What is it?
Automaticity refers to a reader's ability to
recognize words without consciously decoding.
It means readers recognize words as whole units, and
they recognize these words quickly and accurately.
For example, the word window is seen as one
unit--window, not /w-i-n-d-o-w/ or even /win-dow/.
How is it
important?
Automaticity--rapid
and accurate word recognition--leads to
fluency.
Fluency--the ability to read smoothly and easily at
a good pace with good phrasing and
expression--develops over time as students' word
recognition skills improve.
How is it
developed?
It's important to remember that students develop
automaticity through repeated exposure to a word
they can decode. In other words, just because a
student can sound out a word doesn't mean she
automatically recognizes it.
Some students may
need to see the word about ten times before it moves
into their memory bank of easily recognized words.
However, struggling readers may need to see the same
word forty times. Consequently, these students, more
than any others, need frequent opportunities to read
texts that are at their independent reading level,
not at their frustration level.
How to help your
student
Check out sight & high frequency words strategies in
the
National Database.
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