Why Do We Teach Decoding with Pseudo Words?

At Online Reading Tutor, we provide our learners with a series of fake words, known as pseudo words, to help improve their decoding and ability to read. Pseudo words are spelt in predictable ways that help teach learners to apply decoding skills to common words.

When using a test with normal words, it is difficult for teachers to accurately assess whether or not a student’s performance was due to their decoding skills or memory skills. For example, the words dog and cat may well be “read” by memory that requires no decoding skills, as these are common words that many people have experience with. On the other hand, pseudo works such as sog, rog, lat, and zat must be decoded since a student has no prior exposure to these words. Another reason for using pseudo words is that longer multi-syllable words are made up of pseudo word segments. For example, the word entertainment consists of four pseudo words: en (cv), ter (cvc), tain (cvvc), ment (cvcc).

Of course, one must be careful in selecting pseudo words. “Qib” would be a poor choice whereas “quab” would be acceptable; it is important for these pseudo words to be pronounceable and they should follow typical English rules (the letter “u” comes after the letter “q”). Once pseudo words are mastered, students can transfer the skills they have learned from pseudo words to regular words, meaning fluency in similar real words is much easier to achieve. The student is then ready to move on to more complex, multi-syllable, grade level vocabulary.

Our learning solution is what sets us apart from competitors; the usage of pseudo words, in addition to measuring consistency of students’ processing speed and accuracy of students’ responses, has allowed us to help hundreds of dyslexics improve their reading. Learning rapid, automatic pseudo word decoding skills is a crucial part of their success.