Reading - Just the Basics
 

What Are Sight Words?

In order to be a fluent reader, you need to be able to instantly recognize and read words. Think about when you read. You don't have to "sound out" each word; you know most of them by sight. Adult students need this same comfort level with words. They need to have a large "sight word" vocabulary.

Start with primary sight words. These are the words that appear most often in reading passages. Two common lists for sight words are the Dolch List and the Fry List. If your students have instant recognition of the words on these lists, their reading skill will be greatly enhanced. Other types of sight words include such things as direction or signal words and those words that are part of a specific subject-area.

How do you teach sight words? That varies based on your students and their learning styles. The important thing is to use as many modalities as possible. Have students make flash cards, write the word, trace the letter sequence of the word, visualize the word, say the word aloud while looking, tracing, or visualizing. The important thing with sight words is to practice, practice, and practice some more until the words become automatic. This includes words that don't make sense when you try to "sound them out" - often called irregular words. Think about words like: their, sight, done. These words don't look like they sound - that's why they're called irregular.

To get you started with sight words, you may want to visit the following web links and download the different sight word lists to use with your students.

Mouse icon National Institute for Literacy - Resources: Sight Word Lists
http://www.nifl.gov/readingprofiles/MC_Resources.htm

Mouse icon Victoria University School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies - Academic Word List
http://language.massey.ac.nz/staff/awl/
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