December 2021

Rethinking High Frequency Word Instruction

Written By: Danielle Colangelo, Regional Coordinator of Literacy and Teacher Center Services

Before rethinking high frequency word instruction, it is important to revisit the terms “sight words” and “high frequency words”. These terms are often used interchangeably. Sight words are words that are instantly recognized and can be identified without conscious effort. Sight words can be read automatically, accurately, and effortlessly. Sight words are individual to readers.

High frequency words are the most commonly used words in the English language and in print. The goal is for high frequency words to become sight words. High frequency words can be divided into two categories: decodable words (flash words) and irregular words (heart words). The distinction between and categorization of high frequency words is critical.

Flash words are phonetically decodable and follow regular phonics concepts. These words can be decoded using common phonics knowledge and letter-sound relationships. Examples of decodable flash words are: “at”, “can”, “did”, “not”, “we”, and “when”. Heart words have irregular spelling patterns and a part or parts of the heart words do not follow phonics concepts. Some parts of heart words will need to be “learned by heart”. Examples of irregular heart words are: “from”, “have”, “said”, “where”, and “who”.

The following steps can be taken to introduce and teach irregular heart words:

· Introduce the heart word and have students repeat the word (example – the). To provide context, use the word in a sentence (She has the ball.).

· Tap out the sounds of the word and state how many sounds are in the word (/th/ /ŭ/ - two sounds).

· Name the sounds of the word that are phonetically regular. (The first sound is /th/. We know that /th/ is spelled with the digraph th.)

· Explicitly teach the part/s of the word that are irregular. (The second sound is /ŭ/. This is not a u that is spelling /ŭ/; it is the letter e. We must know this part by heart.)

· Invite students to write the word and identify the part of the word that needs to be learned by heart. Students can underline, circle, or use a heart to identify the part of the word that needs to be learned by heart.

When introducing high frequency words it is important to point out to students if the word is an irregular heart word or a decodable flash word that can be read using phonics concepts that have been taught. It can also be helpful to organize both flash and heart words by similar spelling patterns. For example, “for”, “far”, “first”, and “hurt” are all decodable flash words with r-controlled vowels. The following are all irregular heart words where ue spells /ōō/ as in boot: “blue”, “clue”, and “true”. Visually similar irregular heart words such as “was” and “saw” or “where” and “were” should be introduced in separate lessons to avoid confusion.

In conclusion, while it is important to identify high frequency words as decodable flash words or irregular heart words, it should also be noted that high frequency words can change categories. For example, early in a phonics scope and sequence, “for” may be a heart word because r-controlled vowels have not yet been taught. When readers learn r-controlled vowel spelling patterns, “for” becomes a decodable flash word.