Colenbrander-Wang-2020

Authors: Danielle Colenbrander Open the ORCID record for Danielle Colenbrander, Hua-Chen Wang , Tara Arrow and Anne Castles.

Article: Teaching irregular words: What we know, what we don’t know, and where we can go from here.

Publication: The Educational and Developmental Psychologist (Cambridge University Press). 37(2), 97-104 2020 | DOI: 10.1017/edp.2020.11

Abstract

Instruction in regular letter-sound relationships is a key element of teaching children to read. However, in the English language, many words have irregular spellings (e.g. saidareyacht). What is the best way to help children learn to read these words? To date, a number of different viewpoints have been put forward, but these viewpoints are seldom directly compared, and there is very little empirical evidence to adjudicate between them. Therefore, in this review, we outline the theoretical arguments for and against different methods of instruction, and synthesise the empirical research that does exist. We make recommendations for practice, and outline key areas where further evidence is required.

Tagged as: irregular spellings, reading instruction, and sight words

Citation:

Colenbrander, D., Wang, H., Arrow, T., & Castles, A. (2020). Teaching irregular words: What we know, what we don’t know, and where we can go from here. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 37(2), 97-104. doi:10.1017/edp.2020.11

Leave a public question or comment:

If you need personal help or assistance please use our contact forms instead.


All comments are moderated. Comments that are not relevant to the page topic or which contain identifiable personal information will be removed.


Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *