Sight words and sound
Sounding Out Words vs. Sight Words | Learning to Read by Decoding
Early readers must know how to tackle and instantly recognize two types of words to read fluently. One is decodable words; the other is non-decodable words. For kids with reading issues, including , learning to read both types of words can be a challenge.
This chart can help you know the difference between decodable words and non-decodable words, and what can help your child learn both.
| Decodable words | Non-decodable words | |
|---|---|---|
| What they are | Words that kids can sound out using the rules of phonics. Examples include: pot, flute, and snail. | Words that can’t be sounded out and that don’t follow the rules of phonics. They need to be memorized so they’re instantly recognizable. Examples include: right, enough, and sign. (Note: Some decodable words are also taught as sight words. These words are used so frequently that kids need to recognize them instantly.) |
| Skills required | Kids need to have phonemic awareness (part of a broader skill called phonological awareness). This skill allows students to rapidly map sounds to letters and blend sounds to read words. Kids also rely on working memory to help them keep in mind the sounds at the beginning of a word as they decode the rest of the word. | Kids need good memory skills to store words in their long-term phonological memory. That allows them to quickly retrieve words when they see them. Kids need fast-enough processing speed to read words automatically and fluently. |
| How these words are taught | For kids with reading challenges such as dyslexia, teachers typically use multisensory structured language education (MSLE). That includes multisensory techniques to help kids connect letters to sounds. One such teaching approach is Orton–Gillingham. A few reading programs are based on this approach. There are also other reading programs that are mainly used in general education. In the early grades, these programs focus on decoding skills. | Teachers introduce groups of words to students, based on grade level. Students may take these words home and work on memorizing them. Kids learn best when working and practicing with small groups of words on a regular basis until the words are instantly recognizable. It can help if students practice reading these words in meaningful sentences. It can also help to find the irregular part of the word and highlight it to make it easier to remember. For example, in the word said, the irregular part of the word is ai. |
| What kids need to know | There are rules that can help them sound out words. | Some common words don’t follow rules and can’t be sounded out. These words need to be memorized. Words with similar meaning or similar spellings can be learned in groups. For example, these ight words: right, night, flight. |
| How you can help | There are multisensory techniques and tools parents can use to teach phonics. There are also strategies for building phonological awareness at different ages. | There are strategies for teaching non-decodable words to struggling readers. Parents can review lists of sight words, including non-decodable words, with their child. |
Kids turn a word into a sight word by mapping unexpected (non-phonetic) sequences of letters to their sounds.
They can talk about the letter patterns in irregular sight words that don’t follow the rules.If your child is struggling with reading and you’re concerned the cause might be dyslexia, there are steps you can take. Your child might be eligible for services and supports at school that can help.
Also, hear an expert explain why learning to read is harder than learning to speak. And learn about how different learning and thinking differences make it hard to read.
Learning to read involves both decoding and recognizing sight words at a glance.
High-frequency words can be decodable or non-decodable.
Struggling readers may benefit from multisensory reading instruction.
There Is An Easier Way to Learn Sight Words
Road Map for READing Sight Words
Wow, you have distilled, into one easy-to-read-and-understand article, years of study on my part to figure out how best to teach high-frequency words.
.. I got my master's in reading so I could teach anyone to read. And here I am 14 years later, still learning... this is a fabulous resource- Thank You!
Jennifer N. Masters Degree, Reading
The "Dolch sight words list" was originally compiled in 1936 and then published in 1948. Sight words have been ingrained in our educational system since. Many people, including educators, think sight words need to be memorized because they cannot be sounded out. And they can't!--if you use a one letter/one sound correspondence!!!! But, in fact, all but a handful of sight words can be read using the power of the phonogram code.
No More Sight Words!
Many children who learn the code, even before entering school, are able to read most of these words without memorizing them. But once children start school, they are expected to memorize around 95 sight words by the end of kindergarten. Wordy refers to this method as “Drill and Dry.
” DRILL your children with flashcards. Then DRY their tears when frustration and early failure sets in. Not a happy approach--for child or parent.
There is an Easier Way to Learn Sight Words
Sight Word Syllables
Every sight word makes one of 6 syllable patterns. The pattern determines the sound of the vowel. How much easier it is to learn these 6 patterns and 72 phonograms. Your children will learn how to read thousands of words instead of 220.
The Six Silly Syllables
- OPEN: At the end of an open syllable, no consonant is found. The vowel at the end will say its name and make a long vowel sound.
- CLOSED: In a closed syllable, the vowel is short ‘cause a consonant closes it in. This syllable has just one vowel and a consonant at the end.
- MAGIC E: In a Magic e syllable, at the end you’ll see a vowel and a consonant and silent letter e.
Standing next to the consonant, magic e can claim, “I’m strong enough to help that vowel be long and say its name.” - BOSSY R: If the Bossy r syllable is pushy with his roar, r and his neighbor vowel say er, ar, or.
- VOWEL BUDDY: In the Vowel Buddies syllable where two vowels are found, together they will make only one vowel or vowel-like sound.
- CONSONANT-LE: The Consonant-le syllable is at the end of words you’ll see. That consonant is followed by an l and silent e.
Organize them by syllable types to help children read and learn them.
Most sight words can be read and correctly spelled using phonogram sounds, syllable clues and spelling clues. Organize and teach sight words according to their syllable type so children begin to recognize the patterns. Group phonograms that make the same sound together. For example: all, call, fall, walk, and want all make the third sound of /a/.
Have children practice writing and reading them.
Empower children to read rather than struggle to memorize these words. Children will ‘see’ the similar patterns and hear the vowel sound placement within the words. When new words come home, add them under the proper syllable type.
What if I find a word that I can’t explain?
English is well structured and logical. Rarely do we find an odd spelling that cannot be explained. Often, the word being questioned is from another language which does not conform to the written English Code. Some words have been with us such a long time that they are no longer pronounced the way they are spelled. Wordy just explains it this way; "Sometimes words are like people; they misbehave and do not always follow the rules."
Wordy just explains it this way; "Sometimes words are like people; they misbehave and do not always follow the rules."
Wordy’s Road Map to READing sight words includes a short list of misbehaving sight words.
Grab your Wordy’s Road Map to READing “sight words.”
220 Dolch Sight Words Map Words
Download Sight Word Road Map Here:
Be aware of the limitations of memorizing whole words. You can only memorize a limited number of them. For some, especially children with dyslexia, memorizing words creates a harmful learning strategy that is hard to overcome. To compound the problem, we may have no idea who these children are when they are still very young. As the adage goes: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Naturally, you will want to practice reading these words over and over so that they do, in fact, become “automatic.” This will happen naturally as practice continues. It is even okay to use high frequency word cards, after teaching the word phonetically, to reinforce the goal of reading these words quickly and fluently. Of course, the best way to naturally recognize and read “sight words” fluently is to expose your children to them in print, both in books and environmental print.
Phonetic analysis of the word. What it is? How to do it? Examples
What is phonetic analysis
Phonetic , or sound-alphabetic, word analysis is an analysis of the sounds and letters that make up this word.
There are 33 letters in Russian, from which we compose words and write them down on paper. When we pronounce a word, we hear sounds - this is how the letters in its composition sound. In some words, the same letter can mean two sounds at the same time or not sound at all. This is where sound-letter analysis comes in handy: it is needed so that we can analyze sounds and letters, write correctly, and also pronounce words.
Demo lesson in Russian
Take the test at the introductory lesson and find out what topics separate you from the "five" in Russian.
How is the phonetic parsing of a word done?
Full transcription of the word.
Vowel sounds: stressed or unstressed, which letter is indicated.
Consonants: voiced, sonorous or voiceless, paired or unpaired; hard or soft, paired or unpaired; which letter is indicated.
The total number of letters and sounds.
You can disassemble words by sounds and letters orally or in writing. These methods are slightly different from each other, so let's consider each one separately. We write down the word and all the sounds that are included in it.
Syllables and stress. We count and write down the number of syllables in a word, we denote the one on which the stress falls.
Sounds. From the next line in a column, we rewrite all the letters in the order in which they appear in the word.
Opposite each of them we record the sound and enclose it in square brackets.
Vowel sounds. Next to each vowel we write whether it is stressed or unstressed. And then we indicate what letter it is designated.
Consonants. Next to each consonant, indicate whether it is voiced or voiceless. Further - paired or unpaired in deafness-sonority. After that, we write, hard or soft sound, and then - paired or unpaired in terms of softness-hardness. At the end, you need to indicate which letter denotes the sound.
Number of letters, sounds. We count and write down the number of letters and sounds in a word.
Now let's use this algorithm with examples.
Example No. 1. Written phonetic analysis of the verb search
Search [abysk'ivat'] - 4 syllables, 2nd stressed.
o - [a] - ch., unstressed.
b - [b] - acc., sound. couple, tv par.
s - [s] - ch., shock.
s - [s] - acc., deaf. couple, tv par.
k - [k'] - acc., deaf. steam, soft par.
and - [and] - Ch., unstressed.
c - [c] - acc., sound. couple, tv par.
a - [a] - Ch., unstressed.
t - [t'] - acc., deaf. steam, soft par.
b — [–]
10 points, 9 stars
Example No. 2. Written phonetic analysis of the adjective spring
Spring [v'is'en':y'] - 3 syllables, 2nd stressed.
in - [in '] - acc., sound. steam, soft par.
e - [i] - gl., unstressed.
s - [s'] - acc., deaf. steam, soft par.
e - [e] - ch.
, percussion.
n - [n':] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, soft par.
and - [and] - Ch., unstressed.
th - [th'] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, soft unpaired
8 points, 7 stars
Example No. 3. Written phonetic analysis of a noun professor
Professor [praf'es:ar] - 3 syllables, 2nd stressed.
p - [n] - acc., deaf. couple, tv par.
r - [r] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, tv. par.
o - [a] - ch., unstressed.
f - [f'] - acc., deaf. steam, soft par.
e - [e] - ch., percussion.
s - [s:] - acc., deaf. couple, tv par.
o - [a] - ch., unstressed.
r - [r] - acc., sonorn. unpaired, tv. par.
9 points, 8 stars
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Sample oral phonetic analysis
If you need to do sound-letter analysis orally, follow this algorithm:
-
Syllables and stress. Count and name the number of syllables in a word, indicate the one that is stressed.
-
Vowel sounds. Name the vowels in the order in which they sound in the word. For each of them, determine whether it is percussion or unstressed. Then specify the letters with which they are indicated.
-
Consonants. For each of the consonants, determine whether it is voiced or voiceless, and then - paired or unpaired according to deafness-voicedness. After that, establish whether the sound is hard or soft, as well as paired or unpaired in terms of softness-hardness.
At the end of the analysis of each of the consonants, specify which letter it is designated in the word. -
Number of letters, sounds. Count and name the number of letters and sounds in a word.
Let's practice oral phonetic analysis on the example of the same words that we have analyzed above.
Example No. 1. Oral phonetic analysis of the verb search
2. Vowels:
first - unstressed [a], marked with the letter about ;
second - shock [s], designated by the letter s ;
third - unstressed [and], marked with the letter and ;
fourth - unstressed [a], designated by the letter a .
3. Consonants:
[b] - voiced double, solid double, marked with the letter b ;
[s] - deaf double, solid double, marked with the letter from ;
[k'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter to ;
[c] - voiced double, hard double, marked with the letter in ;
[t'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter t ;
letter ь does not represent sound.
4. In the word search 10 letters and 9 sounds.
Example No. 2. Oral phonetic analysis of the adjective spring
2. Vowels:
the first is unstressed [i], marked with the letter e ;
second - shock [e], marked with the letter e ;
third - unstressed [and], marked with the letter and .
3. Consonants:
[v'] - voiced double, soft double, marked with the letter in ;
[s'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter from ;
[n'] - voiced unpaired (sonor), soft paired, marked with the letter n . The second n does not form a sound in a word;
[d'] - voiced unpaired (sonor), solid unpaired, marked with the letter and .
4. The word spring has 8 letters and 7 sounds.
Example No. 3. Oral phonetic analysis of the noun professor
2. Vowels:
first - unstressed [a], marked with the letter about ;
second - shock [e], marked with the letter e ;
the third is unstressed [a], designated by the letter o .
3. Consonants:
[p] - deaf double, hard double, marked with the letter p ;
[p] - voiced unpaired (sonor), solid paired, marked with the letter p ;
[f'] - deaf double, soft double, marked with the letter f ;
[s] - deaf double, solid double, marked with the letter with . The second from does not form a sound in a word;
[p] - voiced unpaired (sonor), solid paired, marked with the letter p .
4. The word professor has 9 letters and 8 sounds.
Test yourself
Let's find out how well you understand what phonetic parsing is. Below you will find three tasks with which you can practice this skill.
Task 1
Disassemble the following words according to their sound composition: busy, guest, vacancy, pronounce, speaking.
Task 2
Perform oral phonetic analysis of words: box, hospital, go, union, marine.
Task 3
Read the short text below and make a written phonetic analysis of all the nouns in it.
We wandered in the forest in spring and observed the life of hollow birds: woodpeckers, owls. Suddenly, in the direction where we had previously planned an interesting tree, we heard the sound of a saw. It was, we were told, cutting firewood from deadwood for a glass factory.
For the first time, students start doing phonetic analysis of words in the 3rd grade of elementary school. Over time, tasks in the lessons become more complicated, so it is important to understand the topic in time. If after reading this article you still have questions, we invite you to the Skysmart online Russian language school for knowledge. In the classroom, the teacher will tell you what a phonetic (sound-letter) analysis of a word is and how to do it correctly in order to increase the grade at school.
Phonetic (sound-letter) word analysis, transcription. Online service
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Install Dictionary of abbreviations Antirewrite Order text Parsing Morphological analysis of the word Perform word analysis Pick up single words Spellchecking Arrange commas Put stress on a word Determine the main idea Identify statements that match the text Title text
Text guide.
Phonetics makes a phonetic analysis of the word online.
Add a word to the form and the program will automatically parse it.
Such parsing is also called sound-alphabetic parsing - because in the process of parsing a word, the number of letters and sounds is counted.
Also, during phonetic analysis, the word is divided into syllables and the stress is placed.
But the main goal is to perform phonetic transcription and characterize all sounds.
Order of phonetic analysis:
1. Placement of stress.
2. Breakdown into syllables.
2 options are provided here: syllables for analysis and options for word wrapping.
3. Transcription of the word [in square brackets].
4. Description of the word.
5. Transcription of each sound in order.
The sound is placed in square brackets.
a) If it is consonant, then its following characteristics are determined:
- voiced/voiced/sonorous,
- paired/unpaired,
- hard/soft.
