The Teaching of Word Recognition to Pupils with Reading Difficulties in Class Two to Overcome Their Problems

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to build the automatic process of word recognition for pupils who are less proficient at word recognition and reading. This study initially looked at the problems less proficient readers face and what research has revealed. It then explores what teachers can do in their practice, such as reading aloud, unlocking pronunciation models, using reading materials in reading programmes or letter-sound association, and mastering spelling, to name but a few, to facilitate the process of word recognition. Tasks are then introduced, such as extensive reading, read and look-up procedures, the matching of specific words with identical words, and predict and infer meaning tasks that pupils can work on to develop their word recognition skills. These include the use of phonics, fluency, vocabulary building, extensive reading, the look-and-say method, and syntactic word order clues. The final part of the paper explores autonomous learner methods (learner strategies) that can be employed by pupils to improve their word recognition skills.