Final answer:
The assertion that good readers do not need a large storehouse of sight words if they have developed phonographic skills is false. Proficient reading involves a balance of sight word recognition and phonographic decoding. Sight words contribute to reading fluency and comprehension. False is the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that good readers do not require a large storehouse of sight words in their memory if they have highly developed phonographic skills is generally considered false. Good reading skills typically involve a combination of both phonics and the recognition of sight words. Phonics is the method of learning to read by decoding the sounds of letters, letter groups, and whole words.
However, while phonics is critical for understanding how words are constructed and for learning to decode unfamiliar words, having a substantial bank of sight words is equally important. Sight words are words that are recognized immediately without needing to be sounded out; these are usually common words that appear frequently in text and do not always follow standard phonetic patterns.
The ability to recognize these sight words instantly is crucial because it allows for smoother and more fluent reading. Efficient reading requires both the ability to decode words phonetically and to quickly recognize sight words so that the reader can understand text without getting bogged down by sounding out every word. This balance between sight words and phonographic skills is essential to becoming a proficient reader.
Moreover, sight words play a significant role in reading comprehension because they often serve as the glue that holds sentences and ideas together, making it easier to grasp the overall meaning of the text being read.