Word Study In Action
About Word Knowledge
Word knowledge includes understandings about the developmental nature of spelling and word awareness (word study), accompanying sound skills (phonological awareness), and knowledge of high frequency words.
Word Study
Word Study offers an alternative to traditional, rote spelling instruction. A word study program is a cohesive approach to word knowledge that addresses word recognition, vocabulary, and phonics as well as spelling. By providing students with opportunities to investigate and understand the underlying principles behind words, students are able to increase their spelling and vocabulary knowledge. In turn, students develop increasing skill with reading and writing.
Word study is based on the notion that where a student is in his or her spelling development can serve as a guide for instruction. At the start of a word study program, teachers use a spelling inventory to determine a stage of spelling development and then group students for instruction. Once groups are created, teachers develop "differential instruction" based on the stage of development each group of students has achieved.
Word Study instruction has to be deliberately sequenced by the teacher so students will get instruction that will propel their development. Teachers select a group of words that demonstrate a particular spelling feature and sequence these features to match children's development. Because the pace of children's progression through the stages varies, rarely, if ever, would all the students in a class be studying the same list of words.
To implement word study effectively, teachers and students alike must become word detectives, engaged in an ongoing attempt to make sense of word features and their relationships to one another. Spelling "rules" are not dictated by the teacher for students to memorize. Rather, spelling features and generalizations are discovered by students.
Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is the understanding of different ways that oral language can be divided into smaller components and manipulated. Spoken language can be broken down in many different ways, including sentences into words and words into syllables (e. g., in the word simple, /sim/ and /ple/), onset and rime (e. g., in the word broom, /br/ and /oom/), and
individual phonemes (e.g., in the word hamper, /h/, /a/, /m/, /p/, /er/). Manipulating sounds includes deleting, adding, or substituting syllables or sounds (e.g., say can; say it without the /k/; say can with /m/ instead of /k/). Being phonologically aware means having a general understanding at all of these levels.
It is important to note that phonological awareness differs distinctly from phonics. Phonological awareness involves the auditory and oral manipulation of sounds. Phonics is the association of letters and sounds to sound out written symbols (Snider, 1995); it is a system of teaching reading that builds on the alphabetic principle, a system of which a central component
is the teaching of correspondences between letters or groups of letters and their pronunciations (Adams, 1990). Phonological awareness and phonics are intimately intertwined, but they are not the same.
Sight Words
Sight words are words that readers should recognize instantly. Recognition of sight words is important because they are so frequently used—making up 50 to 75 percent of all words that children are likely to encounter. They are also important because many sight words do not sound as they are spelled, making them difficult to sound out using knowledge of phonics. Having the sight words within his or her repertoire gives the child a better chance to grapple with more difficult and infrequent words without losing the sense of what is being read.
Word Study
Word Study offers an alternative to traditional, rote spelling instruction. A word study program is a cohesive approach to word knowledge that addresses word recognition, vocabulary, and phonics as well as spelling. By providing students with opportunities to investigate and understand the underlying principles behind words, students are able to increase their spelling and vocabulary knowledge. In turn, students develop increasing skill with reading and writing.
Word study is based on the notion that where a student is in his or her spelling development can serve as a guide for instruction. At the start of a word study program, teachers use a spelling inventory to determine a stage of spelling development and then group students for instruction. Once groups are created, teachers develop "differential instruction" based on the stage of development each group of students has achieved.
Word Study instruction has to be deliberately sequenced by the teacher so students will get instruction that will propel their development. Teachers select a group of words that demonstrate a particular spelling feature and sequence these features to match children's development. Because the pace of children's progression through the stages varies, rarely, if ever, would all the students in a class be studying the same list of words.
To implement word study effectively, teachers and students alike must become word detectives, engaged in an ongoing attempt to make sense of word features and their relationships to one another. Spelling "rules" are not dictated by the teacher for students to memorize. Rather, spelling features and generalizations are discovered by students.
Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is the understanding of different ways that oral language can be divided into smaller components and manipulated. Spoken language can be broken down in many different ways, including sentences into words and words into syllables (e. g., in the word simple, /sim/ and /ple/), onset and rime (e. g., in the word broom, /br/ and /oom/), and
individual phonemes (e.g., in the word hamper, /h/, /a/, /m/, /p/, /er/). Manipulating sounds includes deleting, adding, or substituting syllables or sounds (e.g., say can; say it without the /k/; say can with /m/ instead of /k/). Being phonologically aware means having a general understanding at all of these levels.
It is important to note that phonological awareness differs distinctly from phonics. Phonological awareness involves the auditory and oral manipulation of sounds. Phonics is the association of letters and sounds to sound out written symbols (Snider, 1995); it is a system of teaching reading that builds on the alphabetic principle, a system of which a central component
is the teaching of correspondences between letters or groups of letters and their pronunciations (Adams, 1990). Phonological awareness and phonics are intimately intertwined, but they are not the same.
Sight Words
Sight words are words that readers should recognize instantly. Recognition of sight words is important because they are so frequently used—making up 50 to 75 percent of all words that children are likely to encounter. They are also important because many sight words do not sound as they are spelled, making them difficult to sound out using knowledge of phonics. Having the sight words within his or her repertoire gives the child a better chance to grapple with more difficult and infrequent words without losing the sense of what is being read.
Word Knowledge Articles
Developmental Spelling Research | |
File Size: | 327 kb |
File Type: |
Questions Teachers Ask About Spelling | |
File Size: | 2140 kb |
File Type: |
Everything You Wanted To Know About Phonics | |
File Size: | 235 kb |
File Type: |