Models of reading development
Ehri (2005)
Phase theory of sight word reading
1) Pre-alphabetic
Children read words by remembering visual or contextual cues
Gough et al (1992) – children select a significant visual cue around or in the word to remember how to read it (like a thumb print), this is the earliest form of sight word reading
Evident in reading words in their everyday environment
Use salient visual features, rather than the letters
Masonheimer, Drum & Ehri (1984) – children could read few or no common words but could read common signs/labels, e.g. McDonalds. However, they would read Xepsi as Pepsi.
Children’s memory for words very limited during this stage
Adopt this visual cue approach because their alphabetic knowledge is limited
Signs and labels are rich in visual cues which are more salient than letters, reducing the need to actually read
Bloodgood (1999)
Children 3-5 years old could read their own names, and sometimes the names of their classmates
2) Transition
Commences with:
Development of letter knowledge
And ability to use this knowledge to form partial connections in memory
Gough and Hillinger (1980) claim that learn first 40ish words through cue reading and then begin to use letter-sound relations to decode words
Ehri and Wilce (1985) – found rudimentary alphabetic word reading develops as soon as can read a few words
3) Partial alphabetic
Partial Alphabetic Phase
Remember how to read words by using sound values of letters to form connections between spellings and pronunciations (Ehri, 1998)
Requires knowing the names/sounds of letters AND being able to detect some basic sounds in the pronunciations of words (phonemic awareness)
E.g. read ‘Jail’ by remembering letter sounds of ‘J’ and ‘L’ – middle letters are ignored so connections formed are only partial
Therefore, when different words share boundary letters, children may mix them up
Lack decoding skills so read new...