Transcript Cara McCartney - Emerson Alternative High School

Chapter 7
Irregular Word Reading
CARA MCCARTNEY
IRREGULAR WORDS
An irregular word
contains one or more
sound/spelling
correspondences that a
student does not know
and therefore cannot
use to decode the word.
Students must learn to
identify these words as
wholes, or automatically
by sight.

TWO TYPES OF IRREGULAR WORDS
Permanently
Irregular
One or more
sound/spellings in the
word are unique to that
word or a few words and
therefore are never
introduced.

Temporarily
Irregular
One or more
sound/spellings in the
word have not yet been
introduced.

OUT OF A LIST OF 100 HIGH-FREQUENCY
WORDS, ALMOST 25% ARE PERMANENTLY
IRREGULAR, BUT ARE CRUCIAL FOR
COMPREHENSION.
TEACHING IRREGULAR WORD READING




Instruction should focus students’ attention on all the
letters in a word.
Students must have ample time to practice words in
order for them to have automatic recognition of
irregular words.
Previously taught words should be practiced and then
cumulatively reviewed on a daily basis.
Students need repeated exposure to these words to
increase probability of their automatic identification
by sight and gives students opportunities to recognize
them in isolation and in context.
TWO FACTORS THAT DETERMINE THE
DIFFICULTY OF AN IRREGULAR WORD….

The number or
irregularities in the
pronunciation of its
sound/spelling
correspondences.

Whether or not the
word is in a student’s
oral vocabulary.
WORD BANKS AND WORD WALLS

Word banks and word walls provide a method for
teachers to organize irregular words that have
been taught and learned so that students can
practice them. (O’Connor 2007)
SEQUENCE OF INTRODUCTION

Word Frequency


Word Similarity


Introduce high-frequency irregular words before lowfrequency irregular words.
Some irregular words are frequently confused by
students and should not be introduced too close
together.
Word Relationship

Some pairs of irregular words belong to the same
word family; they contain similar letter patterns, or
phonograms.
WHY TEACH IRREGULAR WORD READING?


Decoding is a highly reliable strategy for
identifying regular words, but irregular words do
not always conform to what is taught in phonics
instruction. Beginning readers do not learn
irregular words as quickly or accurately as
regular words; they tend to read these words
more slowly and inaccurately (Nation and
Snowling, 1998)
Knowledge of these irregular words is necessary
for fluent reading.
WHEN?
When To Teach


When to Assess and
Intervene
Irregular words need to be
systematically introduced in a
reasonable order, practiced,
and then cumulatively
reviewed.

Introduce irregular words after
students can read regular CVC
words at a rate of about one
words every three seconds.

Teachers should assess
students’ mastery of highfrequency regular and irregular
words to inform classroom
instruction.
For students performing at or
above grade level, monitor
progress every four to six
weeks. For students who are
slightly below grade level,
monitor progress every two
weeks. For those students
significantly below grade level
monitor progress weekly.
HOW?

Sound-Out Strategy


Introduce Irregular Words


Provide each student with ample time to practice spelling and saying
words.
Word Reading Practice for Automaticity


Explain that irregular words are tricky words that cannot be sounded
out in the regular way.
Practice Irregular Words


A procedure for introducing the first 15-25 irregular words should
require students to examine all the letters in a word and then point
out the irregularity in one or more of the word’s sound/spelling
correspondences.
Using a grid or chart of irregular words, have students practice
reading words that they have already learned.
Apply to Decodable Text

Choose books or passages in which most of the words are wholly
decodable and the majority of the remaining words are previously
taught irregular words.
HIGH-FREQUENCY WORD LISTS
Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary (Buckingham and Dolch 1936)
1000 Instant Words (Fry 2004)
The Educator’s Word Frequency Guide (Zeno et al. 1995)
Basic Elementary Reading Vocabularies (Harris and Jacobson 1972)
The American Heritage Word Frequency Book (Carroll, Davies, and
Richman 1971)