C225 Task 2- Literature Review - Education Research - Decoding Words And Multi-Syllables PDF

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BEP2: Task 2

Anna Van Winkle January 13, 2019

A Written Project Presented to the Faculty of the Teachers College

of Western Governors University

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Education-Related Research Topic The research topic I have selected is the development of students’ ability to decode multisyllabic words. This topic is of interest to me because I teach second grade and many of my students struggle with decoding multisyllabic words. Research Problem Statement Because many second grade students in my classroom struggle to decode multisyllabic words despite the majority of words in the English language being multisyllabic, research needs to be done to find the most beneficial form of teaching multisyllabic word decoding. In my literature search, I found several methods for teaching multisyllabic word reading, but no definitive answer as to which was most successful. Literature Review Introduction The vast majority of words in the English language are multisyllabic and they make up an increasingly large portion of the words in elementary school text (Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2017). Despite this, many students struggle to read these longer words, and as evidence shows, if a child is not able to successfully decode multisyllabic words by third grade, they fail to ever catch up (Klee, Brasch, Neyman, McLaughlin, & Stookey, 2015). Multisyllabic words are more challenging to read for a variety of reasons including “syllable boundaries, word stress, vowel pronunciation ambiguities, less predictable grapheme-phoneme correspondences, morphological complexity” and increase demands on working memory simply due to their length (Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2017). Because of their increased challenge, students can become easily

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discouraged when they encounter a multisyllabic word and instead of persevering and attempting to tackle the word themselves, many students simply give up and loo to an adult or a more accomplished peer for help (Knight-McKenna, 2008). Every multisyllabic word they encounter is a “confirmation that reading is too hard for them” which is why it is so important for teachers to give students strategies for figuring out multisyllabic words and promote fluency as well as increased confidence and enjoyment in independent reading (Knight-McKenna, 2008). Preparation for multisyllabic word reading begins even in very early literacy skills such as developing concept of word in text (the ability to match spoken language to written text), as one study found that “children with a full concept of word are better able to track memorized text including multisyllabic words quickly and accurately (Bowling & Cabell, 2015). Reading multisyllabic words is something that needs to be taught continuously throughout a child’s reading development (Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2017). Through an in-depth analysis of the research, it is clear that there are many strategies for teaching multisyllabic word reading but a clear lack of consensus on which is the most effective. Some researchers argue that multisyllabic word reading should be explicitly taught with specialized intervention programs while others suggest that an increase in student exposure and familiarity with these longer words will increase reading accuracy and fluency. It is clear that learning to read multisyllabic words is an essential part of a child’s reading development, the struggle becomes identifying which teaching strategies or literacy programs are the best to help aid in this development. Strategies of Teaching Multisyllabic Word Reading

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As previously mentioned, a thorough review of current literature on multisyllabic word reading revealed a variety of methods and strategies for teaching multisyllabic word reading, with no consensus on which was the most useful or successful. Four main strategies emerged as methods to teach multisyllabic word reading; increased exposure to multisyllabic words early in reading development, syllable awareness and syllabification, morphology and prosodic awareness (Duncan & Seymour, 2003; Güldenoglu, 2016; Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2016; Häikiö & Hyönä, 2016; Jones, Conradi, & Amendum, 2016; Klee et al., 2015; Knight-McKenna, 2008; Mesmer & Lake, 2010; Stowe, 2011.; Toste, Williams, & Capin, 2016; Wade-Woolley, 2016). The first method suggests that an increase in student exposure and familiarity with these longer words will increase reading accuracy and fluency. The main support for this method came from a study on text leveling systems that suggested more emphasis should be placed on wordlevel factors when selecting texts for second grade children to practice reading (Compton, Appleton, & Hosp, 2004). The study suggested that current text leveling systems focused more on sentence structure rather than word-level factors when assigning a text a level, but that students actually found text with a higher percentage of multisyllabic words more challenging than those with complex sentence structure (Compton, Appleton, & Hosp, 2004). The authors suggest that because of the difficulty students were experiencing decoding multisyllabic words, text leveling systems should focus more on the existence of multi-syllabic words, allowing students to have more exposure to these more challenging words (Compton, Appleton, & Hosp, 2004). Another study suggests that focusing on the “development of automaticity by providing multiple opportunities for students to manipulate and read words rather than focusing on rule-

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based instruction” will help students read multisyllabic words more successfully (Toste, Williams & Capin, 2016). The next strategy was teaching syllable awareness and syllabification to students to help them decode multisyllabic words. Syllable awareness is a student’s ability to hear phonemes in a word and explore different speech sounds as syllables (Mesmer & Lake, 2010). One study’s findings suggested that syllable awareness is an important factor in the early literacy skills and that it facilitated successful finger-point reading of multisyllabic words (Mesmer & Lake, 2010). The findings also suggested that there was “an explicit connection between syllable awareness and segmentation and the handling of multisyllabic words (Mesmer & Lake, 2010). Another study found syllable-awareness skills to be one of the most important indicators of the word reading performances of students reading in Turkish (Güldenoglu, 2016). Syllabification focuses on “identifying the individual syllables and then using different strategies to blend them together (Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2017). Heggie and Wade-Woolley identify several different reading intervention programs that focus on syllabification and multisyllabic word reading in their literature review including the LANGUAGE! program, Syllable Skills Instruction Curriculum, and the PHAST program (2017). The LANGUAGE! program provides explicit, structured instruction about how to “analyze, read, and spell six syllable patterns: closed, open, vowel combination, r-controlled, VC-e, and consonant-le” and is aimed towards adolescents that are reading significantly below grade level (Heggie & WadeWoolley, 2017). The Syllable Skills Instruction Curriculum also incorporated the same six syllable types with additional specific steps for syllabification and rules for syllable division, this program was designed for middle school students reading below grade level (Heggie & WadeWoolley, 2017). Finally, the PHAST program, created for upper elementary and middle school

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students reading below grade level, involves having students identify ever vowel or vowel digraph (with a check mark) and then looking for known spelling patterns and using orthographic rimes as spelling anchors to help them read each syllable and blend them together (Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2017). Heggie and Wade-Woolley explain that some interventions that focus solely on syllabification for word reading require less time to teach than other programs (2017). Another article advocating for syllabification as a tool for teaching multisyllabic word reading explained that by chunking words according to the same six syllable types mentioned previously, students learn clues to determine whether the vowel is long or short (KnightMcKenna, 2008). The author argues that “when students master quick and accurate recognition of syllable types, they can decode long words in a systematic manner” and students who can recognize known syllable patterns within a word and make use of context are likely to “become effective independent readers and enjoy reading considerably more” (Knight-McKenna, 2008). Another study exploring the way children read multisyllabic words suggests that “the nature of the English Language suggests that the syllable structure and stress patterns of words may influence the acquisition of higher-order reading skills” such as multisyllabic word reading (Duncan & Seymour, 2003). However, the same study goes on to explain that a phonological awareness task confirmed that syllable boundaries can be ambiguous in certain English words and that syllabification skills only offers a small advantage for reading multisyllabic words and nonwords (Duncan & Seymour, 2003). Several more studies follow this idea and suggest that because of English’s variable syllable boundaries and stress placement, syllabification has limitations. For example, one study finds that while in some languages lexical stress is fixed and always occurs on the first or last

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syllable, this is not the case with English in which the position of the strong syllable within multisyllabic words is variable (Arciuli, 2018). Additionally, another study finds that there is often a lack of consensus about the location of syllable boundaries in English multisyllabic words and that even published pronunciation dictionaries do not always agree on the location of syllable boundaries (Eddington, Treiman, & Elzinga, 2013). In fact, another study suggests recent research finds that there is no relationship between knowledge of syllabification and successful reading (Toste, Williams, & Capin, 2016). Finally, a study on the Finnish practice of inserting hyphens at syllable boundaries in ABC books for kindergarten through second grade students found that the hyphenated words were quite difficult to process when first encountered and also hard to integrate with prior sentence context, arguing that this form of syllabification is not helpful and in fact can confuse the reader rather than aid them (Häikiö & Hyönä, 2016). The next method for teaching multisyllabic word reading is morphology, which is when students “manipulate the parts of a word to create new meanings or altered, but similar meanings” by segmenting words into affixes and root and base words(Stowe, 2011). An important part of morphology is students understanding that words connected by meaning can be connected by spelling (Stowe, 2011.). Heggie and Wade-Woolley explain that because the majority of multisyllabic words are morphologically complex, “word reading strategies that focus on morphology are particularly useful for long words” (2017). They go on to explain there are three main benefits of teaching morphology, first that “separating the affix from the root helps reduce the size of the word into manageable chunks,” second that “teaching the meaning builds conceptual knowledge,” and finally that “combining affixes with roots facilitates spelling” (Heggie & Wade-Woolley, 2017).

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The last article to support morphology presents the idea that teaching morphology moves beyond only supporting students decoding and actually leads to better vocabulary and comprehension because of the focus on word part meanings (Jones, Conradi, & Amendum, 2016). The same study reviews the DISSECT approach which is an acronym for a morphological analysis strategy. The approach uses the letters of DISSECT as steps: “Discover the context of the word in the sentence,” “Isolate the prefix,” “Separate the suffix,” “Say the stem of the word,” “Examine the stem,” “Check with someone,” “Try the dictionary” (Jones, Conradi, & Amendum, 2016). They go on to explain that the steps of DISSECT should be explicitly taught and modeled for students and frequent feedback should be given (Jones, Conradi, & Amendum, 2016). The article also presents another strategy, teaching complex word families in which the words are all derivatives of one root word (Jones, Conradi, & Amendum, 2016). They explain that by teaching students a root word and its derivatives, the student’s word knowledge is built as well as their understanding of “relationships between words in the center and derivations around the root” (Jones, Conradi, & Amendum, 2016). The last method of teaching multisyllabic word reading was prosody and prosodic awareness. Prosody is the “rhythmic alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in spoken language and is applied over speech segments at many levels” (Wade-Woolley, 2016). One study concludes from the research that both phonemic awareness and prosodic awareness are significant predictors of multisyllabic word reading, each making unique contributions and therefore should both be taught to students (Wade-Woolley, 2016) However, the author also notes that because their research was one of the first to explore prosody’s role in literacy acquisition, more research is required (Wade-Woolley, 2016).

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Another study sought to identify the factors that made multisyllabic reading qualitatively different from monosyllabic reading, this study identified two main factors, prosody and syllable boundaries (Duncan & Seymour, 2003). Prosody, the article explained, was important because English is a stress-timed language in which “the pattern of stress in the pronunciation of multisyllabic words is variable” and therefore needs to be taught explicitly to students (Duncan & Seymour, 2003). They also found teaching syllable boundaries important as they are often ambiguous (Duncan & Seymour, 2003). There is limited research involving the possible effect of explicitly teaching prosody in general education classrooms. Finally, there are some programs that seek to combine multiple methods, such as the REWARDS program which “focused specifically on teaching children how to decode these difficult, multisyllabic words through generalization” (Klee et al., 2015). The goal of the program, the article explains, is to teach students a “flexible strategy or decoding long words that is both effective and efficient” (Klee et al., 2015). The program implements a combination of both syllabification and morphology because it breaks apart the syllables with vowel sounds and also uses the affixes and root words to chunk the word (Klee et al., 2015). However, this article was a case study, and only focused on one student’s experience with the program (Klee, et al., 2015). More research would be needed to determine the effect of this program with a broader range of students. Conclusion Through the analysis of available literature on reading multisyllabic words, it is clear that many students need additional instruction in reading multisyllabic words and that teachers need programs and strategies to effectively teach these skils. Students need to be able to read complex,

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multisyllabic words in order to be productive and effective members of society. There are many different strategies and programs presented in a variety of studies and reviews falling into a collection of categories, but no general consensus on the best way to teach multisyllabic word reading. Increasing student exposure to multisyllabic words at a young age is likely very beneficial to their development, but also likely not a stand-alone strategy to effectively teach them how to read the complex, long words. Students need specific tools they can use to help them decode. Syllable awareness and syllabification seems to also have shown positive results, but also has garnered a lot of criticism and critiques on the basis of the ambiguity of syllable boundaries and stress in the English language. Prosody and prosodic awareness has also been suggested as a way of aiding in the teaching of multisyllabic word reading, but is not identified as being complete enough to be the sole instructional strategy. This leaves morphology, which seems to have the strongest defense and most evidence to back up its’ success. Along with being a strategy for blending words, it also helps students comprehend the word by teaching them the meanings of affixes and root words. This not only helps the student decode the word but also gives them a context with which to fully understand the word. Despite there being a definitive consensus on the best way to teach multisyllabic reading, morphology seems to be the most holistic approach. However, most of the research on morphology has focused on using it as an intervention strategy for older students who are already behind in their reading abilities. Determining if morphology is an effective strategy for teaching students of a younger age before they fall behind requires further study and investigation.

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Purpose Statement of the Research Study The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of using morphology as a strategy for decoding multisyllabic words to a class of second grade students at a suburban, title 1 elementary school. Open-Ended Research Questions 1. What is the impact of using morphology as a strategy for decoding multisyllabic words to a class of second grade students at a suburban, title 1 elementary school? 2. What factors influence the success of using morphology as a strategy for decoding multisyllabic words to a class of second grade students at a suburban, title 1 elementary school?

Justification of Research Approach for Each Research Question Action research is the correct research approach for both research questions as they are both addressing my specific students in my classroom in a title 1 suburban school. Reading multisyllabic words is a skill many of my specific students struggle with and thus is something I want to address in my research. Both questions focus on driving change within my classroom, and not a broader context. Both questions can be answered used a blend of quantitative data (reading assessment scores) and qualitative data (student engagement and attitude). The questions are both open ended and address a specific problem in a specific classroom.

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References Arciuli, J. (2018). Reading as Statistical Learning. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 49, 634-643. http://dx.doi.org.wgu.idm.oclc.org/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-STLT117-0135 Bowling, E. C., & Cabell, S. Q. (2015). Concept of Word in Text Development in Emergent Literacy Instruction. Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, 22(3), 110-118. http://dx.doi.org.wgu.idm.oclc.org/10.1044/lle22.3.110 Compton, D. L., Appleton, A. C., & Hosp, M. K. (2004). Exploring the Relationship Between Text-Leveling Systems and Reading Accuracy and Fluency in Second-Grade Students Who Are Average and Poor Decoders. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 19(3), 176-184. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5826.2004.00102.x Duncan, L. G., & Seymour, P. H. (2003). How do children read multisyllabic words? Some preliminary observations. Journal of Research in Reading,26(2), 101-120. doi:10.1111/1467-9817.00190 Eddington, D., Treiman, R., & Elzinga, D. (2013). Syllabification of American English: Evidence from a Large-scale Experiment. Part I. Journal of Quantitative Linguistics, 20(1), 45-67. doi:10.1080/09296174.2012.754601 Güldenoglu, B. (2016). The Effects of Syllable-Awareness Skills on the Word-Reading Performances of Students Reading in a Transparent Orthography. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 8(3), 425-442. Retrieved January 2, 2019, from https://eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ1096574.

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Heggie, L., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2017). Reading Longer Words: Insights Into Multisyllabic Word Reading. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 2(1), part 2, 86-94. doi: https://pubs-asha-org.wgu.idm.oclc.org/doi/10...