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Irregular Word Reading
Although decoding is a highly reliable strategy for a majority
of words, some irregular words in the English language do not conform to
word-analysis instruction (e.g., the, was, night).
| | (Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts, 1998; see
References) |
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Irregular Word: A word that cannot be decoded
because either (a) the sounds of the letters are unique to that word or a
few words, or (b) the student has not yet learned the letter-sound correspondences
in the word.
| | (Carnine, Silbert & Kame'enui, 1997; see
References) |
Context and Definitions
- Although the alphabetic writing system provides a highly reliable
strategy for "decoding" the majority of words, some words in the English language do
not conform to word-analysis instruction (e.g., was, night). We will refer to those
words as irregular words.
- In addition, in beginning reading there will be
passages that contain words that are "decodable" yet the letter sound correspondences
in those words may not yet be familiar to students. In this case, we also teach these
words as irregular words.
- To strengthen students' reliance on the decoding strategy
and communicate the utility of that strategy, we recommend not introducing
irregular words until students can reliably decode words at a rate of one letter-sound
per second. At this point, irregular words may be introduced but on a
limited scale.
- The key to irregular word recognition is not how to teach them.
The teaching procedure is simple. The critical design considerations are "how many
to introduce" and "how many to review".
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