Therefore, these words must be memorized by sight!”Įxcept that it’s simply not true.
All useful!īut you can see how most people would read something like this and say, “OK, so the words that make up to 75% of the words used in books are impossible to sound out. They also explain that high frequency words, such as Dolch words, are often the ones most often referred to as sight words. They helpfully explain that in fact, ALL words that a child can read with automaticity are actually sight words. Not all the information on this Scholastic page is problematic. But many of the words also defy standard phonetic conventions, meaning they are impossible to sound out.” “You might think that these words are so common that kids would just learn them organically through reading and other everyday print. They then go on to state what is most problematic in how we talk about these words, whether we term them “sight words” or “high frequency words”: They explain the distinction between “sight words” and “high frequency words,” and mention the Dolch high frequency word list, which “are a list of 220 words that are used so often in print that together they make up an estimated 75% of all words used in books.“
Yes, that Scholastic, one of the most well known publishers of educational materials. As one example, you can see echoes of the question “Did you know about 75% of words we read are sight words?” on this Scholastic page: “ Sight Words 101“. This misinformation about “sight words” is rather perpetuated by education publishers, self-proclaimed gurus, and consultants large and small. She has provided clarity on what the expectations are for my son’s reading based on her experience and materials that are available to her, and provides resources for us to work with my son at home in alignment to these expectations. Locating the Source of the Problemįirst of all, let me be clear that I do not blame my son’s kindergarten teacher for this misunderstanding.
So I write this post to try to clarify why this definition of sight words and the associated belief that they all must be memorized is a problem. Yet the reality is that most people-including all too many kindergarten teachers-are not aware of how this can be problematic, most especially for students who may struggle with word-level reading. The contrast between this information, and the printout from the Fundations program (an explicit, systematic, sequential Orton Gillingham based phonics program) was stark, and caused a strong reaction in me, as I knew that this information was inaccurate. This is how the sight word overview began: We received a folder from his teacher with two sets of materials: an overview of the Fundations phonics program (good!), and a list of sight words that he would be expected to memorize each week (um). My son just entered kindergarten in our local public school.
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