Sight Words and the Dual Coding Theory

Review of Literature

Instructing students how to read had been a primary focus in education since 2000 when the National Reading Panel came out with their report; Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. The report identified the foundational skills needed to become a successful reader; Phonemic awareness, alphabetic principal, fluency, concepts of print, vocabulary development, comprehension. Without these reading skills, one would struggle to be independent in our society. Learning to read sight words helps with both fluency and vocabulary development.

Children’s exposure to the world of print happens well before they begin kindergarten or pre-school. Children as young as nine months show interest in books, by looking at pictures and enjoying the melody of the rhymes. According to Slavin, emergent literacy skills related to young children usually develop from before the beginning of formal reading instruction in school because of their experiences with books and other printed media (Dulac). None of this is done through formal instruction; it is experienced and becomes part of the prior knowledge. Children first learn symbols and assume the symbol represents a whole word like the golden arches representing the word McDonalds (Wren, 2001).

According to Paivio, the ability to create mental pictures is a primary cognitive form of nonverbal (visual) representation, one part of his Dual Coding Theory. His theory breaks cognition down into two forms; verbal and visual codes. (Sadoski, 2005). The verbal code represents and processes language, both verbal and written words. The visual code processes events, objects, and experien...

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...Works Cited

(n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2011, from Picture Me Reading: http://picturemereading.com/

Arlin, M., Scott, M., & Webster, J. (1978-1979). The effects of picture on rates of learning sight words: A critique of the focal attention hypothosis. Reading Research Quarterly, 645-660.

Dulac, B. (n.d.). 356.dulac. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from Literacy Development in Early Childhood Education: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.dulac/emergent_literacy-_first_encounters

Meadan, H., Stoner, J. B., & Parette, H. P. (2008). Sight Word Recognition Amoung Young Children At-Risk: Picture-Supported vs. Word-Only. Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits, 45-58.

Reed, S. K. (2006). Conative Architectures for Mulimedia Learning. Educational Psychologists, 87-98.

Sadoski, M. (2005). A Dual Coding View Of Vocabulary Learning. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 221-238.