It is actually a common misconception that sight words and
high frequency words are the same thing. This is easily understood as we instruct them
in a similar fashion when working with beginning readers, and several words can be found
on both sight word lists and high frequency word lists. However, there are subtle
differeneces between the two groups of words that can provide
distinction.
Sight words are defined by recognition. Sight
words are words that the reader can recognize "at first sight," therefore readers do not
need to devote cognitive energy to decoding or encoding these words. When working with
students in an intervention setting, I often refer to these words as "words we know by
heart" or "our word bank."
High Frequency words are
definied by usage in texts. High Frequency words are the words that appear the most
often in written text in the English language. We want students to memorize these words,
as they are encountered over and over and over while reading. While many of these words
do not fit our standard phonetic patterns, some do. The word "the" would also appear on
this list, as it is used extremely often in the written word. (I've used it twice in
this sentence.) This crossover between high frequency words and sight words is why many
people them to be the same thing.
Finally, Dolch words are
defined by Dr. Edward William Dolch as the words needed to instruct children through the
"whole word movement" which has now been discredited and replaced with phonemic
awareness and phonological awareness instruction (See the National Reading
Panel Report of 2000). When compiled, they were thought to be the words most
frequently used in written texts (the high frequency words of their day), and the words
that Dolch thought would be most appropriate to memorize as whole words in order to
learn to read. However, this was in 1936, and research now supports instruction in
phonics to teach children to blend and segment sounds within
words.
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