Nonsense Word Fluency Part 2: Three Stages of Word Reading

Welcome to part two in the three part series about nonsense word fluency.  If you missed part one, make sure you check it out by clicking here.  Part one gives the reason why teachers should be assessing students on nonsense words. 

For this post we will be defining the three stages of word reading-- sound by sound, partial blends and whole word reading.  Using a nonsense word fluency assessment, a teacher is able to determine which of the three stages a reader is at.  It is important to note that all students progress through these stages on their journey to read accurately and fluently. Knowing which stage students are in will help teachers plan their instructional focus.   

The fist stage is sound by sound reading.  Sound by sound reading is exactly as it sounds, the student individually pronounces each phoneme and then blends the sounds together to form the word.  In some cases the child may not blend, or blend incorrectly.  This is the most basic, and very first stage in word reading.

The second stage is partial blends.  This is when students are able to blend the rime together and then blend the rime with the onset.  For example in the word cat the student would say /c/ /at/ and then blend the onset and rime and read cat. In some cases the student may blend the rime first /at/ and then blend the onset with the rime to say the whole word /cat/.   This stage is more advanced than sound by sound reading. 

The final stage of word reading is unitizing the word.  This is the most advanced stage of word reading, and the stage we want all kids to arrive at.  Unitizing is when the student sees the word in text, thinks the word and says the word.  The students brain is able to instantly see the letters, know their sounds and blend the sounds to read the word--their phonological and orthographic processor are working efficiently and simultaneously.

Below is an example of how I record my NWF assessments.  I place a line under each letter if the student is at stage 1: sound by sound.  I place a longer line under the rime and a short line under the onset if the student is at stage 2: partial blends.  I place a long line under the whole word if the student is at stage 3: unitizing.  This is a really easy way to track which stage your students are at.  

Now that we have an understanding of the three stages of word reading, the next logical question is what should the instructional focus be at each stage?

Well.....stay tuned my friends......that will be the third post in this three part series. :)