#10 Understanding Syllable Use: A Strategy to Build Vocabulary
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For some of us, reading can be very demanding. This can be a particular problem when text uses long words. We could be fine with shorter and more commonly used words, but we become stumped on the lengthy text. On a positive note, words possess syllables and it is these that we can use to unlock our comprehension. In other words, to aid understanding we can break down multisyllabic words in the following way:
- Break words apart and look at prefixes or suffixes (ie affixes);
- Look at the families that the words come from (ie phonograms);
- Look at patterns in syllables (Knight-McKenna, 2008).
According to Bromely (2007), 60% of all word meanings can be deduced by analysing the parts of the multisyllabic words. Bromely (2007) suggests that to help understanding, keep a dictionary of Greek and Latin Roots and their meanings handy.
Looking at syllable patterns or types can help us to recognise the parts of a word with multisyllables and enable us to merge them coherently (Knight-McKenna, 2008). According to Knight-McKenna (2008), the different types of syllables a learner can use to assist vocabulary development are (there are also exceptions):
- 1. Closed. This refers to when a single vowel is closed in by one or more consonants and usually the vowel sound is short, such as "dog" or "begin".
- 2. Open. Is when the word ends with a vowel and the sound is usually long.
- 3. Vowel-consonant-silent-e. This occurs where there is a single vowel that is followed by a consonant and then a silent e afterwards, such as "bike" or "skate".
- 4. Vowel teams. This refers to where a word has two consecutive vowels and can be either long (such as "meat" or "road") or variant (which are neither long nor short but make a variant sound), such as "amount" or "turmoil".
- 5. R-controlled. Is when the syllable has either one or two vowels and is followed by the letter r, which controls the vowel sound ("car" or "for").
- 6. Final Stable. These refer to words where they end with a consonant –le, -al, or el and end with a blend sound rather than a vowel sound. Also includes –sion, -tion, -ture, -sure, -age, -cious and –tious.
Our comprehension can be greatly affected when we do not understand how syllables and words are used. For some of us, longer words can prevent us from reading. This, in turn, prevents us from increasing our vocabulary (as reading is one of the best ways to build vocabulary). By analysing and understanding syllable usage, we can overcome our uneasiness. Ultimate Vocabulary Software is one method we can use to improve our vocabulary and work upon understanding words by understanding syllables.
References
Bromley, K, ‘Nine Things Every Teacher Should Know About Words and Vocabulary Instruction’ (2007) 50(7) Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 528.
Knight-McKenna, M, ‘Syllable Types: A Strategy for Reading Multisyllabic Words’ (2008) 40(3)
Teaching Exceptional Children 18.
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