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Aimee McGillis

EDU 385

Dr. Aiken & Mrs. Wargo

Wednesday 16th March, 2022

Article Review #2 : “Reconceptualizing Sight Words” & “Rethinking Sight

Words”
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This first article presented the reminder that the term ‘sight words’ does not in

fact mean that the words are learned solely by sight. The author continues, explaining

that sight word learning requires a range of instructional activities depending on the

student's level of word knowledge. This is a relevant topic, considering that

remembering words out of context is proven to be necessary in order to acquire an early

and automatic reading vocabulary. There is a studied observation, that as students

increase in letter-sound correspondence skills, they in turn begin to depend less and less

on the process of translating letters into sounds in order to retrieve the pronunciations

as well as meanings of printed words. This truth has been evidenced during my time at

Northside, with most of the students receiving learning support services, and

particularly a student who has repeated kindergarten and made significant strides this

year. When students learn concrete, high-imagery and high-meaning nouns, adjectives,

and action verbs, comprehension naturally follows.

This article perpetuated this point, noting that the words which comprise the

early reader’s vocabulary will surely vary, according to both the texts students are

exposed to and their oral vocabulary, as well as the alphabetic and phonics instruction

the child is properly given and receiving. Considering the multifaceted nature of

student’s environments and backgrounds in their home life is one of the most

confounding elements of observing kindergarten. I have noticed that the range of ability

is vast and readily evident in this age group in particular, and these considerations will

of course impact the data collected regarding student’s reading abilities. It is known that

emergent readers rely heavily on context in order to learn new words. It is in repeated

exposure that we have discussed ad nauseum throughout our courses in education while
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at Geneva, in combination with the analysis of the words in the contextual setting as

well as in its isolated setting that efficiently primed students for word learning. There is

a connection to this statement and the time I have witnessed educators dedicate to

collecting data, especially within the realm of progress monitoring.

The second article tied in quite neatly to the concepts discussed in the prior, as

the process of sight word learning is further analyzed and broken down. It was

referenced that in order for words to be properly stored in the minds of their students,

educators must plan instructional activities that reflect the varying levels of word

knowledge.

The difference between automaticity and decoding is more clearly depicted, and

it is explained that sight word reading is the fastest and most efficient way to read

words. Decoding and analogizing are proven to be slower reading methods, which are

generally used only when encountering unfamiliar words, or during the process and

purpose of learning how to read. This is something I have heard educators speak

differently about, and I find it interesting. The differences in these modes of reading,

and the science of reading seem to be more modern approaches to the topic. Some of the

cooperating teachers and paraprofessionals I have worked alongside in schools have

viewed reading with a more traditional scope.

Finally, it is known that young readers will eventually transition into the full

alphabetic phase, where they are able to use all of the grapheme-phoneme information

in a word to pronounce words. However, students who lack knowledge of grapheme

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phoneme relations may be less able to secure high-frequency or sight words in their

memory. This is a critical aspect of considering reading instruction, and it is something I

can trace back to any good lesson I have seen implemented in the field.
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Reference Page

1. Miles, K. P., Rubin, G. B., & Gonzalez-Frey, S. (2017). Rethinking sight words.

The Reading Teacher, 71(6), 715–726. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1658

2. Rawlins, A., & Invernizzi, M. (2018). Reconceptualizing Sight words: Building an

early reading vocabulary. The Reading Teacher, 72(6), 711–719.

https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1789