
Research on teaching sight words how to#
So now you can see why sight words can cause so much angst! Educators have conflicting ideas about sight words and how to teach them, and in large part that stems from having different definitions for what sight words are. (Many educators believe that the words on these lists must be learned through rote memorization, but we bust that myth in this video.) Words that appear on high-frequency word lists such as the popular Dolch Sight Word and Fry’s Instant Word lists.The “whole word” or “look-say” approach to teaching reading, also known as the “sight word approach.” This approach is the opposite of phonics, and words are memorized as a whole.Irregular words that can’t be decoded using phonics and must be memorized, such as of, could, and said.In fact, if you are a fluent reader, chances are you don’t need to stop to decode words as you read this blog post because every word in this post is a sight word for you.īut there are three other commonly used definitions for sight words that you should be aware of: You just see the word and can read it right away without having to sound it out. Our Working Definition of Sight WordĪt its most basic–and this is what we mean when we talk about sight words– a sight word is a word that can be read instantly, without conscious attention.įor example, if you see the word peanut and recognize it instantly, peanut is a sight word for you.


In fact, a common question we get is, “ Do you teach sight words in the All About Reading program? ” But before we jump into the details, let’s be sure we’re talking about the same definition for the term sight words. Should you teach sight words? What’s the best way to approach sight words? Is it bad to use a curriculum that teaches sight words? If you’ve been teaching reading for a while, you’ve undoubtedly come across the term sight words, and you probably have some questions about them.
