Phases in Learning to Read Words
Prealphabetic Phase
The learner may or may not know letters and lack phonemic awareness. They may recognize words based on visual or contextual cues but cannot read the words if shown outside the familiar logographic context.
Ehri (2005, 2014)
Partial Alphabetic Phase
The learner demonstrates rudimentary alphabetic knowledge; they are familiar with most letter shapes and letter names and have formed partial grapheme-phoneme connections. They learn some words by remembering partial grapheme-phoneme connections but may confuse them with similarly spelled words.
Ehri (2005, 2014)
Full Alphabetic Phase
The learner can segment and blend sounds and read words by using the standard grapheme-phoneme correspondences. They can recognize similarities among words in terms of spelling patterns. They may still be slow in decoding because retrieving grapheme-phoneme patterns/rules takes great effort, taxing their working memory capacity. With practice and multiple exposures, they can eventually store the learned words (mainly shorter words) as sight words.
Ehri (2005, 2014); Ehri & McCormic (1998)
Consolidated Alphabetic Phase
The learner has complete knowledge of grapheme-phoneme relations and forms connections between all of the graphemes and phonemes as they read words. This means they can now decode unfamiliar words and pseudo words proficiently. Their sight word vocabulary expands rapidly, and they can read long, multisyllabic words easily because they begin to use morphological information.
Ehri (2005, 2014)
Automatic Phase
The learner can identify and read words (and word patterns) quickly and effortlessly. Because they can use the decoding strategies they have mastered to execute this lower-level reading process quickly, they can dedicate their cognitive resources to what is most important: understanding the main idea and reading with expression if reading aloud. The learner in this phase cannot help but recognize and process print and starts to read connected texts fluently.
Ehri (2005, 2014)
