What is automaticity?
- Automaticity: the ability to quickly and accurately identify letters, letter-sound correspondences, and isolated words without conscious thinking about each step in the process
Why is automaticity important?
- Achieving automaticity in lower-level skills frees up working memory for more complex skills, such as comprehension.
- When too much cognitive energy has to be devoted to decoding, comprehension may be reduced.
- The faster text is processed, the easier it is to access meaning directly and integrate new information with prior knowledge.
- Automaticity is required for fluency.
Six steps to developing automaticity:
- Provide explicit systematic instruction.
- Develop accuracy in all key components of decoding, such as blending skills, irregular word recognition, etc.
- Develop mastery in decoding.
- Provide opportunities to overlearn. - Practice should be continued beyond demonstration of mastery.
Visit the original source for a more detailed explanation of each step and suggestions on practice opportunities with Phonics Hero.
