Decoding Tips for Tutors & Parents
Reading depends on decoding. Students can use it to sound out unfamiliar words and figure out the majority of words they have heard but have never seen on paper. All other aspects of reading instruction (fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension) are based on the capacity to decode. While decoding is a crucial reading skill, it is one that some students may struggle to grasp. As a parent or tutor, you can assist by identifying what aspect of decoding the student is struggling with then taking the appropriate steps to guide them correctly. Below we’ll discuss a common decoding mistake and ways in which you can assist your child/student to correct it! Student misreads a word by only sounding out the first and last letter. This is a common occurrence in readers of various levels. Without carefully looking at and decoding a word, some students simply guess the word based on the first and last letter. An example of this is a student seeing the word ‘beat’ and saying ‘bat’. Separa