Graphosyllabic Analysis: Five Steps to Decoding Complex Words

This is another great intervention that was introduced to me by a fellow graduate student. It just so happens that it also came from Rathvon (2008). Graphosyllabic Analysis: Five Steps to Decoding Complex Words helps struggling decoders to segment words into their syllables. When my fellow student conducted this intervention, she did so in an after school group with 5th graders. The original study included 6th through 9th graders who were reading at the 3rd through 5th grade level. This intervention uses many of the same materials as the Word Building, and be conducted in a group or for an individual student. What I find especially neat is that the intervention teaches a five step strategy that students can use to decode any word.

How to Conduct this Intervention

Just as with Word Building or any other intervention, students should be assessed so as to establish a baseline. Again, I like using CBM. CBM can be used to monitor progress throughout the intervention.

The following includes step by step instructions for implementing this intervention. The following is from Rathvon (2009):

Purpose

To improve decoding skills by teaching students a five-step syllable segmenting strategy.

Necessary Materials

1. Word cards, consisting of four sets of 25 multisyllabic words written on 3x5 cards, one set per student.

2. Dry erase boards and markers for each student.

3. Chalkboard or dry erase board for the teacher.

Intervention Steps

1. Tell students that you are going to teach them a strategy for reading complex and unfamiliar words by dividing words into syllables.

2. Using the board, demonstrate the five-step syllable analysis as follows:

Step 1: Read the word aloud.

a. Display a sample multisyllabic word (e.g. finish) on the board and pronounce it: “Finish.”

Step 2: Explain the word’s meaning.

a. Ask the students to give the word’s meaning and provide corrective feedback if needed: “That’s right, finish means to complete a task.”

Step 3: Orally divide the word into syllables.

a. Pronounce each syllable aloud while raising one finger at a time to count the syllables: “There are two syllables in the word finish. I’ll read it again – fin-ish.”

b. Explain the one-vowel, one-syllable rule: “Every syllable contains a vowel. Vowels are usually spelled with the letters a, e, i, o, u, y, or certain combinations of these letters, such as ea, ee, or ai. The word finish has one vowel in each syllable - /i/ in fin and /i/ in ish.”

c. Explain how to distinguish incorrect from correct segmentations: “Each letter can go in only one syllable. For example, I can’t divide the word finish as fin-nish. I have to put the letter n in only one syllable – fin-ish.”

d. Explain that the sounds in the syllables must match sounds in the whole word: “The sounds in the syllables should be as close as possible to the sounds in the whole word. We don’t say fine-ish because we don’t hear fine and ish in finish. We don’t say fin-ush because we don’t hear fin and ush in finish. We say fin-ish because we hear fin and ish in finish.”

Step 4: Match the pronounced form of each syllable to its spelling.

a. Pronounce each syllable aloud while you use your thumbs or a pointer to expose each syllable in turn while covering the other letters: “Fin-ish.”

Step 5: Blend the syllables to say the whole word.

a. Moving your finger or pointer from left to right, slowly blend the syllables to pronounce the whole word: “Finally, I put the syllables together and read the whole word – finish.”

b. Present another slightly more complex example (e.g. violinist) and guide students though each step. Have students write the sample word on their dry erase boards and practice pronouncing and exposing one syllable at a tome whole you circulate to provide help as needed. For step 4, accept different ways of diving words into syllables as long as each syllable contains only one vowel sound, the letters students expose match the sounds they pronounce, each letter is included in only one syllable, and the combination of letters forms a legal pronunciation.

3. Divide the class into pairs of students with similar reading skills, give each pair the first set of words, and have them apply the first five steps to read each word. Circulate to provide corrective feedback as needed.

4. Have the pairs repeat the steps three or four times for each set to help secure the words in memory.