Common Misconceptions

The brain memorizes whole words as an object. 

1. For years, teachers have been teaching sight words through rote memorization. We now know that the brain does not learn to read that way. If this were true, we would then have to remember words in both upper and lowercase print as well as in different fonts. 

Sight words follow no real rule and cannot be sounded out.

1. It is assumed that these words follow no rule and therefore cannot be learned using sound-symbol relationships. This is also not true. While some words are irregular, most are somewhat decodable. In fact,  50 percent of all English words can be spelled using sound/symbol relationships alone and 36 percent can be spelled accurately. That means that 86% of our language can be decoded in some way. 

Why are there so many different terms and Why are they so confusing?

Sight words are words that we recognize instantly

High-frequency words are the words that appear most often in printed materials. 

Regular or Irregular: Sight words and high-frequency words can be both regular or irregular.

Regular sight words/high-frequency words can be completely decoded. They follow a predictable pattern and students can use their phonics skills to decode them. 

Irregularly or partially irregular spelled words are called heart words.

Heart words are words that may have some decodable parts BUT have at least one sound that is irregular. When we teach students the heart word method, we teach them that we have to know that irregular part by heart.