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SECONDARY STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES IN READING: DEVELOPING WORD IDENTIFICATION SKILLS

By Diane Pedrotty Bryant, Judy Englehard, and Linda Reetz

What are word identification skills?

Word identification skills help individuals recognize unknown words accurately and rapidly. These skills include phonetic analysis, structural analysis, and contextual analysis.

Why are word identification skills important for secondary struggling readers?

In content-area classes, students are required to read large amounts of text that often contain multisyllabic words the students may not know. Students need word identification skills to tackle these unknown words.
The ability to decode unknown words rapidly and accurately is necessary for effective and efficient comprehension.
When students do not recognize words with automaticity, they spend time on decoding that could be devoted to comprehending text.

What is the goal of word identification instruction for secondary struggling readers?

The goal of word identification instruction for secondary students is to help students develop and apply strategies for tackling unfamiliar or difficult words accurately, effortlessly, and rapidly.

What are some instructional guidelines for teaching word identification skills?

Explicit, systematic instruction is an effective procedure for teaching students word identification skills and strategies.
Words should be taken from the content-area materials that students have difficulty reading in the context of their classes.
Students should possess basic word identification skills, including the following:

1. sound-symbol correspondence,
2. recognition of phonetically regular consonant-vowel-consonant words,
3. recognition of some sight or high frequency words.

Word identification skills include phonetic analysis, structural analysis, and contextual analysis to read multisyllabic words.

What are some research-based interventions for teaching word identification skills to secondary struggling readers?

Word Identification Strategy: Students learn how to break words into parts to facilitate decoding. It is helpful if students know prefixes and suffixes and have some knowledge of phonics.

Overt Word Parts Strategy: Student circle word parts at the beginning and end of the word and underline letters representing the vowel sounds in the remaining part of the word. Students pronounce the parts fast to say the word.

Making Words: long words. Students use their knowledge of sound?letter correspondences, orthographic patterns, structural analysis, and content-specific vocabulary to form words.

What are some guidelines for English-language learners?

Teach words with vowel combinations because these words may be difficult for English-language learners.
Correct differences in speech sounds judiciously because some speech sounds in English may be different from those of the students' first language.

What materials can be used to develop word identification skills?

syllable puzzles
letters to form words
lists of words from content-area text
lists of prefixes and suffixes

What are some examples of publishers that offer age-appropriate materials for word identification skills?

Curriculum Associates
Good Apple
Sopris West

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Resources and References
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