High frequency words, commonly referred to as sight words, are often a focus of emergent reading instruction. Instructional practices abound that require emergent readers to memorize the spelling and pronunciation of the words without drawing attention to grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) in the words. These approaches ignore a critical…

Grounded in the simple view of reading, this study tracked the development of print-processing skill in high-, average-, and low-achieving readers at six time points across grades 1-3. Results showed large between-group differences in sight vocabulary, oral reading accuracy, and oral reading rate that remained stable from beginning of first grade…

Discusses the construction and testing of The Extended Basic Sight Vocabulary word list. Concludes that it provides educators with a unique instrument for the teaching and testing of words and for the preparation of instructional materials. Includes the word list. (FL)

Concludes that the level of categorization from which a word is drawn affects its learnability as a sight word. (FL)

Compares the reading performance of first grade readers of low, middle, and high abilities trained in listen-read, listen-alone, or read-alone procedures. Concludes that the listen-read procedure is an effective technique for low and middle ability readers in facilitating word recognition and reading comprehension. (RS)