Word Families and Decoding by Analogy for Word Recognition

The purpose of this study was to determine if utilizing decoding by analogy through phonograms will increase second grade students’ word identification skills. Six second-grade students participate in the seven-week quantitative study. The six students received explicit instruction in phonogram study through decoding by analogy as a method of word attack to read an unknown word. In addition to the explicit instruction, the students had application time during the instruction to write and read the words in the context of literature. A pre-test post-test design helped determine student achievement in recognizing words in isolation with common phonogram patterns. The results indicated that all students increase their word recognition skills. This study raises questions about the best ways to instruct students for rapid recognition of words in isolation or in the context of literature