Syllable Segmentation

From FreeReading

Activity Type: Introduce

Activity Form: Standard

Grade: 6th graders or above reading at 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade equivalent level

Group Size: 1-to-1

Length: 30 minutes for each of 4 days

Materials: Download the following Microsoft Word files: Modeling Set, Set 1, Set 2, Set 3, Set 4

Goal: Given a written multi-syllable word, say each syllable ( utensil -> "u-ten-sil" )

Items:

Modeling Set: finish, violinist.

Set 1: digit, poverty, congress, utensil, microphone, walnut, notify, token, sacrifice, welfare, victim, mustard, democratic, testimony, cavity, vanilla, cathedral, senator, mental, congratulate, conference, binoculars, power, pistol, visual.

Set 2: reduce, document, multiply, tobacco, molecule, modify, violence, metropolitan, federal, communication, constitutional, commercial, portable, surrender, violet, maintenance, damage, burglar, target, percentage, vertical, capacity, memorial, population, personal.

Set 3: summary, veteran, surplus, walrus, construction, secretary, location, magical, conductor, verdict, calculation, conclude, robbery, category, corporation, domestic, comment, positive, fantasy, paradise, major, poetry, politics, combine, piggy.

Set 4: invisible, contribution, formula, punctuation, civilization, attractive, dictator, maximum, instructor, destructive, dictionary, gossip, compliment, gorilla, prediction, transportation, subtraction, supervision, subject, transformer, objection, committee, contradict, confidential, cosmetic.

What to do

Repeat this activity four times, once with each of the four sets of items above. Each set will take around 30 minutes to teach, 1-on-1 with the student. Use the same introductory language below each time.

1. Listen to me carefully. We're going to read a word and break it into syllables.
2. Show the first word from the Modeling set, finish and say, My turn first. I start by reading the word outloud: finish.
3. Next, I explain the meaning of the word: finish means to complete a job.
4. Next, I say each syllable in the word and count them on my fingers: fin-ish." Count each syllable on a finger and hold up two fingers and say, "There are two syllables in the word finish.
5. Now I say the syllables in the word and find the letters that match up with each syllable. It might help to remember that each syllable must have a vowel sound in it. Vowels are usually spelled with the letters a, e, i, o, u, or y or combinations of these letters like ee or ai. As you say each syllable, use your thumbs to cover up everything but the syllable you are saying.
6. Did you see how each syllable in finish had a vowel sound in it? Did you also notice that each letter in the word can go in only one syllable. You can't put the same letter in two different syllables. So I can't break the word finish as fin-nish. I have to put the letter n in one syllable only: fin-ish. Does that make sense?
7. Also, the sounds in the syllables should be as close as possible to the sounds in the whole word. I didn't say fine-ish, because I don't hear fine and ish in finish. And I didn't say fin-ush because I don't hear fin and ush in finish. I pronounced the sounds in the syllables to be as close as possible to the sounds I heard in the word.
8. Okay, so I read the word, explained its meaning, counted the syllables in it, and matched the letters with the syllables. Finally, I put the syllables together and read the whole word one more time: finish.
9. I'm going to follow the same steps for another word, then it will be your turn.
10. Show the second word, violinist and say, I read the word: violinist. Then I explain its meaning: a violinist is someone who plays the violin. Then I say each syllable and count it: vi-o-lin-ist. Count four fingers. There are four syllables in the word violinist. Now I find the letters that match each syllable. As you say each syllable, use your thumbs to cover up everything else but the syllable you are saying. Did you see how each syllable had a vowel sound in it? Finally, I say the word again: violinist.
11. So now it's your turn. Ready? Show the first word from today's set and have the student run through the same steps. Prompt them for each step if needed. At any point, if the student makes a mistake (eg, reads the word incorrectly, gets the meaning wrong, counts the syllables incorrectly) immediately give the correct response and have the student repeat it and continue. Note that you should accept ways of dividing the word other than the standard dictionary version (eg, fi-nish instead of fin-ish) as long as each syllable contains only one vowel sound, each letter is included in only one syllable, and the pronounciation is legal (eg, sim-ple but not si-mple).
12. Continue through the 25 words in the set.

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About this activity

This activity is based on Bhattacharya, 2004 and is included here with Alpana Bhattacharya's permission. In the study, the activity was used to teach 6th graders reading at 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade equivalent levels. Students showed significant gains in decoding multi-syllable words.

• Bhattacharya A, & Ehri L (2004). Graphosyllabic Analysis Helps Adolescent Struggling Readers Read and Spell Words. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37, 331-348.