Stages in Reading Words

Stages in Reading Words

1. pre-alphabetic stage

   • nonphonemic visual characteristics
   • learn a word by selective association
     • by selecting nonphonemic feature that distinguishes it from other words
     • problem
       • run out of distinctive clues
       • clues do not help decode new words
   • invented or spontaneous spelling

2. stages are fluid

3. students may be in more than one stage at same time

4. partial alphabetic stage

   • letter name stage
   • use letter sound relationships to read words
   • cannot use full decoding
     • haven't learned vowel correspondences
   • use partial cues
     • store incomplete representations of words
   • represent word by using first letter or letters that represent the most distinctive sounds
     • K for car
     • KR for car
   • begin using vowels at end of this stage
     • still may not spell word correctly

5. full alphabetic stage

   • begin to process all the letters in words
   • apply knowledge of letter sound relationships
   • danger
     • too much emphasis on accuracy and sounding out
   • build store of known words
     • better able to see commonalities in words

6. consolidated alphabetic stage

   • within word pattern
   • consolidate and process longer and more sophisticated units
   • printed representation of word as whole elicits spoken equivalent
     • becomes bonded with spoken equivalent

7. implications of stage theory

   • suggests nearly all words acquired are learned through phonics
   • implies that instruction should be geared to stage student is in
     • helps foster decoding ability