Can pictures promote the acquisition of sight‐word reading? An evaluation of two potential instructional strategies
Planned picture fades or a quick text-to-picture match turn pictures from distractors into helpers for sight-word reading.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Richardson and team tested two ways to use pictures when teaching sight words.
They worked with students who had developmental delays and typical peers.
Each child got three teaching styles: text-only, pictures that slowly faded out, and matching the word to a picture.
What they found
Both picture plans beat text-only.
The matching game taught words fastest.
Pictures helped when the team faded them on purpose.
How this fits with other research
Logan et al. (2000) saw the opposite: pictures slowed kids with moderate ID.
The clash fades when you see Richardson used planned fades and mixed groups.
Singh et al. (1990) warned pictures can block word learning; Richardson shows two fixes.
White et al. (1990) already liked fading models; this study adds picture matching as another tool.
Why it matters
You can keep pictures in the lesson if you fade them or add a quick matching trial.
Try text-to-picture matching first; it gave the fastest mastery.
Track each learner: kids with ID may still need text-only, but many thrive with a fade plan.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Sight-word instruction can be a useful supplement to phonics-based methods under some circumstances. Nonetheless, few studies have evaluated the conditions under which pictures may be used successfully to teach sight-word reading. In this study, we extended prior research by examining two potential strategies for reducing the effects of overshadowing when using picture prompts. Five children with developmental disabilities and two typically developing children participated. In the first experiment, the therapist embedded sight words within pictures but gradually faded in the pictures as needed using a least-to-most prompting hierarchy. In the second experiment, the therapist embedded text-to-picture matching within the sight-word reading sessions. Results suggested that these strategies reduced the interference typically observed with picture prompts and enhanced performance during teaching sessions for the majority of participants. Text-to-picture matching also accelerated mastery of the sight words relative to a condition under which the therapist presented text without pictures.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2017 · doi:10.1002/jaba.354