Shifting to Word Recognition in English

The Importance of Developing the Oral Language in English

The following diagram illustrates the importance of developing the child’s oral language in English
prior to and while learning to read in the language.

Word Recognition in the MT and in Filipino:

Alphabet Knowledge and Word Recognition in English

The discussion on teaching word recognition in Filipino using the Marungko Approach showed that after
teaching the first two consonants, m and s, the next letter taught is vowel a. After knowing its letter
name and sound and writing the letter form, the reader is taught to blend the letters m, s and a to form
syllables and words, and with the introduction of some sight words, they read phrases and sentences.

The technique in teaching reading in English is different; the consonants are introduced first. When a
reader can identify each consonant, can sound it correctly, and can write its upper and lower case, then
the words are introduced as word families. The vowels are not taught in isolation because each vowel in
English has more than one sound.

Learner’s Experience

Instruction of Oral Language in L2

What the Learner will Read, L2

Learner’s Oral Language, L1.

What the Learner will Read, L1

Sequence of Presentation of Words in English: The Word Families.

The lessons in word recognition in English are grouped into word families. The first word family
is termed the short vowel words in consonant-vowel-consonant pattern (CVC). This is followed
by words with initial and final consonant blends, words with consonant digraphs (ch and sh),
long vowel words ending in silent e, words with vowel digraphs and words with vowel
diphthongs. This sequence of words are listed below:
(a) Short vowel words in CVC pattern
short e as in pen
short a as in bat
short i as in pin
short o as in mop
short u as in bug
 (b) Consonant blends
Consonant blends are two or three consonants grouped together but each
consonant retains its original sound.
Words with consonant blends
Initial blends

l blends as in bless
r blends as in crib
s blends as in stop
Final blends

-nd as in send
-nt as in tent
-st as in best
-lt as in belt...
(c) Consonant digraphs are two or more consonants which when combined
produce a new sound.
Words with consonant digraphs:
beginning and ending ch as in chop, hatch
beginning and ending sh as in shop, fish
(d) Long vowel words ending in silent e
long a as in bake
long i as in like
long o as in nose
long u as in tube
(e) Words with vowel digraphs

Vowel digraphs are two vowels that are adjacent to one another. The first vowel usually has a long
sound and the second vowel is silent.

Words with vowel digraphs

oa as in goat
ee as in sheep
ea as in beat
ai as in pail
ay as in bay

(f) Words with vowel diphthongs

Vowel diphthongs are words that consist of a blend of two separate vowel sounds.
Words with vowel diphthongs

oi as in oil
oy as in toy
aw as in saw
ou as in out
ow as in how
(4) Sequence in Presenting the Word Recognition Lesson
Short (e) words
get den beg bed bell
let hen leg fed fell
met men peg led sell
net pen egg red tell
pet ten wed well
set yell
vet
wet
yet

I want to ride in a jet plane.

The girl met in the playground.

He sets the table.

A vet is an animal doctor.

This is a net.

2. Introduce the short e words ending in -et.

Let’s read the words:
get
let
met
net
pet
set
vet
wet
yet
3. Give exercises on vocabulary, reading and writing the words.
4. Introduce the phrases.
• Introduce the sight words: in, on, under, is, are, the, has, of
• Let them read in thought groups, using the sight words and the words that
they have studied (Teaching fluency starts.)
• Introduce the writing of phrases, observing spaces between words.
in the net has a pet
a wet net met the vet
5. Introduce the reading of sentences and answering Wh- questions. (Teaching
reading comprehension starts)
The vet has a pet.
Who has a pet? _____________
The net is wet.
What is wet. ______________
Let is in the jet.
Where is Let? ______________
 6. Let them read a “story” and answer Wh- questions.
The Wet Pet
Jet has a pet.
His pet is in the net.
His pet is wet.
Who has a pet? ___________
Where is the pet? ___________
What is wet? ____________

B. Short e words ending in -en

1. Vocabulary Development
2. Reading the words ending in -en
hen, pen, men, ten
3. Exercises on reading and writing -en and -et words.
4. Reading phrases
a pet hen has a pen
the ten men met the men
5. Reading sentences and answering Who, What and Where questions.
Ben has a pet hen.
Who has a pet hen?
The men are in the jet.
Where are the men?
Den has a pen.
Who has a pen?
The hen is in the net.
What is in the net?
6. Reading a short story.
The Pen
Jen has a pen.
Ben gets the pen.
“No, Ben.
Don’t get my pen.”
Who has a pen? ________________
Who gets the pen? ______________

After reading the words with short e words, and the phrases, sentences and short stories consisting of
short e words and some sight words, the next word families that the pupils will read are the following:

Short a words
bat can cap bag bad
cat fan lap lag dad
fat man map rag had
hat pan nap tag lad
mat ran tap mad
pat tan pad
rat sad
sat
vat
Short i words

bit bin big dip bill

fit fin dig hip fill
hit pin fig lip hill
lit tin pig rip mill
pit win wig sip pill
sit tip till

It should be noted that the first three words families are taught in Grade 2 second semester and they
are reviewed when the learners go to Grade 3. The English curriculum in Grade 3 tackle the following
word families:

Short o words
cot cop cob dog ox
dot hop rob fog box
got mop mob hog fox
hot pop sob log
lot top
not
pot
rot
tot
Short u words

rub bud bug gum fun cut

tub mud dug hum fun hut
sud hug sum gun nut
jug nun
mug run
rug sun
tug
After introducing one-syllable words with short vowel sounds, the learners are challenged to read two
syllable words consisting of short e, a, i, o and u sounds such as basket, magnet, sunset, hotdog,
cobweb, rotten, pigpen, piglet, kitten...

Sight words such as the, for, in, on, under, with . . . should be introduced. The learners maybe
challenged to read longer stories consisting of words with short vowel sounds and sight words.
Comprehension questions maybe asked after reading the stories.

The next word families consist of words with initial and final consonant blends. Words with consonant
blends have two or more consonants that appear together and the sound of each consonant is heard.
The most common initial consonant blends are:

• l blends: bl-, cl-, fl-, gl-, and pl-

• r blends: br-, cr-, dr-, fr-, gr-, pr-, tr-

• s blends: sc-, sk-, sl-, st-, sw-

Words with I blends

black clam flag glad plan slap

blanket clap flap glass plant slack

bless class flat plug slim

blend clock flip plus slip

block click flock slot

clip

Words with r blends

brat crab drag frog grab press track

bring crash dress from grand print trick
brush crib drum front grass present truck
crop drug trap
trip

Words with s blends

slacks stand swan spin skip
slam sting swim span skin
slap stamp swing spill skit
slim stump spit
slip
slot

Words with ending consonant blends

best camp bent band raft
nest damp dent land left
pest lamp lent stand gift
rest stamp rent wand lift
test sent sift
west tent

Words with Beginning and Ending Consonant Digraphs

Consonant digraphs are combination of two consonants that make one sound. Examples of consonant
digraphs are words that start or end in ch, sh.

Beginning sh Ending sh Beginning ch Ending ch

shell cash check batch

shed dash chess catch

shelf mash chick hatch

shall rash chill match

shot rush chop snatch

shut brush chum patch

shift wash champ watch

dish witch

fish switch

wish

It should be noted that the words with consonant blends and digraphs are followed by short vowel
words. It is advisable that words beginning or ending with consonant blends which have long vowel
sound may not yet be included. For example, slide starts in sl- but since the next letter has the long i
sound, which is not yet taken up, this word is not yet in the list of words to be taken up.

Words with Long Vowel Sound with Silent e at the End

The next word families consist of words with long vowel sound, with silent e at the end.

bake male cape date cane

cake pale nape gate lane
lake sale tape late mane
make tale grape mate pane
rake scale shape hate crane
sake stale grate
take
wake

brake
take fade case cave Lace
wake made base shave race
brake blade vase brace
grade erase
chase
Long i words

ice hide dine file pipe

dice ride fine mile ripe

lice side line tile stripe

mice bride mine pile

nice slide shine

spice

twice

bite dive lime life

kite five time wife

cite live slime

site alive chime

Long o words

hose hole bone lobe stove

nose mole cone robe drove
rose pole stone globe grove
chose stole telephone bathrobe
flagpole

rode note joke dome hope

vote broke Rome rope
Long u words

cube tune cure use cute

tube June pure fuse mute
sure muse
amuse

Let us remember:

The purpose of phonics instruction is not for children sound out words. The purpose is that they learn
to recognize words quickly and automatically, so that they can turn their attention to comprehension
of the text. If the children are devoting too much energy to sounding out words, they will not be able
to direct their attention to comprehension (Samuels, 1988). Moreover, phonics instruction should
occur in meaningful language situations (Vacca, 2011).

Fluency

Fluency is an important component of reading development and success. Fluency refers to reading
aloud with appropriate speed, accuracy, and expression (Huey, 1968 in Allington, 2009).4
Components of Fluency. There are three components of fluency: speed, accuracy and proper
expression. Speed, which is sometimes referred to as reading rate, indicates how fast one can read.
This is associated with automatic word recognition. Reading rate is usually measured in words per
minute. “Accuracy is the percentage of words read correctly in one minute” (Marshall & Campbell in
Schumm, 2006 p. 191). When a student reads accurately, this usually indicates that s/he can decode
words with minimal effort. In line with fluency, we want to determine the speed at which the student
reads accurately. This is assessed through words correct per minute (wcpm). However, aside from
speed and accuracy, the manner by which the students read matters in fluency. Expression refers to
how students read using the proper tone, pauses, and intonation. Fluent reading resembles
conversational speaking, that is; students read accurately without effort and with expression. Short
pauses between words and longer pauses between sentences are evident. Reading with appropriate
raising or lowering of the voice that indicate awareness of the differences among different kinds of
statements is noticeable.

Reading Behaviors that Demonstrate Fluency. Word-by-word reading is common at the earliest stage
of beginning reading (Chall 1983 in Allington, 2009). The student may track or point to each word as
s/he reads. This is considered a significant phase as the reader starts to understand the concept of a
“word” as s/he actually attends to print. Initially, there may be minimal or lack of expression as text is
read. Reading may also be at a slow pace and laborious with frequent pauses, repetitions, or
hesitations. The student’s voice may sometimes be hardly audible or heard. These characteristics may
be evident among beginning readers since they are using all their resources to focus on associating
sounds to letters and blending the sounds to form words. The hesitations, pauses, and repetitions of
sounds or syllables may indicate that the student is concentrating hard to tap his or her phonics
knowledge to make sense of the text. Speaking in a soft, inaudible voice may suggest uncertainty on
the accuracy of the words being read.

Over time, word-by-word reading progresses to random two-or-three-word units, then to reading in
phrases. Word groupings may initially seem awkward. Even when a student reads accurately with
automatic word recognition, lack of expression may still be evident. Reading may be in monotone like
reading a list of words rather than connected text. One possible reason for this could be the student is
not reading in phrase units.

In the following sentences, a beginning reader may be using random clustering of words as s/he reads.
Pauses may be done in inappropriate parts of the sentence.

The cat in / the box fell / in the well.

Nahulog ba sa / balon ang / pusa sa kahon?

May ahas na / malaki sa / paa ni lolo!

read appropriate texts at his or her level. Fluent readers typically read with proper phrasing. They may
reread the text to get the phrasing right. Somehow they connect how print is read to how one hears it
in spoken language. They read the following statements in larger, meaningful phrases:
The cat /in the box / fell in the well.

Nahulog ba / sa balon/ ang pusa/ sa kahon?

May ahas na malaki/ sa paa ni lolo! read appropriate texts at his or her level. Fluent
readers typically read with proper phrasing. They may reread the text to get the phrasing right.
Somehow they connect how print is read to how one hears it in spoken language. They read the
following statements in larger, meaningful phrases:
The cat /in the box / fell in the well.
Nahulog ba / sa balon/ ang pusa/ sa kahon?
May ahas na malaki/ sa paa ni lolo!