Decoding

What are decoding skills?

In order to decode words, the learner must

• Recognize the letters in the word
• Associate each letter with its sound
• Hold these sounds in sequence in memory
• Blend these sounds together to determine the word
• Retrieve the meaning of the word 

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Why are decoding skills important?

If students learn to decode, they will be able to read new words.

If students are only taught sight word recognition skills, they will have a limited reading vocabulary.

Students who can decode words are able to read a wider range of books.

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Sample goal for single word decoding

When presented with a simple 3-letter word in print, the learner will

• decode the word
• indicate the word by saying it out loud, signing it, or selecting the appropriate picture or AAC symbol with at least 80% accuracy

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Instructional Task

Here is an example of the instructional task to teach single word decoding skills.

• The instructor presents a written word.
• The learner
  • looks at the letters in the word
  • thinks of the sounds for each of the letters
  • blends them together in his/her head
  • determines the word
  • says the word out loud, signs it, or selects the correct picture or AAC symbol.

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Instructional Materials

Here is an example of a response plate for instruction in single word decoding.

• The written word is big.
• The response options are big, pig, bib, and bug.

This response plate is from the Accessible Literacy Learning (ALL) curriculum from DynaVox Mayer Johnson, Inc.  Picture Communication Symbols (c) 1981-2009 DynaVox Mayer-Johnson, Inc. are used with permission. All rights reserved.

The learner must:

• look at the letters
• associate them with their sounds
• blend the sounds in his/her head in sequence to determine the word
• say the word, sign it, or select the correct picture or symbol

The pictures are carefully chosen:

• one is the correct answer – big
• one represents a mistake in the initial letter sound – pig
• one represents a mistake in the final letter sound – bib
• one represents a mistake in the middle letter sound – bug.

Analyzing the learner’s errors can help to identify areas that require more instruction.

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Instructional Procedure

The instructor teaches decoding skills using the procedures described earlier.

• Model
  • The instructor demonstrates decoding for the learner.
• Guided practice
  • The instructor provides scaffolding support or prompting to help the learner decode successfully.
  • Points to the letters in sequence.
  • Says each letter sound in sequence elongating the sound and blending it with the next sound.
  • Then points to the letters and says the sounds a bit faster.
  • The instructor gradually fades this support as the learner develops competence.
• Independent practice
  • The learner looks at the letters in the word, says the sounds in his/her head, blends them, and determines the word independently.
  • The instructor monitors the learner’s responses and provides appropriate feedback.

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Student Example

Sandra is 14 years old in this video.

• Sandra has cerebral palsy
• We started to work with Sandra when she was 13 years old. At that time, she was recovering from surgery and was being home schooled two days a week for an hour each day. She had not previously received literacy instruction other than instruction in the letter names.
• She uses speech, gestures and a communication book to communicate as well as a computer with speech output (a DynaVox MT4).
• This video was taken after approximately 8 weeks of instruction.
• Sandra is learning to decode single words. In the first example,
  • Jennifer, a graduate student at Penn State,
    • shows her a response plate with 4 PCS: the picture symbols for nap, cup, cat, and cap.
    • reviews the symbols with her to make sure she knows them
  • Sandra
    • looks at the written word - cap
    • thinks of the sounds for each of the letters
    • blends the sounds together in her head
    • points to the PCS for the target word, cap
• After 2 months (approximately 8 hours) of instruction, Sandra has successfully learned to decode regular 3-letter words
• She uses these skills to read words during shared reading activities
• Sandra is well on the way to becoming a successful reader. Click to learn more about Sandra’s success learning literacy skills and the impact on her life.

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Pointers

Learners can start instruction in decoding as soon as they

• Know 4-6 letter-sound correspondences
• Are able to blend sounds together to determine words.

As students learn new letter-sound correspondences, they will be able to read more words.

Start by teaching learners to decode regular 3 letter words.
As learners develop competence, introduce longer 4 letter words.

Some words are irregular and cannot be decoded

• For example, “said”, “was”, “there” These words must be memorized by sight.
• Click on sight word recognition skills for additional information.

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