What are word families and why are they an important reading strategy?

When we consider all the elements that go into becoming a proficient reader, it seems like a monumental task, and yet somehow young children learn the different decoding skills necessary for them, and most become proficient readers in the early years. of school.

However, not all young children learn to read easily, and even those who will eventually succeed face difficulties along the way. An easy way that parents can help pave the path to reading success for their children is through the use of word families.

Word families, sometimes called phonograms or fragments, can really help emerging readers begin to understand our complicated and often inconsistent language by providing some predictable patterns within words. As you and I learned to read, we picked up these patterns effortlessly and they still help us when we try to decode new words. When we direct our students’ attention to these same patterns, they too will be able to untangle the seemingly unrelated sounds in English.

When learning to read, patterns are important. Children recognize word patterns and this makes it easier to pronounce words.

For example, consider the word family “everyone.” First, show the child “everyone” and ask him to repeat the sound. Then show the word “ball” and show how you can “read” the word by making the “b” sound first and then “everyone.” Repeat slowly, then faster. Now move on to some other members of the “all” family, such as call, fall, hall, mall, stand, tall, wall.

Can you see how much easier this method of using letter “chunks” is compared to pronouncing one letter at a time? As skilled readers, we naturally break words into chunks, and teaching children this skill can help them learn to read.

What’s even better is that once children learn the 37 most common word families in English, they will be able to decode 500 words. That puts emerging readers well on their way to mastering the entire decoding process. Common word families include: ack, ain, ake, ale, all, ame, an, ank, ap, ash, at, ate, away, eat, ell, est, ice, ick, ide, ight, ill , in, ine, ing, ink, ip, it, ock, oke, op, ore, ot, uck, ug, ump, unk.

Word families are, in fact, an efficient way to get children to read. Once children learn these one-syllable phonograms, they will also be able to decode longer words more easily.

Exposing your child to word families, teaching the use of these language patterns, and reinforcing knowledge with rhyming games and activities will help your child learn to read.