This module is comprised of five sections
2.3 Visual Memory Theory of Reading
Learning Intentions
At the end of this session participants will:
- Define “sight words”
- Describe the whole word/sight word teaching
approach
- Examine the strong intuitive notion that we remember written words based upon visual memory
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Watch the Session 3 below
*Please see the Transcripts resource folder located in Module 0 for a text copy of the transcript from this video.
Summary
- Researchers and educators define sight words as
known, instantly familiar words that require no effort to read because they are
very well secured in memory
- Visual memory feels like the way words are
stored in memory
- This strongly intuitive notion has been shown to
be incorrect via multiple lines of independent research
- To understand reading we must elsewhere to
determine how we remember the words we read
Reflect and Connect
If
word-reading is not based upon visual memory, what skills is it strongly
correlated with? How might this shift in understanding influence a shift in
reading instruction?