TRT Podcast#53: 4 Common misconceptions about teaching sight words
Should we use the Dolch grade-level lists to help us decide which sight words to teach? Should we teach our students to memorize sight words as wholes? And should beginning reading instruction START with sight words? Get answers to these questions and more as we look at common misconceptions surrounding the teaching of sight words.
Listen to the episode here
Full episode transcript
Check out these posts from our sight word series!
- What is the difference between sight words and high frequency words?
- What is the difference between Dolch and Fry sight words?
- How to teach sight words
- Should we teach sight words in preschool?
- Sight words organized by phonics skill
YOU’LL LOVE THIS PRACTICAL BOOK!

Looking for an easy-to-read guide to help you reach all readers? If you teach kindergarten through third grade, this is the book for you. Get practical ideas and lesson plan templates that you can implement tomorrow!
Kristy
Hi Anna,
I am posting all the way from Australia! I absolutely love your podcasts and have learnt so much about the science of reading. I am confused on one thing though which I’m hoping you can clarify. I thought I heard on this podcast episode that as even skilled readers we cannot memorise all words as a whole. Does this mean that we (adult proficient readers) still use orthographic mapping to retrieve words from our own personal sight word bank in order to read and make meaning? So, say when we read a book, are we using orthographic mapping to read the words we already know, just at a rate much faster than the kids we teach? Or do we just know the words as wholes because we’ve seen them so many times over years and years of being fluent, proficient readers? I’d love to know the role that orthographic mapping plays in adulthood for skilled readers. Do we keep doing it, or does it drop off once we become proficient at reading?
Many thanks! Looking forward to tuning into another podcast episode soon 😊😊
Anna Geiger
Hi Kristy! You have 30,000-70,000 words in your “sight vocabulary.” All those words have been orthographically mapped. When you encounter a new challenging word (like a technical term) and have to sound it out, it only takes 1-2 exposures for that word to be orthographically mapped as well – that is, you recognize it instantly the next time.
This isn’t to say that kids don’t ever memorize words as wholes – they do some of that at the beginning, but it’s not sustainable and not a good teaching strategy. Does that make sense?
Jody
When should we ask students to write sight words correctly?
For example, If we teach a, the, my, and, & can in Kindergarten, is it ok to expect them to spell them too?
Anna Geiger
My thinking has changed on this over time, Jody, but now I believe that if we’re teaching them to read the high frequency words, we should also be teaching them to spell them. If they’re not ready to learn to spell them, I think we need to ask how we’re teaching them to read the words. While teaching early readers to memorize a few (emphasize FEW) high frequency words is okay to get them started, we really want them to sound out what they can so they can orthographically map the words. Spelling plays a big part in this.
Siobhan
The reason the Dolch list is leveled by grade is that he used the prevailing reading primers as the gauge. So the 1st grade words were from the 1946 reading primers… Fry updated the list in the 1980s, but that still makes it outdated for today 😉
I really appreciate you talking about this! I’m a 16-year veteran, National Board Certified Teacher, but the more senior teachers don’t listen to me because they keep saying their way works (memorizing, calling all memorized words sight words, not understanding the importance of “decoding” the sight words). Ugh. Thank you for sticking up for research-backed practices!
Anna Geiger
Thanks for clearing that up, Siobhan – and thanks for working to be a voice for change at your school! Your kind words are very appreciated. 🙂