentence.

Learn to read irregular words.
Even irregular words have parts that can be assigned to sounds. Take the high-frequency word “said” as an example. In this word, the letter “s” spells the /s/ sound and the letter “d” spells the /d/ sound. The only part of the word that students need to learn are the middle two letters, “ai,” which make the /e/ sound.

When teachers draw attention to the parts of the word rather than presenting the word as a whole, it can help students better understand reading. This approach allows students to see the parts of the word they know and the parts they don't. Students can memorize the part of the word that is irregular based on the phonetic patterns they have learned. Some teachers call them “heart words” because students memorize the irregular part of the word. When students use their phonics knowledge to decode unfamiliar words, they will encounter words with irregularly spelled parts.

Teachers and administrators can support young readers in a variety of ways.

3 tips for teachers to support young readers

1. Provide opportunities for students to practice flexible decoding strategies with irregularly spelled words. Start by teaching them to ask questions that help them build on what they already know: “I said this word but it doesn't make sense. What word do I know that sounds similar to that word? Does it make sense in this context? Does it make sense with these letters and sounds I know? Investigation suggests encouraging students to use a flexible decoding strategy after ringing Discovering the word using their phonetic knowledge will help them solve problems while reading. It can also help them acquire new phonetic knowledge.
2. Use decodable texts that align with the scope and phonetic sequence of your curriculum. Buyer Beware: Many companies market books as “decodable,” but without aligning with the scope and phonetic sequence of your curriculum, the text is unlikely to be decodable for your students.
3. Browse lists of high frequency words and determine which words are phonetically regular (“can”, “his”, “me”) and which have irregular parts (“said”, “there”, “would”). Use this information to plan your phonics and fluency instruction.

3 tips for administrators to support teachers and students

Administrators can also play a role in helping to support literacy. Based on my experience, below are three tips for administrators to support students and teachers.

1. Provide classrooms with appropriate materials for phonics.including a wide range of decodable texts that specifically align with your school's phonic scope and sequence.
2. Don't create goals that include a set number of sight words to reach before the end of the year. Instead, measure student progress with brief, predictive measures, including assessments of foundational skills such as word recognition fluency in kindergarten or oral reading fluency in first grade.
3. Support teachers with time. for professional learning. Teachers need enough time to gather resources to instruction planlearn new professional practices, collaborate with colleagues, and reflect on your learning and growth.

To help students become truly fluent readers, we must consider how we teach reading. Instead of focusing on memorization, we should provide strong foundational skills that students can use to understand how to pronounce words. By helping students understand letter-sound correspondences, pointing out parts of words that are irregular, and encouraging flexible decoding strategies, we can help them build a solid foundation for learning to read and spell.