Sight word
Encyclopedia
A sight word is any word that is known by a reader automatically. Sight words are the basis behind the whole-word approach to reading education
. Some have suggested that sight words and the whole-word approach to reading are a significant teaching technique considering 65% of the population identify themselves as visual learners . However, the majority of recent educational research suggests that phonetic based learning strategies are more effective for languages written with alphabets, such as English. Small children are also predominantly visual learners and can therefore learn to read more effectively using sight words and the whole-word approach, if their language has an ideographic or syllabic writing system, such as Japanese or Chinese. Scientific studies have also shown that children with learning difficulties such as Dyslexia, Autism or Down syndrome are also visual learners, and therefore also read words as pictures . In learning to read via the sight words, readers begin to understand that a word represents a 'thing'.
Sight words are pronounced without decoding the word's spelling. Effectively, an alphabetic writing system is made into an ideographic writing system. Unfortunately, speakers of ideographic languages have to spend a much longer time learning to read because of the sheer volume of symbols they must memorize.
A common first sight word is a child's given name. Beginning readers are at an advantage when they learn to read sight words that occur frequently in print such as those included on the Dolch and Fry word lists. However, it is possible to read a word on sight but not know the meaning of the word. For example, a child might be able to read on sight "there, their and they're" but not understand the differences in meaning. Thus learning words by sight only should not be seen as a complete reading solution.
In phonics
instruction, sight words refer to common words where one or more phoneme
s in the word has a unique spelling that cannot be sounded out using common phonics rules (for example: aunt, friend, and sieve). Reading researcher Diane McGuinness
estimates that there are approximately 100 common words in English which fit this description, and require specific word-level memorization
. This number is far less than the 220 sight words listed on the Dolch word list
.
Sight words are also words having very high frequency of usage particularly in early stage of learning to read. They become familiar due to very frequent occurring and are remembered through vivid memory and sound associated with them. This process can be better understood as NLP.
Reading education
Reading education is the process by which individuals are taught to derive meaning from text.Government-funded scientific research on reading and reading instruction began in the U.S. in the 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers began publishing findings based on converging evidence from...
. Some have suggested that sight words and the whole-word approach to reading are a significant teaching technique considering 65% of the population identify themselves as visual learners . However, the majority of recent educational research suggests that phonetic based learning strategies are more effective for languages written with alphabets, such as English. Small children are also predominantly visual learners and can therefore learn to read more effectively using sight words and the whole-word approach, if their language has an ideographic or syllabic writing system, such as Japanese or Chinese. Scientific studies have also shown that children with learning difficulties such as Dyslexia, Autism or Down syndrome are also visual learners, and therefore also read words as pictures . In learning to read via the sight words, readers begin to understand that a word represents a 'thing'.
Sight words are pronounced without decoding the word's spelling. Effectively, an alphabetic writing system is made into an ideographic writing system. Unfortunately, speakers of ideographic languages have to spend a much longer time learning to read because of the sheer volume of symbols they must memorize.
A common first sight word is a child's given name. Beginning readers are at an advantage when they learn to read sight words that occur frequently in print such as those included on the Dolch and Fry word lists. However, it is possible to read a word on sight but not know the meaning of the word. For example, a child might be able to read on sight "there, their and they're" but not understand the differences in meaning. Thus learning words by sight only should not be seen as a complete reading solution.
In phonics
Phonics
Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations...
instruction, sight words refer to common words where one or more phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s in the word has a unique spelling that cannot be sounded out using common phonics rules (for example: aunt, friend, and sieve). Reading researcher Diane McGuinness
Diane McGuinness
Diane McGuinness is a cognitive psychologist who has written extensively on sex differences, education, learning disabilities, and early reading instruction...
estimates that there are approximately 100 common words in English which fit this description, and require specific word-level memorization
Memorization
Memorization is the process of committing something to memory. The act of memorization is often a deliberate mental process undertaken in order to store in memory for later recall items such as experiences, names, appointments, addresses, telephone numbers, lists, stories, poems, pictures, maps,...
. This number is far less than the 220 sight words listed on the Dolch word list
Dolch word list
The Dolch Word List is a list of frequently used words compiled by Edward William Dolch, PhD. The list was prepared in 1936. The list was originally published in his book Problems in Reading in 1948. Under the copyright laws in effect during the time of publication, the Dolch word list is out of...
.
Sight words are also words having very high frequency of usage particularly in early stage of learning to read. They become familiar due to very frequent occurring and are remembered through vivid memory and sound associated with them. This process can be better understood as NLP.