What is the purpose of sight word recognition?

The purpose of sight word recognition is primarily to assist children in reading common words quickly and automatically. Sight words are frequently encountered in written language, and being able to recognize them instantly allows readers to focus their cognitive resources on understanding the meaning of the text, rather than decoding each individual word. This fluency in reading sight words contributes significantly to overall reading proficiency and confidence.

While recognizing sight words can indeed aid in comprehending complex texts over time, the immediate goal is efficiency and automaticity with the most commonly used words in the language. This automatic recognition means that readers do not have to pause to decode these words, thereby enhancing their reading fluency and ultimately their comprehension of larger texts.

Other options presented may touch on aspects of reading, but they do not capture the fundamental objective of sight word recognition, which is to promote quick and effortless word recognition.