For years, teachers have been teaching sight words through rote memorization. It has been assumed that sight words are a special set of words that need to be memorized. Often represented by beginning letters on a word wall, outlined to enhance their shape, or placed on flashcards, spelling words have been historically “taught” through visual memory exercises. 

These practices de-emphasize what we actually know about the English language and leave students dependent on strong visual memory skills, context clues, and illustrations.  Ultimately, they are powerless when faced with text reading and worse off for the spelling. 

Reading words by sight is an essential skill that should empower readers by increasing their fluency, reducing their reliance on laborious decoding efforts, and allowing for comprehension to take place. Some people might not realize that explicit phonics instruction gives our students that power and makes it possible for them to read and spell many of the words they will encounter. This is great news!   

To achieve fluent reading, students must recognize words effortlessly when reading text. So, every word that can be recognized accurately and automatically by the reader is, in fact, a “sight word.”  Words are typically selected for direct instruction if they cannot be completely sounded out (contain an unexpected feature), precede the student’s concept knowledge, or are reoccurring in text and identified as helpful for fluent reading and writing (high frequency). We refer to these words as “red words,” reminding students to “stop and think.” Every new word presents students with an opportunity to apply their linguistic knowledge, like a word detective who carefully examines the word, uses clues, and searches for answers.    

To build the sight word bank that is the cornerstone of fluent reading, we must identify orthographic mapping as a primary goal. Orthographic mapping is the process that allows readers to retrieve information about words from their long-term memory, making word recognition automatic. This is activated early when children are learning the articulatory features of phonemes. 

The skills that help students achieve this?

The big a-ha here?  Red word instruction is integrated into the weekly phonics lesson. In an IMSE lesson, we start each week with 2-5 new words and prepare students to approach each one with phonemic analysis first. Engaging prior knowledge of letter-sound correspondence while verbalizing sounds and representing their position within the word is a good start. In this step of red word instruction, the teacher asks the student “How many sounds do you hear in this word?” The student uses tokens to represent the sounds first, examining the possible grapheme(s) that represent each sound. Calling attention to the expected vs. unexpected graphemes with green or red markers helps to reinforce what the student already knows about the word while calling attention to the unexpected. 

As students practice and apply their decoding skills and learn new red words, their recognition of patterns, positions, and rules will boost their sight word reading. More great news, the spelling of morphemes is pretty consistent. Learning them adds another leg up on sight word reading (and expands vocabulary knowledge). Further analysis of the word’s etymology can lead to explanations about the origin of the word and changes in form, spelling, and meaning throughout history. 

“Set for variability” means that readers are able to trigger prior knowledge about decoding to determine the accurate pronunciation of a word. When students are given repeated opportunities to activate this flexible problem-solving strategy, they will be better prepared to attack unknown words. Set for variability is a strong predictor of word reading in Grades 2-5 and must be included in the word-learning process.

Most readers can commit a new word to memory after 1-4 exposures of accurate reading.  However, struggling readers will require repeated exposures (up to 20+) to be able to add a new word to their lexicon. So, targeted words must be practiced repeatedly throughout the week for both reading and spelling. Embed red word review into rapid word reading, sentence dictation, and multimodal activities for daily cumulative review. Select words that follow a spelling or pattern that is being targeted in phonics instruction, such as VC, CVC, or words that share similar spelling patterns or target concepts to promote mapping. 

Examples:

When we are teaching red words, we need to think beyond the steps of instruction and the scripted lesson. Both of these are essential, but there is more to think about if we want our instructional practices to be highly effective.  Here are some things to be mindful of while you are teaching red words.

Preserve Fidelity

As professional educators, we must provide our students with the best learning opportunities. We are passionate about teaching and enthusiastically participate in professional development to stay abreast of cutting-edge information and to learn from experts in the literary world. However, it is not enough to receive some new materials and a certificate of attendance. We need to ensure that our instruction and intervention are implemented with fidelity.  Evidence-based practice is developed from extensive research that has led to the selection of instructional steps that have proven their effectiveness over time. Simply put, instructional fidelity yields higher effects.  

Explain the Process

The steps in the red word instructional process are intentional. They allow for the exploration of spelling to lead to the explanation of spelling. Built into the process are steps that activate the student’s linguistic knowledge about sounds, sound-symbol correspondence, letters (patterns, constraints, positions), morphology, and etymology.  The instructional process ends with further examination of the usage and function of the target word within a sentence. It becomes a language lesson, rather than simply a spelling lesson.  Gaining a deeper understanding of words through a multilinguistic approach like this will boost the student’s lasting memory about spelling.   

Let your students in on a little secret … red words are just words. Students’ knowledge of phoneme-grapheme correspondences can support the spelling of 50% of words.  Approximately 36% of words only have one unexpected spelling, while only 4% are considered truly “irregular” (Joshi et al., 2009).  That is empowering information for students. It also boosts their motivation to stay engaged during red-word learning. There are so many things that we can help our students uncover when we understand the layers of our language.     

A good teacher is a good learner. It is important to recognize our awareness as a critical asset to student learning. The more we know as educators about the English language, the more we can teach our students about the English language. Enhancing our knowledge and awareness will equip us to respond more intuitively to student errors.  

Promote errorless learning

After new red words have been introduced, it will be essential for students to have ample practice and exposure to both new and previously learned words. There are an endless number of ideas swirling around the internet for activities that promote the review of red words, but … not all activities are equal in their effectiveness.  

Every step matters

What we do matters. Teaching with fidelity means that the instructional steps in the red-word learning process are not compromised or eliminated. How we do it matters.  Although it may seem like a lot of steps, each one activates visual processing, vocalizing, and muscle memory to boost recall. Spelling aloud while writing the letters can make a lasting imprint on the brain. Chunking the letters in longer words and using a “chant with the chunks” approach to spelling practice can make the spelling more memorable while respecting the brain’s digit span capacity. IMSE’s systematic and sequential red-word learning steps are derived from the instruction based on the science of reading and provide a routine that, when implemented explicitly, enhances consistency and generalization.      

Make it interesting

Learning about our language can be so much fun! As educators, our literacy knowledge bank should continually grow. Know as much as you can, and recognize that it is alright to not know everything. When we uncover new information during the word exploration process together, students can observe our own metacognition in real time. Fostering students’ metacognitive strategies can promote their independent use of word-attack and word-analysis strategies in the future. This form of active engagement can ignite critical thinking and boost long-term memory. We are educators, and let’s face it, there is nothing better than standing witness as your students build connections between prior knowledge and new information to enhance their understanding.

The gift that we give our students is the linguistic insight that is essential to learn to read.  Maryann Wolf’s acronym, POSSM, is a reminder that the best instruction integrates phonology, orthography, semantics, syntax, and morphology (Wolf, 2010). As educators, we must make a conscious effort to overlap these domains wherever possible to ensure that students are well-equipped for reading.  

IMSE’s professional training and supplemental resources can empower a teacher, a team, a school, or a district to give their students a powerful learning advantage. The skills that students learn are not isolated. They generalize to the students’ overall reading achievement. After all, learning to spell is more about knowledge and awareness than it is about memory.  


About the Author

Dr. Kirstina Ordetx is a Level 4 Master Instructor with The Institute for Multi-Sensory Education (IMSE). She holds a doctorate in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in pediatric neurology.  Dr. Ordetx is an educational specialist with over 25 years of clinical experience, research, and consultation. She is a certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Interventionist through the Center for Effective Reading Instruction, a Certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultant, Executive Functions Coach, and a registered Licensed Mental Health Intern. Dr. Ordetx has published two books that compile her research and practice in Theory of Mind.  She has served on accreditation committees for the Florida Council of Independent Schools, is a university adjunct professor in developmental and child psychology, and presents at various national and international conferences. Dr. Ordetx is head of school for a private academy in Lakewood Ranch, Florida specializing in the multi-sensory education of students who have language and learning-based differences. She is the Executive Director of the Pinnacle Pediatric Therapy Group, a multi-disciplinary, pediatric therapy clinic.

 

Joshi, R. M., Treiman, R., Carreker, S., & Moats, L. C. (2009). How words cast their spell. American Educator, 32(4), 6-43.

Wolf, M. (2010). Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. Icon Books.

 


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