C ARA M C C ARTNEY Chapter 7 Irregular Word Reading

I RREGULAR W ORDS An irregular word contains one or more sound/spelling correspondences that a student does not know and therefore cannot use to decode the word. Students must learn to identify these words as wholes, or automatically by sight.

T WO T YPES O F I RREGULAR W ORDS Permanently Irregular One or more sound/spellings in the word are unique to that word or a few words and therefore are never introduced. Temporarily Irregular One or more sound/spellings in the word have not yet been introduced.

O UT OF A LIST OF 100 HIGH - FREQUENCY WORDS, ALMOST 25% ARE PERMANENTLY IRREGULAR, BUT ARE CRUCIAL FOR COMPREHENSION.

T EACHING I RREGULAR W ORD R EADING Instruction should focus students’ attention on all the letters in a word. Students must have ample time to practice words in order for them to have automatic recognition of irregular words. Previously taught words should be practiced and then cumulatively reviewed on a daily basis. Students need repeated exposure to these words to increase probability of their automatic identification by sight and gives students opportunities to recognize them in isolation and in context.

T WO F ACTORS T HAT D ETERMINE T HE D IFFICULTY O F A N I RREGULAR W ORD …. The number or irregularities in the pronunciation of its sound/spelling correspondences. Whether or not the word is in a student’s oral vocabulary.

W ORD B ANKS AND W ORD W ALLS Word banks and word walls provide a method for teachers to organize irregular words that have been taught and learned so that students can practice them. (O’Connor 2007)

S EQUENCE OF I NTRODUCTION Word Frequency Introduce high-frequency irregular words before low- frequency irregular words. Word Similarity Some irregular words are frequently confused by students and should not be introduced too close together. Word Relationship Some pairs of irregular words belong to the same word family; they contain similar letter patterns, or phonograms.

W HY T EACH I RREGULAR W ORD R EADING ? Decoding is a highly reliable strategy for identifying regular words, but irregular words do not always conform to what is taught in phonics instruction. Beginning readers do not learn irregular words as quickly or accurately as regular words; they tend to read these words more slowly and inaccurately (Nation and Snowling, 1998) Knowledge of these irregular words is necessary for fluent reading.

W HEN ? When To Teach Irregular words need to be systematically introduced in a reasonable order, practiced, and then cumulatively reviewed. Introduce irregular words after students can read regular CVC words at a rate of about one words every three seconds. When to Assess and Intervene Teachers should assess students’ mastery of high- frequency regular and irregular words to inform classroom instruction. For students performing at or above grade level, monitor progress every four to six weeks. For students who are slightly below grade level, monitor progress every two weeks. For those students significantly below grade level monitor progress weekly.

HOW? Sound-Out Strategy A procedure for introducing the first irregular words should require students to examine all the letters in a word and then point out the irregularity in one or more of the word’s sound/spelling correspondences. Introduce Irregular Words Explain that irregular words are tricky words that cannot be sounded out in the regular way. Practice Irregular Words Provide each student with ample time to practice spelling and saying words. Word Reading Practice for Automaticity Using a grid or chart of irregular words, have students practice reading words that they have already learned. Apply to Decodable Text Choose books or passages in which most of the words are wholly decodable and the majority of the remaining words are previously taught irregular words.

H IGH -F REQUENCY W ORD L ISTS Dolch Basic Sight Vocabulary (Buckingham and Dolch 1936) 1000 Instant Words (Fry 2004) The Educator’s Word Frequency Guide (Zeno et al. 1995) Basic Elementary Reading Vocabularies (Harris and Jacobson 1972) The American Heritage Word Frequency Book (Carroll, Davies, and Richman 1971)