Irregular Word Reading

1. By: J. Syverson Irregular Word Reading Could-would-should Too-to-two their-there Chapter 7

2. What? Two types of irregular words Irregular Words cannot be decoded by sounding out. • Permanent~ • Low frequency • sounds/spellings not • pronounced typically • through the use of • phonics and are unique • to that word or a few • words. • Temporary~ • Early on, students • haven’t been taught a • particular • sound/spellings • in a word. When • taught ALL the • sounds/spellings the • words have now • become wholly • decodable words. Reasons: • Contains one or more sound/spelling that students do not know. • Students have to learn to identify these words as wholes or by sight..

3. What? High-Frequency Irregular Words in Printed Text • About 25 percent from a list of 100 high-frequency words are permanently irregular. • Appear often in printed text. • Crucial for comprehension. • Grammatical glue that holds sentences together. • Cues a reader to sentence structure. (List of most frequent words in school and college text are shown on pages 244 & 245.)

4. What? There are two ways to catalog irregular words that have been previously taught so that students can practice them. • Word Banks • Word Walls • Teaching Irregular Word Reading • Chosen from the stories or passages students will be reading. • Should be consistently and clearly presented. • Students need lots of exposure to an irregular word BEFORE they can be expected to recognize it on sight. • Needs to be practiced daily. • Repeated exposure helps students to recognize them in isolation and in what they read. • When the word is challenging, the more the student needs to practice it. • Sequence of Introducing Irregular words: • Word Frequency-Introduce high-frequency before low frequency. • Word Similarity-Should not be introduced too close to each other. • Word Relationships–Words that have phonograms in common, should be introduced in sets.

5. Why? • When beginning to learn to read, children do not learn irregular words (many which are function words) as quickly as regular words. They read irregular words more slowly and not as accurate. ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` • It is important that we as teachers, need to supply children with easy to understand, clear, and consistent instructions. ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` • In beginning texts, there are many function words (words that have little meaning) that affect the flow and understanding of the text. Students learn these irregular words as a whole.

6. When to Assess and Intervene • Often monitor progress … • Above grade level - 4 to 6 weeks • Slightly below grade level - every 2 weeks • Significantly below grade level - weekly • Monitor the students by… • Asking students to read aloud, previous irregular words. • Keep a record of irregular words that students struggle with. When? When to teach • When students are able to read regular CVC words. • Waiting to introduce irregular words, strengthen students’ • dependency on identifying a word by sounding it out. • One lesson before is when a new irregular word should be introduced and taught before it is seen and read in connected text. • Pace is critical when introducing them. said Are Of

7. How? • Spell-Out Strategy~ • Target words that may be • temporarily irregular but not • permanently irregular. It can be • used to introduce sound/spellings • that are distinct to that word or a • few words. • Sample Lesson: • Introduce Irregular Words • Practice Irregular Words • Word Reading Practice for frequency…using a transparency • Provide students with plenty of reading resources • Sound-Out Strategy~….. • Students inspect all letters in the first 15 or so irregular words. They need to be able to show you the differences in one or more of the word’s sound/spellings. Sample Lesson: • Introduce Irregular Words • Practice Irregular Words • Word Reading Practice for frequency…using a transparency • Provide students with plenty of reading resources

8. Conclusion • “If developing readers cannot instantly identify (high-frequency) words, they are unlikely to become fluent because of the wide spread presence of these words.” –Pikulski, 2006 • “Children do not learn “irregular” words as easily or quickly as they do “regular” words….Therefore, children need to be taught “irregular” high-frequency words with explicit instruction.” – Blevins, 2006