Learning ‘Sight Words’

Firstly and most importantly, we need to define the term ‘sight words’. The term ‘sight words’ is frequently confused with ‘high frequency words’. High frequency words are the words which most commonly occur in print (e.g, was, here, they). A sight word is one that can be rapidly and automatically recognised. Competent adult readers have hundreds of ‘sight words’ that they can instantly recognise. Therefore, it is not surprising that reading competency is directly correlated with the number of words you can automatically and rapidly recognise.

It is commonly believed that ‘sight words’ (i.e., high frequency words) cannot be decoded (i.e., they can not be sounded out) and therefore they have to be learned as a single unit based on the shape or the visual appearance of the word. However, every word is decodable. It is just that children may not have the particular phonic knowledge needed in order to independently decode a particular word at that point in time. In addition, a large majority of the high frequency words can be decoded with a fairly basic phonic knowledge.

Just have a quick look at the 30 most frequently used words (the, be, to, of, and, a, in, that, have, I, it, for, not, on, with, he, as, you, do, at, this, but, his, by, from, they, we, say, her, she, or).

• 8 of these can be decoded just with a basic knowledge of the common sounds represented by each letter of the alphabet (and, in, it, not, on, at, but, from)
• 14  of these can be decoded with a knowledge of the most common digraphs (th, sh, ay, er, or), an understanding that vowels can be read as a short vowel sound or a long vowel sound and some basic spelling rules (no word in English ends with ‘v’ so add a silent ‘e’ and every word/syllable needs a vowel which is why there is an unpronounced ‘e’ in the). This knowledge enables the decoding of the following words – the, be, that, have, I, for, with, he, this, we, say, her, she, or.
• With the additional knowledge that ‘s’ can also represent /z/ and ‘a’ can also represent /u/, 3 more words can be decoded – a, as, his.

In many classrooms, beginner readers are given a list of these frequently occurring words and parents are instructed to drill their child on these words in order to achieve automaticity. This means that children are relying solely on the visual appearance of the word, which is the most basic level of literacy acquisition (see Frith’s literacy acquisition model).  As Yoncheva, Wise & McCandliss’s (2015) research demonstrates, when this is the methodology used to teach reading, students learn to read only those words. In contrast, when students are taught how to decode the words, this knowledge can be applied to other words using similar phonic combinations that the child has never seen before.

In addition, children given these lists of words are rarely systematically exposed to these words in context. Yet, Flanigan’s (2007) research shows that until children have a firm concept of words in text, they will be unlikely to remember the words in isolation.

Yes, as a part of the learn to read process, it is important that children can automatically and rapidly recall a large number of words and in particular the most frequently occurring words.  However, for this to occur effectively requires multiple exposure to the words in context and in word study activities (including systematic and explicit instruction in phonics and phonological awareness) as well as in isolation (Johnston, Invernizzi, Helman, Bear, & Templeton, 2015).

So, what do you do if your child’s teacher sends home a list of ‘sight words’?

1. The most important step of all is that you should teach your child to decode the words by first sounding them out and then blending together. If the word contains graphemes (letter or letter combinations) your child has not yet learned, then tell your child this information. For example, if your child is learning the word ‘said’ you could discuss that the sounds in said are /s/-/e/-/d/ and that the /e/ sound is made by the letters ‘a’ and ‘i’ together.

2. Cut up light weight card into 15cm x 6cm pieces. Take the first 10 words and write one word on each card. Take another 10 cards and write the same words again so that you have two of each card. Now you can use the cards to play games like fish and concentration as well as helping your child make up sentences to read using the words. Click here for some more strategies. Once your child can automatically recall a particular word, take out the two cards with that word and replace with the next word on the list.

3. If a word can’t be automatically recognised, help your child decode it again.

4. Find some picture books. Go through the book and highlight all the words that your child is currently learning to read. As you read through the book together, when you get to a word your child is currently learning or has previously learned, you can stop and see if your child can automatically recall the word. Alternatively, use a decodable reading series such as the Cracking the ABC Code Learn to Read series which systematically uses these high frequency words.

5. Take two words each night and help your child learn to spell the word by first breaking the word into the individual sounds and then working out which letters or letter combinations are representing those sounds. See the Cracking the ABC Code Spelling Video for ideas.

References

Flanigan, K. (2007). A Concept of Word in Text: A Pivotal Event in Early Reading Acquisition. Journal of Literacy Research, 39(1), 37-70.

Johnston, F., Invernizzi, M., Helman, L., Bear, D.R., & Templeton, S. (2015). Words Their Way for Prek-K. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Yoncheva, Y., Wise, J.,  & McCandliss, B. (2015). Hemispheric specialization for visual words is shaped by attention to sublexical units during initial learning, Brain and Language, 145–146 (23-33).