The Value of Word Attack Skills
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Also known as Decoding skills, Word Attack skills are those that you use to make sense of printed words. Simply put, this means being able to recognize and analyze a printed word to connect it to the spoken word it represents. These skills are a must to transition children into successful readers.
What Are Word Attack Skills?
Word Attack Skills include the ability to recognize the basic sounds and sound blends, called phonemes, that make up a word and to know what the word means, recognize it in context, and know whether or not it's being used correctly in a sentence. Without decoding skills, students would have difficulty ever learning to read.
Word Attack skills can help students spot words that are already familiar to them and to sound out new words.
In the English language, the letters in some words don't make the sounds one would expect. "Tough" "or "Wednesday" are examples of words students might encounter that they may have difficulty sounding out. Sometimes this happens because English has borrowed words from other languages, like French, that don't follow the English rules of pronunciation.
But often this is due to the peculiarities of the English language. In any case, children learning to read are typically taught about "silent letters" and words with letters that don't sound the way they look.
Outside of the classroom, you can use worksheets, recordings, educational videos, and computer programs to help your child beef up their decoding skills. Instruction in phonics helps children give their decoding skills a boost as well.
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