Literacy is not just reading! It is truly a blend of many different skills that build upon one another in a person's life. Children begin with listening to stories and getting involved in oral language. Then, children start to experiment with putting ideas on paper, or writing. Students begin reading and the threads of literacy start to come together. That is where orthography, a students knowledge of the correct sequence of sounds in words, bonds the strands of literacy together. The development through word study and a child's growing knowledge of orthography is essential to their achievements in being a literate individual.
What is Word Study?
Traditional models have a scope and sequence with a lot of repeated practice and rote memorization. This is not developing critical or analytical thinking about words and leave little room for motivation. Word Study is offering hands-on experiences given to students to manipulative and discover word features. It give children a chance to “experience” and “play” with words in order to discover patterns instead of just “memorizing” them.
Why is Word Study Important?
Students need to have a quick, accurate recognition of words and their meanings fast in texts. We cannot assume that students just "pick up" phonics, spelling, and vocabulary skills necessary to progress through reading, listening, writing, and speaking. We need to explicitly TEACH students the necessary skills to do this in the context of a book. The purpose of word study is to promote a specific knowledge instead of a general knowledge of words.
1. General Knowledge: Students understand sound-letter relationship enough to examine words, make generalization, and decode words.
2. Specific Knowledge: Students use patterns to remember the correct spelling of words. One needs this to become fully literate.
Why is Word Study “Developmental”?
Students must work through a progression or continuum of skills.
1. Alphabetic Layer: Students relate sounds to letters (c-a-t is cat).
2. Pattern Layer: Students use patterns to read and write words (cape, light, read instead of cap, lit, red)
3. Meaning Layer: Students learn the smallest units of meaning in language (re- in rethink means to do again)
Children learn the specific features of words as well as the order in which they learn them.
Traditional models have a scope and sequence with a lot of repeated practice and rote memorization. This is not developing critical or analytical thinking about words and leave little room for motivation. Word Study is offering hands-on experiences given to students to manipulative and discover word features. It give children a chance to “experience” and “play” with words in order to discover patterns instead of just “memorizing” them.
Why is Word Study Important?
Students need to have a quick, accurate recognition of words and their meanings fast in texts. We cannot assume that students just "pick up" phonics, spelling, and vocabulary skills necessary to progress through reading, listening, writing, and speaking. We need to explicitly TEACH students the necessary skills to do this in the context of a book. The purpose of word study is to promote a specific knowledge instead of a general knowledge of words.
1. General Knowledge: Students understand sound-letter relationship enough to examine words, make generalization, and decode words.
2. Specific Knowledge: Students use patterns to remember the correct spelling of words. One needs this to become fully literate.
Why is Word Study “Developmental”?
Students must work through a progression or continuum of skills.
1. Alphabetic Layer: Students relate sounds to letters (c-a-t is cat).
2. Pattern Layer: Students use patterns to read and write words (cape, light, read instead of cap, lit, red)
3. Meaning Layer: Students learn the smallest units of meaning in language (re- in rethink means to do again)
Children learn the specific features of words as well as the order in which they learn them.
Spelling Development
1. Emergent Spelling: Students scribble to represent writing. 2. Letter-Name Spelling: Students use sound-letter relationship to spell words. 3. Within Word Pattern Spelling: Students use patterns (may be wrong ones) to spell words. 4. Syllable and Affixes Spelling: Students use chunks of words to spell (stoped, hikeing). 5. Derivational Relations Spelling: Students use meaning making to spell (favor into favorite, not faverite). |
Literacy Development
1. Emergent Readers: Student pretend to read and write. 2. Beginning Readers: Students understand alphabetic relationships (rely on patterned texts). 3. Transitional Readers: Students read more fluently, stop finger-pointing, and write with more organization. 4. Intermediate and Advanced Readers: Read for understanding and write for multiple purposes. |
Words Their Way will...
- integrate phonics, spelling, and reading instruction.
- target and teach at the development stage of the student.
- base word study learning on how children developmentally learn - through comparing and contrasting word features.