Learning to read words: Findings, theories, and issues. –
Ehri (2005)
Four ways to read words:
1. Decoding: Blending graphemes into phonemes or larger letter chunks into words.
2. Analogising: Using known words to read new ones (e.g., "bottle" for "throttle").
3. Prediction: Guessing unfamiliar words using context and letter clues.
4. Memory/Sight: Recognizing previously encountered words without decoding.
Phases in reading (both in transparent and opaque orthographies):
1. Pre-alphabetic phase: Relying on visual cues that do not involve the alphabetic system.
2. Partial alphabetic phase: Connecting only some letters and sounds, often leading to partial
spellings.
3. Full alphabetic phase: learning sight words by forming complete connections between letters
in spellings and phonemes in pronunciations, because they know the major grapheme-
phoneme correspondences.
4. Consolidated phase: Recognizing patterns and larger units like syllables, improving memory
for sight words.
Key Insights:
Phonemic Maps: Help link spellings to pronunciations and are crucial for sight word learning.
Alphabetic Knowledge: Spellings improve memory for sounds by retaining them as visual
symbols. It highlights the importance of a strong alphabetic foundation.
Orthographic Structure: Children can recognize spelling patterns earlier than phase theory
suggests, indicating that visual and alphabetic knowledge are important for word memory.
Transparent Orthographies: In languages with clear letter-sound correspondences, sight
words still become unitized through phonological processes. Instructional methods affect the
development of reading phases, and sight word recognition may take longer in some
languages.
Ehri (2005)
Four ways to read words:
1. Decoding: Blending graphemes into phonemes or larger letter chunks into words.
2. Analogising: Using known words to read new ones (e.g., "bottle" for "throttle").
3. Prediction: Guessing unfamiliar words using context and letter clues.
4. Memory/Sight: Recognizing previously encountered words without decoding.
Phases in reading (both in transparent and opaque orthographies):
1. Pre-alphabetic phase: Relying on visual cues that do not involve the alphabetic system.
2. Partial alphabetic phase: Connecting only some letters and sounds, often leading to partial
spellings.
3. Full alphabetic phase: learning sight words by forming complete connections between letters
in spellings and phonemes in pronunciations, because they know the major grapheme-
phoneme correspondences.
4. Consolidated phase: Recognizing patterns and larger units like syllables, improving memory
for sight words.
Key Insights:
Phonemic Maps: Help link spellings to pronunciations and are crucial for sight word learning.
Alphabetic Knowledge: Spellings improve memory for sounds by retaining them as visual
symbols. It highlights the importance of a strong alphabetic foundation.
Orthographic Structure: Children can recognize spelling patterns earlier than phase theory
suggests, indicating that visual and alphabetic knowledge are important for word memory.
Transparent Orthographies: In languages with clear letter-sound correspondences, sight
words still become unitized through phonological processes. Instructional methods affect the
development of reading phases, and sight word recognition may take longer in some
languages.
