The Importance of Flexibility of Pronunciation in Learning to Decode: A Training Study in Set for Variability.

The ability to flexibly approach the pronunciation of unknown words, or set for variability, has been shown to contribute to word recognition skills. However, this is the first study that has attempted to teach students strategies for increasing their set for variability. Beginning readers (N = 15) were instructed to correct oral mispronunciations and then systematically alter sounds in words with exception spellings, while a control group (N = 15) was encouraged to decode passages without the set for variability instruction. It was hypothesized that this brief training would result in readers who are more persistent and more successful in attempting to read words with irregular spellings. Participants who received the experimental training made more attempts to read words with irregular spellings; however, they were not more successful in these attempts. It is argued that this means that set for variability is a teachable concept, in that students in this study acquired the strategy.