Have you updated your strategies for teaching students to read multisyllabic words?

Like many reading interventionists, I was taught to teach children to read multisyllabic words using syllable types. I was taught the acronym C.L.O.V.E.R.

C - closed syllables (rab.bit)

L - consonant + le syllables (tur.tle)

O - open syllables (ti.ger)

V - vowel team syllables (ea.gle)

E - silent E syllable (gate)

R - r-controlled syllables (tur.tle)

It made sense at first, but in practice it was more challenging.

For example, how does the student know when to apply V.CV (e.g., ti.ger) versus VC.V (e.g., cam.el). The syllable is divide after the 'm' artificially so it forms a closed syllable.

• open syllables = syllables with no consonant after the vowel which make it a long vowels sound (e.g., hi)

• closed syllables = syllables with a consonant after the vowel which make it a short vowel sound (e.g., him)

However, if you were to break this word apart in speech, you would say "ca...mel". The division therefore it more artificial to keep in line with spelling rules.

Teaching 6 syllable types and knowing when to apply which ones was such a large cognitive load. It takes a considerable amount of working memory to work through.

A study by Devin Kearns titled “Does English Have Useful Syllable Division Patterns?” (Reading Research Quarterly, 2020) reported that for words beyond 2 syllables, these patterns are less helpful.

• The VC/CV rule held accurate ~79% of the time for 2 syllable words but dropped to ~63% of the time for words with more than 2 syllables

• The V/CV rule accuracy was vowel dependent: ~84% for long u (e.g., hu/man), ~18% for long i (e.g., tri/ni/ty)

Is there a better way? Yes!

Break the words apart naturally where you do in speech - at the vowel!

Rather than teaching words like "open syllable" and "closed syllable", teach what the vowel sounds like at the end of the syllable vs. in the middle.

I at the end "ie" (as in tie)

I in the middle "i" (as in him)

Want some cards to assist with teaching this? Check out my syllable deck here.

Find the vowels

• keep vowel teams together

• remember silent 'e' is like a vowel team

• 
  

Divide after the vowels

If the letters after the division don't start words in English, flex it over one

Flex the vowel as needed

Don't forget to teach morphology (prefixes and suffixes) and the schwa syllable!

Grade 3 Curriculum words that are multisyllabic

e-co-sy-stem 'y' has 4 sounds and one is short 'i'

e-ner-gy 'y' has 4 sounds and one is long 'e'

ther-mal r-controlled vowels tend to stick together, there are many ways to spell the /l/ sound (e.g., l, ll, le, al, el)

con-duc-tion

con-vec-tion

ra-di-a-tion will need to teach how sometimes /ee/ is spelled with an 'i'

pro-du-cer soft c

con-su-mer

de-com-posed

e-ro-sion

e-ro-ded

trans-por-ta-tion

ed-u-ca-tion

tra-di-tion-al

do-me-sti-ca-ted

ar-ti-facts

in-di-ge-nous

mul-ti-ply

mul-ti-pli-ca-tion

sub-trac-tion

cen-ti-me-tre

ki-lo-me-tre

mil-i-me-tre

per-i-me-tre

cir-cum-frence

ki-lo-gram

es-ti-mate

es-ti-ma-tion

Grade 4 Curriculum words that are multisyllabic

sym-bo-li-zes

sym-bo-lized

di-a-gram

ill-u-stra-tion

a-lli-ter-a-tion

au-di-ence

punc-tu-a-tion

quan-ti-ty

po-ly-gon

pro-ba-bil-i-ty

in-fra-red

lo-ca-tion

lo-ca-ted

bi-ome

pre-ci-pi-ta-tion

a-qua-tic

gra-vi-ty

gra-vi-ta-tion-al

e-las-tic

e-lec-tric

e-lec-tri-cal

e-lec-tri-ci-ty

mag-ne-tic

noc-tur-nal

di-ur-nal

or-ga-ni-sim

co-lo-ny

co-loni-al-ism

co-lo-nist

co-lo-ni-al

con-fe-der-a-tion

re-lo-ca-tion

re-si-den-tial

re-si-dence

re-side

ex-plor-er

ex-plor-a-tion

go-vern-ment

Other multisyllabic words

De.cem.ber

pre.ven.ted

com.pu.ter

dis.trac.ted

sci.en.ti.fic

ar-gue

di-a-logue Ways to spell the /g/ sound: g, gu (e.g., guess), gue

sur-vi-val Ways to spell the /l/ sound: l, ll, al, le, el

in-for-mal

mu-se-um

per-sis-tent

de-part-ment

gyn-nas-tics

en-dur-ance

e-las-tic

per-spec-tive

de-fen-sive 've' is another way to spell the /v/ sound

vol-ca-no

de-ter-gent

de-fi-ant-ly

en-tang-(g)led

tri-um-phant

fa-tigue Ways to spell the /g/ sound: g, gu (e.g., guess), gue

si-tu-a-tion

un-su-spec-ting

si-lent-ly

sta-di-um

e-sti-mate Flex 'e' to the short vowel

in-clu-ded

de-sig-nate

trans-la-tion

con-tin-ue

cre-a-tive

in-ven-ted

What words have your student/child asked you to help them read? Comment below!