Chapter 14: Phase of Word Learning: Implications for Instruction with Delayed and Disabled Readers by Linnea C. Ehri and Sandra Mc Cormick

The focus of this research is on cognitive and linguistic processes affecting reading ability rather than on instructional methods. The researchers emphasize noting the difference between learner and instruction. They studied the development of the process of word reading processes and the implication for instruction for the students who have particular difficulty with word identification. This knowledge can help teachers understand and interpert atypical word-reading behaviors of the less mature readers in an early development stage.

Phases of word development reading include: decoding, analogy, prediction, and sight (memory of a word read before). Students commit to memory the connections between graphemes and phonemes that recur in many words. Looking at a word, pronouncing it, and applying the corresponding graphemes enables a student to analyze how the letters symbolize individual phonemes to secure to memory.

Ehri distinguished five phases of word learning to understand and use the alphabetic system in word reading: 1. pre-alphabetic, 2. partial alphabetic, 3. full alphabetic, 4. consolidated-alphabetic, and 5. automatic-alphabetic stage.

Pre-alphabetic refers to lack of knowledge of the phoneme-grapheme relationship. Students use cues to remember words and utilize logos as well as architecture of the word such as length and shape. A word associated with a brand such as Cheerios would .be able to be remembered on the yellow box with the large black print but if written on a page with pen and ink recognition would be meager or. non-extistent. Similarly, if a word "look" is remembered because of its two 'eyes' in the middle form an association, the reader would not be able to distinguish that word from moon or tool. These readers need to engage in activities that engage the knowledge of associations between letter and word pronunciation . Teaching students the components of syllables. This instruction is most important in kindergarten to prevent difficulties before they arrive in latter years. Mnemonics and alliteration activities can be a strong support.

Partial-alphabetic phase refers to visual recognition. Students begin to detect letters in words and some of the letters are matched to pronunciations. Beginning letters of words when associated with picture clues can assist guessing though subtle differences in the middle of words such as man and men or horse and house may not be detected. Students who confused was and saw at this stage need practice in reading direction from left to right. The lack of full phonemic segmentation ability may link letters only partially to their sounds and words such as black and block may be confused. Additional confusions would be soft and hard sound letters and digraphs. Explicit instruction on phoneme-grapheme association is crucial to process the letters in the context of the words effectively. Pulling letters individually from their blends and segmenting the sound-grapheme relationship is crucial before replacting it back into the word for pronunciation. Of particular concern are vowels and the sound relationship to syllables. As students are learning phoneme-grapheme correspondence, teachers can scaffold learning to help students find hard-to-detect sound segments till they reach a sufficient knowlege base for identifying and forming words with accurate knowledge of the alphabetic system. To speed word learning, it is best to teach confusing words such as no and on in separate lessons in order to decrease confusion. Instruction at this phase should be aimed at helping them expand their word knowledge an build a sight vocabulary.

In full alphabetic phase, readers possess working knowledge of phoneme-grapheme correcspondence and know how to decode unfamiliar words. Slower readers consciously sound out words and fluency increases over time. Sight vocabularies grow tremendously in this phase. Familiarity with sounds assists in knowing the relationships of words such as peak and beak while they store in memory sufficient letter detail recognition and adapt their knowledge to new words. Tet reading is initial slow and laborious during this stage. In order for the material to be comfortable, students should have no more than a 25% challenge in the text with unfamiliar words with 95% accuracy for the development of fluency. This encourages learning by minimizing frustration. The key to speed is practice. Accuracy levels can be enhaced by having students read book they have read or listened to before as well as practice reading texts that they have not read before. Rimes and the usage of word families and then a return to reading words in context supports both accuracy and fluency. Further reading aloud combines the graphophonic processing for comprehension.

Consolidated-alphabetic phase has its roots in full-alphabetic and word learning becomes mature. Students learn to chunk letters including affixes, root words, onsets, rimes and syllables. There is careful distinctions of linguistic patterns are learned. A word such as interesting has ten graphophonic units and four graphosyllabic units. Students learn high frequency words, sight vocabularies grown, words are organized by spelling pattern and committed to memory. Unfamiliar words and decoding strategies are developed for a more complex understanding of the influence of parts of a word as the final e in words such as cone and con. The working knowledge allows a student to have implcit knowledge with unfamiliar words. Struggling readers need continues attention to analogizing with prompts, doing so on their own or doing so unconsciously on their own. Students need to learn syllable division and distinguish roots of spellings.

Finally in the automatic phase, the reader is proficient. There is speed and accuracy with familiar and unfamiliar words. There is large sight vocabulary knowledge and the reader is free to contemplate the meaning of text.

At each phase of learning in the reader's alphabetic development, student access strategies when dealing with the challenges presented in print. Teachers who have knowledge of phase learning can access teaching strategies to both scaffold and facilitate progression through the stages. Disabled or delayed readers have more difficulty learning to read and are slower in sight vocabulary. Limited knowledge of decoding and analogizing strategies requires thorough instruction on all aspects of word reading and teachers must offer ample opportunity for students to practice reading skills.