Language Patterns
Note on teaching high-frequency words
Ever since the days of Dick and Jane, it has been standard practice to teach children to recognise certain common words “at sight”. The Dolch list of 220 high frequency words is the most common source of these “sight words” words. Children are simply shown the words, one at a time, or a few each week, and given practice reading them, with illustrations where possible.
“Irregular” Words
A very few of the list need to be presented as special “study words”. These include words like “come” (should be pronounced like “comb”), and “said” (should be pronounced like “laid” and “paid”.) These should be introduced with the other regular words that are spelled in a similar way – that is, teach “come’ with “some” and “done”, “one” and “none”, and discuss the fact that the ‘o’ in these words copies the sound of ‘u’. In the same way, “said” can be taught with “laid” and “paid” – a common way of forming the past tense (compare “lay”, “pay” and “say”. Children just have to remember that we spell “said” just like the other words, but when we say the words, the vowel sound in “said” is irregular.
The following sorted list will help you decide when your students are ready to learn particular high frequency words.
NOTE: the list below is cumulative: the word groups must be taught in the order in which they appear below. This is important, because in order to make sense of the words in any new group, children must be familiar with all the spelling patterns that come before.
The Solution
Obviously, children do need to learn to read the high frequency words. The best way to achieve this is to sort the words by spelling pattern, and to teach and practice them once the children know enough about letter-sound relationships to decode them. Most words on the Dolch list are perfectly phonetically regular, and only require that children have a basic knowledge of English spelling patterns before learning them.
In fact, half of the list can be learned once the children know one basic sound for each letter, and can deal with the common consonant digraphs, sh, th, ch, and wh. If you are teaching or reviewing the basic sounds in a systematic order, you can introduce individual words and practice them as soon as they children have learned all of the sounds in the word.
Most of the other half of the list can be taught as soon as children about a particular pattern: “came”, for example, is a perfectly ordinary word once children know about long vowels in words with a final ‘e’.
Dangers of teaching sight words
Unfortunately, it is dangerous to practice “sight words” before children have some basic understanding of letter-sound relationships (phoneme-grapheme correspondences, or PGCs). Until it is obvious to a child that the word “but” could not possibly start with the letter “a”, that child is likely to confuse “but” and “and”, and to practise the mistake until it has become automatic, even after the child has learned enough phonics to decode both words easily. This happens because, when children are not able to use letter-sound information to identify words, they fall back on other cues, including word-shape syntactic cues (“but” and “and” are both short words, both ending in a tall letter, and they are both conjunctions.) It also gives children the mistaken idea that they must have two separate strategies for reading words: some they should sound out, and others they must just “know.” It undermines their motivation to practise decoding until they achieve fluency, by presenting an apparently easier alternative.
Rationale for teaching sight words
The practice of teaching some words as “sight words” is supposed to ensure that children can read early level text without much mastery of decoding. It also allows children to cope with irregular words such as “said” and “eight”. It also produces a deceptive, appearance of fluency, since children recognise these words quickly, while “sounding out” may seem a slow and laborious process.
*Dolch Levels: Even Level 5 words can be practiced as soon as children know basic PGCs
**/ow/ can be taught as an approximation of ŏ+w
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
a
am
an
had
fast
at
but
him
sit
that
and
ran
let
his
its
can
this
get
as
off
is
did
yes
ask
us
it
black
thank
tell
will
on
went
ten
best
in
brown**
have
then
wish
if
must
them
which
not
well
stop
sing
run
just
pick
jump
much
if
help
let
six
red
very
drink
funny
by
bring
help
fly
long
the
why
got
hot
cut
upon
seven
ten
shall
much
try
carry
Dolch High-frequency Words, Sorted by Spelling Pattern.
These words are phonetically regular and completely decodable. Practice once children are secure with the short vowels, the digraphs th, sh, ch, and ng, as well as ‘y’ at the end.
The rest of the words require knowledge of additional spelling patterns. Words in column one are decodable once children have learned the relevant spelling pattern. Words or word families in column two are slightly irregular and require some teaching and discussion.
little
Regular
Partly Exceptional
Practice after children know the “ble, tle, gle, ple, ckle” patterns
Practice after children have learned about silent ‘e’ and split digraphs
Regular
Partly Exceptional
where
have
live
little
ate
make
made
take
gave
came
come
live
love
five
like
ride
white
here
before
one, done, none
some come
use
use
these
those
Regular
Partly Exceptional
my
myself
buy
buy
so
no
to, into, do, who, together, two (compare “twin”)
going
open
he
she
be
Practice after children have learned about the long vowel at the end of an open syllable
“ow” (as in “low”)
yellow
grow
yellow
"ei" and "ey"
they
because
blue
“ue"
“au” and “aw”
draw
“eu” and “ew”
new
today
again
say
said
“ai” and “ay”
may
soon
put, pull, full
look
“oo” (both sounds, as in “good book”)
good
please
clean
“ea” (all three sounds, as in “eat steak for breakfast”)
read
been
keep
sleep
green
been
“ee"
three
own
know
show
grow
yellow
“ow” (as in “low”)
DIgraph
Regular
Partly Exceptional
Practice after children know the following vowel digraphs:
practice after children know about “l”s vowel-like effect on surrounding vowels
Partly Exceptional
Regular
all
call
always
Words to practice after children know patterns with silent “gh”
Regular
Partly Exceptional
right
light
eight
(remember the i before e rule)
Practice after children know the diphthongs “ou” and “ow”
Partly Exceptional
Regular
out
about
our
found
round
around
brown
now
Practice after children know patterns with “gh” as /f/
Regular
Partly Exceptional
laugh (in Canada, the “au” is a short /a/
Practice after children know the pattern “ould”
Regular
Partly Exceptional
could
should
would
Practice after children know the pattern “alk”
Regular
Partly Exceptional
walk
talk
Practice once children know the digraph “wr”
write
wrote (Not included in Dolch list)
Regular
Partly Exceptional
Practice once children know about the long vowel before certain final consonant “blends”
Regular
Partly Exceptional
old
cold
hold
find
don't
Practice once children know about soft ‘c’ and soft ‘g’
Partly Exceptional
Regular
once
twice
