Teaching English 5: Dolch Sight Words

The "Dolch Word List" or the "Dolch Sight Word List" is a list of the most commonly used words in the English language.  They are essential for any student of English, and the sooner they are learned the better.

Many English teachers in Taiwan teach these words alongside the school's English curriculum.  Of course any beginner-level English textbook is going to introduce numbers and colors, and these words are also part of the Dolch List, but there are also all the pronouns, verbs, and adjectives that are essential to communication in the English language.  New English teachers, focusing too much on "the words in the book," often overlook the critical words like "the," "and," and "he."  Without these words, students can't really do much with their English, and such students are easily frustrated.

If you could get your average class of third graders to memorize at least 100 of the Dolch words in a school year, they would have a considerable advantage over most other students at their grade level.  The students with the Dolch words will have a firmer grasp of the language, and will be able to take more initiative with regard to their own learning.  Students who have memorized a string of random words during this same school year, anything from "zebra" to "periscope," are going to have more trouble decoding the language.

I try to work the Dolch words in where I can, but it's not always easy.  My school uses the Longman books to teach English, and after the first book this series of textbooks is all over the map in terms of vocabulary. Many of the Dolch words are to be found within the Longman books, but they are rarely presented as an object of study.  Instead, each unit has a comic book-like dialogue at the end of every chapter, and this dialogue is rarely the subject of any test.

I sometimes wish some big shot from the MOE would ask me my opinion on the state of Taiwanese English-language education, but I somehow doubt that will ever happen.  If he or she ever did, I'm sure that the Dolch Sight Words would be the first thing I would mention.  Studying high-frequency vocabulary seems like a no-brainer, but apparently others have different ideas.