Sounding Out as a Cultural Model

     When a child comes to a word that they are unsure about, what is it that you say to them?

Do you tell them to "sound it out''? Is this really helping them with their reading and learning how to make their own reading strategies. In the article "Sounding Out": A Pervasive Cultural Model of Reading by Catherine Compton-Lilly she talks about the societal belief that reading is "sounding it out". She questions if that is what children really do when they are reading. She says "I find that when beginning readers attempt to "sound out words" they often produce each sound in isolation rather than blending the sounds together" (Compton-Lilly 444). This can be a problem when words have silent letters or complicated letter-sound combinations. Instead of sounding it out we should provide children with other useful strategies when they do not know a word. Have students look at the beginning and ending letters, ask them what makes sense, and what looks right. When reading have them look at the pictures on the page, read to the end of the sentence, and then read the sentence again, and have them look at the word parts. Three cueing systems are particularly helping when helping children to solve an unknown word. The three systems are Meaning (Semantics), Syntax, and Visual (Graphophonics). When looking at the meaning of a story, the children are using the story's background and meanings, and looking at illustrations to solve the unknown word. Ask the child, what makes sense? When looking at the syntax, the child is looking at the grammar. Ask the child, does that sound right? By using the visual information, the child is using the pictures, but the letter/sound combinations instead. Ask the student, does it look right? In my field experience, my 2nd grade teacher uses techniques such as this, instead of saying "sound it out". These strategies help the students to figure out unknown words without using the misguided phrase "sound it out". I think this makes the students better readers. It is important to break away from using the phrase "sound it out" because it is not helpful. As teachers, it is important to work on expanding student's strategies on solving words. We must help them to use letters and sounds in words through strategies that use visual cues and more efficient, then telling them to "sound it out". So the next time you are reading with a child, and they come to a word they are unsure of, ask yourself if you really want to tell them to "sound it out".