Decoding multisyllabic words is similar to decoding CVC words. Students us their knowledge of grapheme-phoneme units to decode and fluently read CVC words. Students use their knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondence, morphemes*, and syllables to decode multisyllabic words for pronunciation, spelling, and meaning.
Teaching both syllables and morphemes should begin when students have the knowledge of letter-sound correspondences. Students begin analyzing words at birth through the oral language of those in their environment. They analyze words for their sounds and meanings. These are necessary survival skills to communicate their needs. Babies usually change the tone of their cries to match their need at the time. This is the beginning of effective communication that evolves into more precise tones of individual letters and words, as children get older. This knowledge is later transferred to written letters and words. Most students begin noticing and using letters/words in the years leading up to their formal years of education. The amount of written language exposure before they arrive in a formal classroom often dictates the amount of letter and word knowledge a student will have upon entering Kindergarten.
Students who are reading CVC words are analyzing and taking mental notes of how designated sounds of individual and groups of letters are blended to form different sounds. Students rely on these mental notes to assist them as words become increasingly more complex in how the letters are joined together to create words of meaning.
Most students need formal instruction of how to analyze words into a variety of different manageable word parts. Students are taught letter-sound correspondences that are used to decode CVC words by grapheme-phoneme units. Students are taught morphemes that can be used to separate words into chunks or units of meaning for pronunciation, spelling, and meaning.
There are six types of syllables that are taught to assist students in chunking words into smaller parts to help them decode the pronunciation. The English language has six major types of syllables described in the chart below.
| Type of syllable | CVC | Final e | Open | Vowel Diagraph | r-controlled | Constant – le |
| Example | cat
log bit set cut |
kite
bone bake cute
|
me
sky be/gan mu/sic |
oi – foil
ee – keep ea – beat oa boat oo – zoom |
ar – car
ir – girl er – her ur – fur or fork |
marble
puddle bugle maple little |
Syllables types are usually taught beginning with closed syllables and then moving onto Final e syllables or to the right on the chart. There are steps that usually ease the process of finding syllables in multisyllabic words. The first step is to underline all the vowels in a word. Each syllable has one vowel or vowel digraph. If you count the underlined vowels this will tell you how many syllables are in that word. The second step is to look for affixes. These are natural syllable breaks. Step one and two can be reversed. The third step is looking for double constants that can be separated, such as pp or cn. This is when finding syllables can become harder. Words like jester or jostling both have the double constant “st.” The word jester cannot be separated between the -s- and -t-, yet the word jostling can be separated between the -s- and -t-. Jester has the suffix -er, which makes the word splitable between the -te-. The word jostling has two different suffixes -le and -ing. The syllable/suffix -le takes the -t- to make the syllable -tle. Then the suffix -ing is added that requires dropping the -e- before adding the -ing. This makes the syllable split between the -st-. Once there is just one vowel or vowel team in each syllable, it is time to read the word. Students should read one syllable at a time, such as /off/, /set/, /ting/; then blend the syllables together – /offsetting/.
Orally, students can be taught to clap out a word into syllables, once the word is pronounced for them. Another way to find syllables orally is to place your hand under your chin and then pronounce the word aloud. Each time your chin dips is a syllable. Syllable knowledge increases the accuracy of language pronunciation and comprehension. Syllable knowledge also increases student decoding and encoding skills.
Morphemes are usually taught one at a time, such as -ing or -est. The meaning is discussed along with its origin of language, like Latin or German. Writing words and developing sentences that include the morpheme will increase the relevancy to the student. The study of morphemes usually increases student comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling and usage of different words.
*Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning. Base words are called free morphemes. Affixes might be an inflectional, derivational, or a bound morpheme.
