Using Knowledge of Syllables to Address Learning Gaps

This post was originally shared in an email newsletter on May 18, 2022. If you would like to receive the next TLA Newsletter, you can sign up here.

For many students, decoding multisyllabic words (particularly those with complex letter patterns) can be tough. We want to help you provide your students with as many tools as you can for them to become successful at reading. In this week's newsletter we're talking about syllable-based strategies—how they can be helpful for decoding, and what their limitations are.

Identifying and breaking words down into syllables

Why is syllabication -- breaking down words into syllables -- a helpful skill to teach? Well, if we can show students how to break a complex word down into smaller parts, it can be easier for them to decode. There are certain syllable patterns that students can learn and refer to when they come across a difficult word. Here are a few examples of strategies that you can teach:

• Teach students that?every syllable has a vowel sound. Show students to underline each vowel in a word, and then look to the left and right to see if it is part of a vowel team or r-controlled vowel pattern. This will help them determine the number of syllables in the word.?A very simple example to start with would be?nap-kin?(two vowels --> two syllables).
• Introduce?closed and open syllables. While there are a total of six syllable types, closed and open syllables represent over 70% of English syllables. Closed syllables are those that end with a consonant and have a short vowel sound. Open syllables end with the vowel and have a long vowel sound.
• Look at?how many consonants there are between the vowels. Words that contain the VCCV pattern of vowels and consonants (like?rab-bit)?are usually split between the two middle consonants. For VCV words, have students try splitting the words before or after the consonant—where you split it depends on whether the vowel sound is long (fi-ber)?or short?(pan-ic).??
• Explain that syllables can't begin with consonant clusters that wouldn't begin a word (e.g.,?ck?or?ng) , or end with consonant clusters that wouldn't end a word (e.g.,?bl?or?fr). Another helpful rule is that digraphs (th) and vowel teams (ea)?can't be split in the middle.
• Have students?look?for familiar prefixes and suffixes?to help them in breaking up the word (like the?un-?prefix in?unkind?or the the -ing?suffix in?stealing).

For more syllabication strategies (and important exceptions), check out?this article?from Devin M. Kearns and Victoria M. Whaley. While it's aimed at helping students with dyslexia, the strategies covered can be beneficial to all students.

The remainder of this newsletter discussed these important exceptions, as well as considerations to keep in mind when using syllabication strategies. To read more of this newsletter and others, consider subscribing to the Literacy Leaders email newsletter. For more on syllabication strategies, we'd love to have you join us in either our?self-paced course?or?weekly Literacy Masterminds PLCs?on this exact topic!