Learning to Read Words: Theory, Findings, and Issues

TLDR

Reading words can occur via decoding, analogizing, or predicting, but with practice all words are read automatically by sight, a process that relies on grapheme‑phoneme connections, phonemic awareness, and alphabetic knowledge and unfolds through four developmental phases applicable to both transparent and opaque writing systems. Sight‑word learning is achieved by forming grapheme‑phoneme connections that link spellings to pronunciations and meanings, a process supported by phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge, and it progresses through pre‑alphabetic, partial, full, and consolidated phases. Recent studies indicate that alphabetic knowledge improves children’s.

Abstract

Reading words may take several forms. Readers may utilize decoding, analogizing, or predicting to read unfamiliar words. Readers read familiar words by accessing them in memory, called sight word reading. With practice, all words come to be read automatically by sight, which is the most efficient, unobtrusive way to read words in text. The process of learning sight words involves forming connections between graphemes and phonemes to bond spellings of the words to their pronunciations and meanings in memory. The process is enabled by phonemic awareness and by knowledge of the alphabetic system, which functions as a powerful mnemonic to secure spellings in memory. Recent studies show that alphabetic knowledge enhances children's learning of new vocabulary words, and it influences their memory for doubled letters in words. Four phases characterize the course of development of sight word learning. The phases are distinguished according to the type of alphabetic knowledge used to form connections: pre-alphabetic, partial, full, and consolidated alphabetic phases. These processes appear to portray sight word learning in transparent as well as opaque writing systems.