The hardest part of students learning literacy program is not the phonics itself, but words that do not fit in with the phonics rules. In my opinion, sight words are much harder. Sight words are thos which defy the rules of phonics, but are very commonly used in language. They are short words that can not be sounded out and must simply be memorized. Sight word lists are the bane of existence for any child with learning difficulties. Without them you cannot read even the simplest texts, yet many students never adequately master them up to grade level.

Sight words lists can help a lot. Some schools take a whole language approach, refusing to really spend enough time drilling things like sight words and phonics lists. Students do not learn the patterns that make up language, and they also don’t memorize these common words. Instead, they are expected to pick them up on their own by reading specially designed books. For some students this approach works well, but for other ones it is a miserable failure. These students may end up feeling stupid and may fear reading over the course of their lifetime.

Using sight words lists is not enough to help students understand the concept. It doesn’t make any sense to have a strict phonics program, or a whole language program either. You need a program that combines the best of both approaches. On the one hand, you need sight words and word lists. Students really need to make a concerted effort to study these words so they can recognize them, even without context. On the other hand, words in context are also important. Just adding a sight word it is not enough. A student needs to be able to read a story and see that word in the text. Using these tools to teach students paves the way for advanced reading skills development.


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