Decoding by Analogy

Decoding by analogy builds upon onset and rime skills. As a student reads more complex texts, he or she will encounter multi-syllable words that they have not read before. Decoding by analogy is where a student chooses key words that have similarities to the syllables in unknown words. For example, if a student encounters the word "envelope," he can decode it by comparing pieces of the word to words he already knows or chosen from a list, like pen (compared to en), tell (vel), and hope (ope).

Learning decoding by analogy can make a real difference in a student’s reading ability and has been advocated by the Benchmark School. The technique is the pinnacle of phonics instruction, but there are other decoding techniques that students must learn in conjunction with learning phonics. In the next module we will look at these techniques.