WORD RECOGNITION:
PHONICS AND
COMPREHENSION
PRESENTED BY
DR. ELAINE ROBERTS, PH.D.
UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA
Books Published:
Keys to Literacy Instruction in the Elementary Grades, Coffey & Roberts, Kendall
Hunt Publishing
Keys to literacy instruction for the Net generation: Grades 4-12, Roberts & Coffey,
Kendall Hunt Publishing www.kendallhunt.com
Components of a Balanced Literacy Diet
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Motivation for literacy
Concepts of print
Word/World knowledge
Language development
Listening/thinking skills
Sight words
Phonemic awareness and letter-sound connections
Letter formation
Spelling
Schema development
Authentic READING
 Fluency (read in conversational tone)
 Text structures
 Comprehension strategies
And REAL WRITING experiences
REMEMBER
!
!
Word recognition is the foundation
of Reading
Comprehension is the goal of
Reading
Phonemic Awareness: Phoneme Segmentation
Assessment
Ask:
“What are the sounds (phonemes) in… (target word)?
Show the number of sounds in the target words by
moving the appropriate number of disks.
 For example: “What are the sounds in the word
run?”
 Answer: r — u — n
 Your turn-go, grab, drum
Robert’s Spelling Error Guide
Ehri Word
Bear et al.
Recognition Stage
Spelling Stage
Example
Pre-alphabetic
Early Letter Name
bed = b
Letter Name
bed = bad
(visual cues)
Partial Alphabetic
(phonetic cues)
Full alphabetic
spellings)
drive = grive
Within Word Pattern
sip, ship
ship = (distinct
Roberts’ Spelling Error Guide, cont.
(Adapted from Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 1996; Ehri,
1992)
Ehri Word
Recognition Stage
Consolidated
Bear et al.
Spelling Stage
Example
Syllable Juncture popping
=popping
(chunks of letters)
plesure =
plesour,
pleasure
Common Phonics Patterns in English Syllables
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Syllables that end in a consonant: CVC (sat, napkin); the vowel is usually
short.
Syllable that ends with a vowel: CV (me, spider), V (a, halo, baby); the
vowel is often long.
Final e: CVCe (take, home, cupcake); the vowel is often long while the final
e is silent.
Vowel digraph (ai, ee, ea, oa, etc.) as in team, green, lean, peanut; the 1st
vowel is often long and the 2nd one is silent, but this does not apply to
many vowel teams.
Consonant digraph (sh, ph) as in shut, paragraph
R controlled vowel (ar, ur, ir, or, er) as in far, fur, for; the vowel is neither
long or short. Plus-ir, ar, ur often sound like er in one syllable words as in
the word car, fur.
7.
6. Consonant plus le, as in little, purple, treble = pur/ple
8.
Diphthongs (oi, oy) as in boil, toy; the vowels make a unique sound
7.
Schwa=vowel makes “uh” sound=awake
8.
9.
Blend= Two or three conson+-ants come together and blend their sounds
(brick, flip)
Soft and hard c and g-activity on website
http://www.watchknowlearn.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=52789&CategoryID=176
1. Ways to Segment Words
2. How to Add ing as a suffix (from Graves, Juel,Graves, deWitz, 2011, p.190)
Segment Words by…
Planet
Cats
Morphemes
planet
Cats
Syllables
Plan et
cats
Onsets & rimes (spelling
patterns)
Pl an et
k ats
Phonemes
P l a n et
K a t s
How to add ing to words
Double the consonant
then add ing
Just add ing
VC words =get
getting
VCC words=ask
asking
Dividing Words Into Syllables:
Hand and Chin strategy

Between 2 medial consonants: ig/nore, hap/py

After medial consonant between 2 vowels: ov/en

Words ending in le=consonant + le: re/li/a/ble, bab/ble

Prefixes and suffixes: un/done, trans/for/ma/tion, hap/pi/ness

Applications with digraphs: both/er
Discuss then check http://www.dictionary.com
Frequently Used Prefixes
Prefix
Prefix
un
inter
re
fore
in, im, ir, il (not)
de
dis
trans
en, em
super
non
semi
in, im (in or into)
anti
Over (too much)
mid
mis
Under (too little)
sub
pre
The Analogy Strategy
Examples of chunking unfamiliar words using the analogy strategy:
Spelling patterns are underlined. Vowels are often long and short-ask
students to check the vowel
Vowels=A,E, I, O, U and sometimes y and w!
C at
Re/spon/si/ble
Steps of the analogy strategy:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Teach 1-5 key words each week and study onset-rime (rime is also
called spelling patterns) of key words
Create word families from the key words
Use the key words in language experience stories
Use the key words in a variety of activities during the week (word
analysis, related games and connect to reading and writing for
comprehension)
Place the key word on a Word Wall as a reference for decoding
unfamiliar words with the same spelling patterns
Word Analysis and Word Detectives…Ask Students:
How Many Sounds Do You Hear in the word? How Many Letters are in the Word? Why?
Check the vowels
C A R
V I N E*
S EEN
k au r 3
v i n
s
C A N
T E N T
k a n
3
3
t e n t
e
n2
R OU N D
4
r ou
n d4
Ask: Tell me about the vowel…what is your rule? What is the phonics
generalization/rule? Does it break the rule?
Talk to Yourself Chart (Gaskins et al)
1. The keyword is ______________ .(vine)
2. Stretch the word.
I hear __________________ sounds. (3)
3. I see ________ letters because ______.
(4, the e is silent)
4. The spelling pattern is ____________. (ine)
5. This is what I know about the vowel:
_______________ . (the i is long because of e
at the end of the word-CVCe)
6. Another word on the word wall with the
same vowel sound is ________.(ride)
Partner-sharing Chart
Person 1: (Select a single syllable key word for this activity-it can come
from a one syllable or multi-syllable word)
1. My word is _________________ .
2. My word wall word is _______________ .
3. The words are alike because ____________ .
4. Do you agree?
Person 2:
Give one of these answers:
Yes/No, because _____________.
Switch roles.
Day 1: Using the Analogy Strategy for
Word Recognition
Introduce 1-5 key words to be used during the week (Ex.
Cat, grab, her, red, take) and learn the spelling patterns:
at, ab, er, ed, ake.
 Use the 1-5 key words in word families with the same
spelling patterns and check the vowels . Practice
saying “If I know________ then I know ________”

cat, hat, sat
grab, cab, drab her, better
red, sled, bed take, cake, rake

Use the 1-5 key words and some of the words in their
word families in a Language Experience Story that is fun
to write.
Day 2 of the Analogy Strategy:

Analyze the key words
 t a k e
t a k
(Tell me about the vowel-is it long, short, or
makes a unique sound. Why?)
Review the 1-5 key words to be learned during the week (i.e., cat,
grab, her, red, take-note there is only one key word for each
spelling pattern).
Discover words with the same spelling patterns during reading
across the content areas-Have students create goal charts to
motivate them to use the words during reading, spelling, writing,
and during discussions.
Use the key words in sentences and challenge sentences (model),
for example:
◦ Please take the cake out of the oven.
◦ We went skating after the party. (Note the at in “skate” makes
a different sound than at in “cat”-students share their
discovery about the difference)
◦ Please __________ the cat outside.




Elkonin Boxes…Use with word analysis
v
i
ne
b
oa
t
Autographs
Student Name___________ Please return the autograph sheet on ____________
Each autograph below the title certifies that the student has read the Word Detectives Story
with/to an adult one time. There should be one autograph under the story title for each reading.
Autograph Goal and example ___________________________________________________
Please write _____discoveries per night in your Language Log.
Book Title:_______________________
Book Title _______________________________
Parent Questions
What do I say when my child says, “What is this word?”

Consider the word:
First ask, “what have you tried?”
If the word is a simple one-syllable word, you could say…”Look at every letter in the
word.” “Stretch the word.” (e.g. best, tip, stick)

If the words seems to have a common spelling pattern like –et or –and, say…
“Look at every single letter in the word.”
“Find the vowel.”
“What is the spelling pattern?” (vowel and all letters after it in the syllable-r-ide…ide is the
spelling pattern).
“Do you know a word with the same spelling pattern?”
“If I know _______, then I know ___.” (e.g. brand, pet, grill)

If the word seems irregular and the sentence may help, say…
“Let’s read the sentence to see if you get any clues.” (e.g. onion, karate)
Apply in a Game

Play What’s in My Head?
My
word is on the board.
My word begins like “table”.
My word rhymes with “lake”.
Please __________ the cat outside.
Vowel Word Wall

Aa
*cat
Ee
Ii
bed ride
steal
Oo
boat
*on
Uu
up
Yy
yes
*Examples of multi-syllabic words and their single syllable key words:
at/tach/ed =cat, re/ spon/ si/ble =on.
Spelling patterns are also called rimes (the vowel and letters after it
in a syllable). The spelling patterns are underlined.
Struggling readers need to focus on phonics, spelling and vocabulary
and connect to comprehension during reading and writing
Great resource: Gaskins et al article about word recognition and the analogy strategy:
Procedures for word learning: Making discoveries about words, The Reading Teacher
Journal.
The analogy strategy for phonics, spelling, writing,
and comprehension
http://www.readingaz.com/newfiles/levels/runrecord/runrec.html
Running records information
Analogy strategy lessons with reading and writing
http://books.google.com/books?id=yCUgPbNFYx8C&pg=PA13
&lpg=PA13&dq=analogy+strategy+for+phonics+and+writin
g&source=bl&ots=gXwk0k8pfv&sig=ke9jrd2e669z0igdj4ECp
dJbJA0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bWe3UfbLEIno8wSy4oFg&ved=0C
DgQ6AEwAg
http://www.readingrockets.org/atoz/writing/
