Decodable Books- What are they and why should we use them?
The debate is over. Decodable books are backed by YEARS of scientific research. The science tells us that students need to focus on the letter-sound correspondences (word reading) to decode and not on context clues or pictures. Are pictures bad? No, they are a great way to check the decoding and comprehension. But encourage your students to read the WORDS FIRST and then CHECK WITH THE PICTURES if they need.
Thankfully, even balanced literacy proponent, Lucy Calkins agrees. She and her colleagues at Teachers College have embraced the science of reading and encourage decodable books. Lucy Calkins said in her 2020 Postcards from a Journey: “Decodables help young children solidify their phonics by giving them
opportunities to apply the phonics skills they’re learning…We recommend that decodables are part of a student’s reading diet.”
SO WHAT IS A DECODABLE BOOK?
A decodable book is one that focuses on one new grapheme (sh), spelling pattern (the drop e rule when adding a suffix), or morphological unit (prefix re-). It uses a controlled set of vocabulary with spelling patterns and morphological units that have already been explicitly taught to the student. As the student learns more skills, those are added to the next levels of decodable texts.
A Sample Decodable text for the spelling pattern -tch
WHY DO WE USE DECODABLE BOOKS?
Especially in the earlier stages of literacy instruction, decodable books require students to use their phonic decoding skills instead of guessing. While this reading approach has long been used for students with dyslexia, current research tells us that this is the correct reading approach for ALL students!
We TEACH reading in different ways; they LEARN to read proficiently in only one way. Teaching is what we do- learning is what their brains do.
— Dr. David Kilpatrick
Reading decodable texts helps lead to orthographic mapping. Orthographic mapping is the long-term, efficient way that readers seemingly read “by sight.” But in fact, they are not using their visual memory at all for reading those words “by sight.” Instead, orthographic mapping builds the relationship between letters and sounds to bond the spellings and pronunciations of words in the most efficient manner. Once a word is correctly orthographically mapped, the reader will not have to laboriously decode it each time he encounters the word. Instead, the word will become permanently stored (“mapped”) as sight words for future, instant recall. This improves fluency and allows the brain to focus its energy on comprehending the text…the ultimate goal of reading!
Beginning Blends Decodable by Orton Gillingham Mama- Teachers Pay Teachers
WAIT, I WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DECODING AND HOW THE BRAIN WORKS. WHERE DO I LOOK??
Brain Words: How the Science of Reading Informs Teaching
Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can’t, and What Can Be Done About It
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