Category: Structure Literacy Instruction

What is Reading Fluency?

Reading fluency requires many different components working together to produce accurate reading fluency. Reading fluency is defined as “reading skills that involve the ability to read text aloud with accuracy, appropriate rate, and good expression” (Ray, 2017). The skills necessary and the degree of dependency on those components for reading a written passage change over time. Students will rely more on letter-sound correspondences to decode words when they are beginning to learn how to read and more on orthographic mapping as their reading abilities increase. Students will also depend more on their oral language or phonemic awareness abilities when they are first learning how to read. All students begin to read at the same point, no matter the age. In this blog I will focus on the accuracy part of reading fluency. In the future blogs, I will discuss the rate and good expression of reading fluency.

Reading fluency is dependent on how accurate the passage is read. This is the ability to read aloud written words or symbols on a page with little or no mistakes. Reading accuracy develops in layers, beginning with the foundation – oral language ability. This is developed through student environment, with their immediate or home environment having the largest impact on their oral language development. This means that students begin learning how to read through the individuals that they spend the most time interacting with. These individuals assist in their development of phonological awareness skills; the ability to recognize and manipulate sound parts of words, like phonemes and on-set rimes. Student phonological awareness skills before learning how to read written words usually dictates their rate of acquiring reading skills.

Another vital skill in the development of reading accuracy is knowing each individual phoneme and how it is represented by grapheme(es), which is letter – sound correspondences. This skill is essential for initially learning how to read. This skill gives students the power to decode written words. Student will combine this skill with their phonemic awareness skills, such as rhyming to decode words. Some students will learn this with little instruction. The majority of students need explicit, direct instruction accompanied with lots and lots and lots of practice. And still, some will need direct one-on-one instruction that includes oral, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile components. Students will continue to rely on their knowledge of graphemes and their corresponding phonemes through-out their lifetime.

Another skill that is necessary for reading accurately is the ability to break down multisyllabic words into more manageable parts, sometimes called chunking. Students begin to automatically divide and conquer multisyllabic words based on their knowledge of phonemes, graphemes, syllables, and morphemes. This skill becomes more relevant after students learn how to accurately decode CVC, CVCe, CCVC and CCVCe words. Students use their knowledge of syllable types and morphemes to breakdown a multisyllabic word. The different syllable types have recognizable patterns that help the reader to decode words. Over time the student brain develops a “catalog” of rules and patterns about letters and groups of letters (orthographic knowledge) to increase the speed in which a person conquers new or previously introduced words that still need practice. Students use their orthographic mapping skills to permanently store a word for instant retrieval. Over time students will naturally depend less on the individual phonemes to decode words and rely more on their orthographic knowledge and mapping abilities.

Why worry about reading accuracy? Student usage of the words read in a passage is compromised when students are unable to accurately read at least 95% of the words. The inaccuracy usually causes a cognitive overload, similar to an overload on an energy circuit. The connection is disabled.

Learning how to read is not a naturally phenomenon. Each person has to learn, develop new skills in order to read written words. These skills are usually taught in a systematic format beginning with oral language knowledge and skills.

In my next blog I will discuss the appropriate rate necessary for reading fluency.

References
Apel K. What is orthographic knowledge? Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2011 Oct;42(4):592-603. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461(2011/10-0085). Epub 2011 Aug 15. PMID: 21844399.
Ray, J. S. (2017). Tier 2 intervention for students in grades 1-3 identified as at-risk in reading. (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3826/
Reading Rockets (2024). Basics: sight words and orthographic mapping.
https://www.readingrockets.org/reading-101/reading-and-writing-basics/sight-words-and-orthographic-mapping

Gillingham and Stillman’s (1956) Phonics Instructional Theory, Part II

This is Part 2 of a two-part blog on the phonics instructional theory of Anna Gillingham and Bessie Stillman (1956). The first part was published on this platform (The Literacy Brain) on July 5, 2023. There are eight linkages or steps to their theory of teaching phonics. I wrote about the history of their theory and linkages one and two in Blog 1. Gillingham and Stillman suggest that these steps should be used as initial instruction during Grades 1 and 2 and remedial instruction in Grade 3.

Gillingham and Stillman’s (1956) instructional method involves the close association of components that form a language triangle. These components are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. These components work together to record information in the brain.

An additional note about linkage two, which is about how to properly write graphemes. Gillingham and Stillman (1956) emphasized the importance of proper penmanship. They stated that “no symbol is really serviceable for easy writing until it can be formed without visual supervision” (p. 41). Tracing letters may take place for several weeks before students begin to write them on their own. Writing letters incorrectly lends to poor writing and spelling.

The third step asks the teacher to show the student a grapheme (visual) of a letter and asks the student to name (auditory) the grapheme. Occasionally, the teacher moves (kinesthetic) the student’s hand to form the letter. The student is not supposed to watch the process, but name (auditory) the letter that his hand was guided to form. The teacher asks the student, what sound (auditory) does this letter make? Student needs to know both the visual and kinesthetic feel of a letter.

During the fourth linkage, the teacher asks the student to write (auditory/kinesthetic) the grapheme (auditory/visual) for a spoken sound, like d for /d/.

In step five, the teacher shows (visual) the student the grapheme from Step 3 and asked them to stated what it says (its sound) (auditory). The teacher moves (kinesthetic) the student’s hand to form the letter, while the student looks away and says (auditory) the sound of the letter that his hand was guided to form. The teacher asks the student, what sound (auditory) does this letter make?

In step six, the teacher states (auditory) a grapheme.  Then the student states the phoneme of the teacher stated letter or groups of letters. This is an exercise of auditory recall, along with the connection of auditory and kinesthetic.

In step seven, the teacher says (auditory) a phoneme and the student states (auditory) the name of the grapheme. This is similar to Linkage 6 in how the brain is processing the information.

In linkage eight, the teacher states a phoneme (auditory) and the student writes (kinesthetic) down the grapheme (visual) of the phoneme. Students should practice this step with and without looking at their paper. The student should name the letter(s) as they write the symbol(s) for the sound.

Gillingham and Stillman (1956) suggest that linkages of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 are less important than linkages 5, 7 and 8. They stated that the latter steps of their phonics instructional theory require daily practice. They also discussed that teacher observation will assist them to provide or repeat other necessary instructional steps. Students are building connections between the graphemes and phonemes during the steps of the instructional process. In step five, students are translating the written symbol(s) in to the symbol’s phoneme. In linkage seven, students are listening to a sound and naming the written symbol(s) for the sound heard. This is done orally. In linkage eight student are translating from an oral sound to a written symbol or letter. Students who struggle with any of these tasks (linkages 1-7) usually have a language deficit.

References

Gillingham, A, & Stillman, B. (1956). Remedial training for children with specific disability in reading, spelling, and penmanship. Cambridge: Education Publication Service, Inc.

 

The Necessary Components of Learning How to Spelling

Writing is often hard for students. Writing in general requires a higher level of cognitive skills. Writing requires students to synthesize known information. This is easier to accomplish orally. Individuals often speak (especially young children) at a higher cognitive level than they can write. Oral language is usually developed naturally through one’s environment, whereas writing words on paper requires instruction. Students often orally convey their thoughts in fragments, whereas most thoughts on paper must be put into complete sentences. One piece of the writing pie is correctly spelling or encoding words on paper. Students will often use lower-level words that they might be able to spell correctly. Students who struggle in spelling words correctly usually avoid writing words on paper. This is when creative instruction needs to be brought in play.

English is not a transparent language; it has stable rules and many exceptions to those stable rules. In transparent languages like, Finish or Italian the graphemes and phonemes are more consistent, with little expectations of the graphemes changing sounds within words. English is derived from multiple languages. Most American English words are derived from Latin, Greek, and Anglo-Saxon languages. These languages have stable rules that can be learned through studying letter-sound correspondences, syllable patterns and morpheme patterns. When a student knows where the word is derived from and the “rules” of that language assist in spelling the word accurately.  Webster brought more constancy in how we spell American English, while he creating the first instructional spelling books in the early 1800s.

Spelling requires students to know about phonology, orthography, and morphology to correctly encode a word. Phonology is the study of the sounds of letters that develop words. Students need to know the one-on-one grapheme-phoneme correspondences of the 26 letters in the English alphabet. During the study of phonology students begin learning how each letter may change its sound depending upon where the letter is placed in a word. Students should know these norms by Grade 2. They will use this information throughout their lifetime.

Orthography is the “rules” of how words are spelled within a language. The rules dictate if a letter will remain a one-on-one correspondence or change based on other letters within a word. Orthography is the visual representation or graphemes that represent words spoken orally. Students should have background knowledge of the “norms” of how letter placement creates the sounds of words. Orthographic knowledge increases student lexicon, which increases student reading fluency.

Morphology is the study of the meaning of the smaller parts of words, such as re- meaning again and -ing meaning an action. These different parts usually dictate its meaning. Students need to know the meaning of how something is spelled as American English has many words that are spelled differently, but sound the same (homophones).

Phonology, orthography, and morphology should be taught simultaneously. Phonemic awareness or oral language ability is the prerequisite in which these vital elements of learning how to decode and encode words is built upon. Some students will need to review some or all of the parts of phonemic awareness to effectively learn how to decode and encode words. Decoding is an easier skill for most students to grasp and use, than encoding words. Each of these components of learning how to spell words correctly increases with complexity as students mature. Teaching lessons about semantics along with lessons of morphology, usually increases student ability to effectively spell words that convey a more accurate meaning. These components are part of the Structured Literacy Method of effectively teaching students how to read and write.

References

Redding, Nancy. (2023). The Importance of Spelling Instruction. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA).

Rosenberg, Dee. (2023). The Forgotten Skills Needed for Literacy Success: Spelling and Handwriting. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA), Wilson Language Training.

 

 

 

Teaching Phonics Gives Students a Navigational Tool of Written Words

Would you allow a child to jump into the deep end of a pool without having instruction in how to swim? Some children might be able to surface and survive, most would need assistance to navigate the deep waters. Why put any child through the anxiety or possible drowning?  Students should be taught how to swim systematically to avoid a possible drowning. This should be the same for students navigating or learning how to read written words.

Instruction should begin at the basics or foundation to give students the tools to rescue themselves as they navigate the deepening waters of written verbiage. Instruction should be systematic moving students from basic to complex. Students use their knowledge of phonemic awareness to learn how to encode and decode written words. Phonemic awareness is the knowledge of how to manipulate sounds to develop words and sentences. Students examine the sounds of oral language and how the arrangement of letters within words represent unique sounds to convey meaning.  Oral language knowledge provides the initial layer of the foundation for reading written language.

Phonics instruction relies on student oral communication skills in particularly their ability to synthesize, comprehend, and mimic spoken sounds. Oral language usually develops naturally through an individual’s environment. They learn to mimic sounds of spoken language within their environment. Toddlers usually babble or play with individual sounds before they produce words and practice voicing a few words at time before moving to a full sentence. Written language is not a natural occurrence gained through their environment; it is a learned experience. The skill is best learned through an explicit, systematic format.

Phonics is the study of words, in particular the individual sounds that make a particular word and the symbols that represent those sounds of that word. The order of the letters dictates the individual sounds of a word. English Language has approximately 44 sounds that are used to develop written words. These sounds of are comprised of only 26 letters. Phonics instruction usually begins during the pre-school years of formal education. Not all students will gain the skills taught on the same timeline. Skipping this instruction is similar to throwing students into the deep end of the pool.

Written words composed into sentences have set doctrine that allows for comprehension. Words are read in a set pattern, from left to right. How the letters are arranged in a word dictate the pronunciation and meaning of the word. Explicit instruction teaches students this doctrine without confusion. Typically, students who are learning to read think concretely (black and white). Abstract thinking usually doesn’t begin to make an appearance until around age 7, when most students are already reading full sentences. Students who are learning how to read also benefit from visual or pictures of a new concept. Systematic instruction of written words helps students to learn new skills from basic to complex, such as learning about individual vowel sounds before learning about vowel digraphs.

Phonics instruction shouldn’t end in Grade 1, but continue until student(s) are able to automatically decode and encode words.

Relieve Student Stress—Teach Spelling

The stress and anxiety that students often feel when they are trying to spell words without the proper tools usually diminishes when students learn how the letters work together to form words of meaning. Students begin learning the sounds of letters and words as they begin mimicking the conversations of their environment. Students begin learning the rules of how letters are encoded into words through their daily interactions with people and their environment. Some letter phonemes are consistent, some phonemes or chunks of words are influenced by other letters within the word. Parents and educators often model how to orally sound out words to provide students the opportunity to mimic words and learn a new tool. This tool usually assists students to more accurately pronounce words. This is called phonological awareness, which is defined as “a reading skill that involves a range of understandings related to the sounds of words and word parts, including identifying and manipulating larger parts of spoken language such as words, syllables, and onset and rime. (Ray, 2017, pp. 13-14).

Students build on the foundation of phonological awareness when they begin to attach graphemes to the spoken sounds. This is when students begin learning letter-sound correspondences. Letter-sound correspondences is the second pillar of structure literacy (Ray, 2020, p. 38). Some graphemes are constant, some have variances that are dependent on how the letters are placed within a word. The rules of how letters influence other letters within a word is identified as phonics. Ray (2017) defines phonics as:

A form of instruction that cultivates the understanding and use of the alphabet, which emphasizes the predictable relationship between phonemes (the sounds in spoken language) and graphemes (the letters that represent those sounds in written language) and shows how this information can be used to read or decode words.” (p. 13)

There are many ways to teach how the letters are encoded to develop words. One type of instruction that may strengthen student sound-letter correspondences and how letters may change individual letter phonemes during the primary grades is to write the symbol(s) that represent the individual sounds of a word. Students begin to understand how letters change their individual sounds based on where they are placed in a word. There are many benefits of teaching students the letter-sound correspondences, such as improved spelling and comprehension. This practice should be taught throughout a student’s formal education, beginning when they start encoding or writing down the graphemes to build words. The complexity of how the letters create different sounds and words increases with each grade-level.

The following is an example of how I often model/instruct later primary students to examine the relationships of phonemes and graphemes. These students usually can read the words that they are examining.

Sound out the word gym.

What letter sounds do you hear?            /___/   /___/   /___/

What letters or letter diagraphs are used to

represent those sounds?                   ____   ____   ____

 

Sound out the word gym.

What letter sounds do you hear?              / j /   / i /   / m /

What letters or letter diagraphs are used to

represent those sounds?                        g       y       m

 

another example:

Sound out the word tardy.

What letter sounds do you hear?                / t /   / ä /   / r /   / d /   / e /

What letters or letter diagraphs are used to

represent those sounds?                          t       a       r       d      y

I usually use spelling words that students are expected to know how to spell at their particular grade level.

Educators might use a different format for teaching students at different grade-levels or complexities of words. When systematic, direct, explicit instruction is used students usually learn the “rules” of how letter placement affects the sounds of words and the spelling of words that are new or hard become natural. When teaching spelling you are essentially teaching all of the pillars of structured literacy (phonemic awareness→letter-sound correspondences→syllables→ morphology→ syntax→semantics).

References

Ray, J. S. (2020). Structured Literacy Supports All Learners: Students At-Risk of Literacy Acquisition – Dyslexia and English Learners. Texas Association for Literacy Education Yearbook, Vol. 7, pp. 37-43.

Ray, J. S. (2017). Tier 2 intervention for students in grades 1-3 identified as at-risk in reading. (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3826/

 

The Benefits of Determining and Addressing Students Literacy Needs – Early

Students of all economic and cultural backgrounds arrive at institutions of formal education assuming that educators will be able to teach them how to effectively read and write. Some will have the knowledge of letter-sound correspondences, some will have knowledge of how to hold a pencil and write. Some will know how to read. Some will have good oral language skills. Some will have good social emotional skills. Some will show up without any of the previous skills. They will be all put into the same classroom. The teacher is expected to meet the learning needs of all students throughout the day.

There are tools that teachers should have available to ease the “craziness” of having 20-25 students that are all at different levels of learning and social behavior. One tool is universal screening of early or foundational literacy knowledge and skills. Universal screenings are very short probes to determine which students may lack the necessary skills to be successful in their current grade. These screenings usually assist in determining which students may need additional small group or one-on-one instruction to learn foundational learning skills. These screenings also assist in determining students who might need further diagnostic assessment and different instruction for various learning disabilities, such as dyslexia. These short probes are usually used in partnership of teacher observation and completed assignments to increase the validity of the universal screening outcomes.

These probes should begin in kindergarten, and the findings a focus of instruction during Grades K-3. The earlier a student(s) learning needs or lack of knowledge and skills are address the less the student(s) will struggle. Students who receive earlier intervention instruction usually skip the deep emotional scars. Left unmeet these students usually spend their time clawing their way through their day, trying to avoid the shame of not be able to fully participate. Often students just need a few weeks of intense instruction in kindergarten. I have yet to meet a student who didn’t want to function at grade-level with their peers.

The types of probes are dependent on student age and ability. A student in kindergarten should be assessed in phonemic awareness and rapid automatic naming skills. A student in Grade 2 should be assessed in some of the previous probes along with word reading of both regular and pseudonym words. These are usually given three times a year within an instructional response to intervention (RTI) model* that focuses on academics-literacy and math. The probes and intervention instruction begin to separate students with true learning disabilities from those who didn’t gain or learn the foundational skills necessary before entering the formal educational setting. This also ensures that students with true disabilities receive more accurate instruction and assistance earlier than later for their disability.

Students who receive explicit, direct instruction in Grades K-2 for the lacking foundational literacy skills usually “catch-up” to grade level expectation and maintain their intervention gains. Some students will need assistance throughout their formal academic instruction. Students who receive the right academic intervention instruction will avoid many latter social emotional issues. The cost to society and formal education escalates, as students maturate and cannot effectively participate at their grade-level. The earlier students’ lack of foundational skills is addressed; the less funding is needed to bring up them up to grade-level. Students’ brains are more malleable during their younger years.

* Each RTI model should be different, but similar in nature to reflect the students’ academic learning needs and the resources available. All RTI models will have tiers or levels of instruction. Most RTI models in Grades K-4 focus on developing reading skills. Some RTI models may focus on behavior. Behavior focused RTI models may assist in determining the learning levels of students, as behavior often signals a lack of academic skills necessary to function at grade-level. Once the academic needs are meet the behavior issues usually melt away.

In my next blog, I will describe the necessary components and teacher education of a successful RTI program.

References

Moll, K., Georgii, B. J., Tunder, R., & Schulte-Kӧrne (2022). Economic evaluation of dyslexia intervention. Dyslexia, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1728

Ray, J. S. (2017). Tier 2 intervention for students in grades 1-3 identified as at-risk in reading. (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3826

Developing the Reading Brain Connections is Hard Work!

The brain has elasticity or the ability to grow new connections and prune unused connections. This is an easier task for younger individuals, when their brain has a greater degree of elasticity. No matter the age growing new or different connections or routes of communication between the different parts of the brain for effective reading is usually very tiring. When a person has dyslexia, this impedes the process.

In his book The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read, John Corcoran (2008) describes living a life similar to a prisoner with no way to escape or get out for good behavior. In his 40s John stumbled upon or was talked into trying a program called, Lindamood Bell. He hesitated because no one else had been able to break through and help him learn the skills necessary to read.

Even though he read at about Grade 2, he had wholes or gaps in the necessary tools he needed to effectively read at Grade 2. He first began meeting with his instructional team at Lindamood Bell for four hours a day, after a week he moved his instruction time to six hours a day. He describes his plunge into intense therapy-training like a soldier readying himself for war. John states, “at times my shirt would be soaking wet as I strained to learn the new techniques. I never worked so hard at anything in my life, and I never felt so good” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 201).

John describes that his journey of learning how to read began with phonemic awareness (oral language), learning how to better manipulate sounds of words. He was lacking the phonemic awareness skills that many educators take for granted as this is usually acquired before students enter formal education. Once those skills were learned, he began learning the names of letters and their corresponding sounds. Instructors assisted John in learning how the movements of his face and mouth helped him to create the sounds of the individual letters, letter diagrams, and words.

He noted that part of his issue was a lack of correct sound linkage. Meaning his brain did not accurately connect the right oral sounds with their corresponding letter(s). He lacked sound discrimination skills that are necessary to distinguish between different sounds associated with each letter. He stated that nearly a third of individuals who possess normal hearing “do not have fully developed auditory conceptual ability” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 204). This skill is necessary for decoding words into the individual sounds and their corresponding letters. He noted that he had to use his senses of hearing, seeing, touching, and moving to accurately absorb the skills necessary to read.

After about three weeks, he began to feel the prison walls tumble as “the task went from being hard, physical labor to a fun learning activity” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 203). “I felt my own transition from being physically and mentally exhausted to being relaxed and confident” (p. 203). He began to unmask his deception of not knowing how to read, no longer feeling the need to manipulate his environment to protect himself.

After one month of instruction or 100 hours of treatment in the Lindamood-Bell Learning Process, John “gained 10 years in word-attack skill” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 206) moving from Grade 2 to Grade 12; “three years in word recognition” (p. 206) moving from Grade 5 to Grade 8; and “a year and a half in spelling” (p. 206). His therapy also increased his ability to follow oral directions and his reading comprehension skills.

The Lindamood Bell Program was developed in the late 1960’s to teach students with unreliable auditory perceptions known as Auditory Discrimination in Depth (ADD). The program teaches “students to perceive sounds in isolation and in context and how to produce them” (American Federation of Teachers, 1999). They have other programs such as Lindamood Phonemic Sequencing Program (LiPS), which focuses on reading and spelling. “Combining phonics with auditory discrimination in depth (LIPS) program is what I will call the Complete Intensive Systematic Phonics Learning System” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 209).

Each student is unique having different genetic and environmental factors that may affect students’ ability to learn how to read, making accurate diagnose of individual student learning needs a challenge.

Identifying dyslexic or literacy deficit students during grades Pre-Kinder – 2, when an individual’s brain in more flexible, decreases the dollars to educate and rehabilitate individuals during their teens and adulthood. Identifying them can be tricky! Many states have passed laws making dyslexia a learning disability and many districts have now adopted the necessary assessments to diagnose these students. The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) defines dyslexia as:

“a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge” (Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002).

Classic dyslexia or developmental dyslexia is acquired through one’s genetics. These students are usually identified though their lack of phonological process skills. They rely on different parts of the brain to process written words. These students work twice as hard to process written words. This type of dyslexia was first discussed in research during the 1800s. Another type is dyscalculia, which affects an individual’s ability to effectively process math equations. Another type of dyslexia is dysgraphia—a student’s ability to learn how to process information into written language. There are programs outside of public education that can effectively diagnose and treat individuals of dyslexia. I encourage individuals to choose programs that are Orton-Gillingham based and endorsed by IDA.

“A good builder, like a good teacher, uses the best tools and material available, which includes a plan and blueprint” (Corcoran, 2008, p. 210).

References

Corcoran, J. (2008). The teacher who couldn’t read. Kaplan, Inc.American Federation of Teachers (1999). Lindamood-bell reading intervention      program. Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/ lindamood-bell-reading-intervention-program

Teaching Word Syllabication

Dividing written words into syllables can be a complex, dauting journey. Teach the skill in baby steps or small pieces at a time. There are many different ways to teach students about dividing words into syllables. Teaching them in a manner that builds upon prior teaching or knowledge will increase student accusation of the skill.

Learning syllabication usually begins in pre-school through orally instruction. Educators teach students how to verbally separate words into syllables, using a clapping, tapping or stomping action to indicate each syllable. Typically, students learn how to divide written words into syllables as they begin to learn how to decode and encode written words. Students learn the more complex “rules” to divide written words into syllables as the words become more complex.

There are six major or more common word syllables in the English language. I have found the task of teaching students easier if the syllables types are taught in the following order: a) closed-CVC, b) final e, c) open, d) vowel diagraph, e) r-controlled, f) constant -le. Students tend to first learn about closed syllables through instruction of CVC words. These syllables have a short vowel sound and are always closed in by a consonant, like bat or sit. Instruction in the final e syllable usually follows instruction of closed syllables. The syllabication rules of closed and final e syllables are more stable, recognizable, and easier to retain. The third syllable type to be taught is the open syllable. Open syllables always have a long vowel sound and are not closed in by a constant, like the first syllable of mu/sic. Instruction of closed and open syllables will cover 70% of written words in the English language (Hennesy, 2022; White, 2022).

There are other stable syllable norms or rules that may help students in dividing written words into syllables. The first norm is compound words that may be divided between the two words, like camp/fire. The second norm is words with double constants of the same letter can be divided between the two double consonants, like bb (rab/bit). The third norm that may be followed is a syllable break may occur in a word that contains two different constants side-by-side, like nc (con/cept). This rule may be tricky to learn, as some double constants are letter blends or diagraphs that should not be separated, such as ch, th, fl, or str (constriction, authoritative, sunflower). The fourth norm is diphthongs or vowel teams that cannot be separated, like oa, ea in boatman or teacher. The fifth norm of syllabication is putting a syllable break just before or after an affix in a word, like pre/sort or read/ed. Affixes are morphemes that may be easier for students to spot. The sixth norm is that each syllable must include a vowel phoneme.

The following steps usually increase the retention of syllabication skills and decrease possible student anxiety in learning how to read.

  1. Find and underline all vowel phonemes of a word. Explain that words may have a single vowel or vowel teams that are pronounced with only one phoneme.
  2. Count the underlined vowel phonemes of the word. This is the number of syllables present in the word.
  3. Look for double constants. Are the double constants a constant diagraph or letter blend (spr, fl, sh) that cannot be separated? If not place a separation line through the two constants to show a syllable break.
  4. Look at the current syllables and what syllable breaks should still be made? Are there parts of the word that still have more than one vowel phoneme? Are there affixes that may help with where the next syllable break may need to be placed?
  5. Pronounce/encode the word – sound out each syllable, then blend the syllables together, and then fluently pronounce the word.
  6. Allow time for student(s) to practice and model the process.

Syllable breaks may be confirmed by reviewing the six syllable types and other general syllable break norms, such as compound words and affixes.

References

Hennesy, N. (2021). Making meaning of text: a structured framework for informed instruction. 2021 Annual IDA Reading, Literacy & Learning Conference.

White, N. (2021).  Continuum of decoding strategies: explicit__systematic—cumulative. 2021 Annual IDA Reading, Literacy & Learning Conference.

What is the importance of learning word syllables?

Typically, students will skip words that are not familiar to them. Often those who skip the unknown word(s) do not have the tools in their toolbox to decode the word(s). Some may know the names of the letter(s), but do not know the phonemes connected to the letters. Some may not know how to “chunk” portions of the unknown word. Not having this skill often impedes student comprehension of the written passage. Many students will stop trying to read the passage after failing to comprehend the passage. The possible embarrassment often shuts students down or they learn how to get around not knowing the necessary information about the word(s). This often leads to acting out or becoming silent with the hope of avoiding embarrassment. When students learn how to separate words into smaller more user-friendly chunks or syllables, they usually build confidence in being able to pronounce unknown words. This puts a tool or strategy into their personal tool box. This allows them to avoid possible embarrassment. This gives students the opportunity to move forward without the assistance of others-independence. This may also give them the confidence to assist other students. The tool usually leads to an increase in their academic achievement across all academics.

Students who have the skill of syllabication in their tool box benefit in multiple ways. One benefit is the increase of reading fluency. A second benefit, students are better able to focus on processing the meaning of groups of words, instead of how to pronounce the word. A third benefit of knowing how to decode written words into workable chunks is the increase of student spelling accuracy. A fourth benefit is passage comprehension. Most students comprehend orally at a higher level than they can read. Students use their knowledge of oral language to help them comprehend written words. A fifth benefit is the increase of student intrinsic motivation and decrease student mischief.

Students begin learning about syllables orally through “naturally” breaks in the pronunciation of a word. Students are often taught to clap for each syllable. This allows the student(s) to count the number of syllables in each word. Students usually move from oral division of words to learning about CVC written words, as they learn to read. CVC written words are pronounced phonetical with a short vowel sound. This is also when the study of morphonology becomes more prevalent, as the CVC words usually have their own meaning in which students can use to begin understanding the meaning of multisyllabic words. CVC words are known as closed syllables.

Students need time to practice this skill. Practice of the skill may take place during different points of instruction, such as purposeful small or whole group instruction, or independent study. Some students will need more “regular” moments (5-15 minutes) of review: warm-up or homework.

 

Structured Literacy Supports All Learners-Dyslexic, ESL

Structured Literacy Supports All Learners:  Students At-Risk of Literacy Acquisition—Dyslexia and English Learners

Abstract

Learning to read is a complex endeavor that requires developing brain connections. The brain connections for reading written words begins forming during the development of oral language. The maturing of oral language and reading instruction continue the growth of the necessary brain connections to read and write. Structured Literacy instruction helps to develop and strengthen brain connections for reading and processing written language. Structured Literacy encourages educators to teach the essential literacy foundational skills during the pre and primary school years, so students have a better chance of achieving and maintaining proficiency in literacy. 

This article was published in the Texas Association for Literacy Instruction Yearbook, Volume 7, September 2020, Chapter 5, p. 37-43, downloadable at  http://www.texasreaders.org/yearbooks.html.

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