Syllable-Based Reading Strategy for Mastery of Scientific Information

Abstract

This article describes a strategic approach for reading and comprehending scientific information from a middle school science textbook. First, the word-reading skills of children with and without reading difficulties are compared. Second, studies investigating the effectiveness of a syllable-based reading approach on the word-reading skills of middle school children with reading difficulties are reviewed. Finally, the use of a syllable-based approach for reading and comprehending information from a middle school science textbook is described, with specific emphasis on learning words presented within and outside the context of text passages.

Dyslexic Readers Improve without Training When Using a Computer-Guided Reading Strategy

“…Therapies to improve the reading performance of dyslexics include therapies based on the discrimination of auditory stimuli [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], Phonological Awareness which comprises different approaches that are intended to promote reading skills [ 11 ], decomposing words into syllables and sounds [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], identifying phonems in words [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], naming letters, objects, numbers and colors [ 15 , 22 ], and rhyming [ 23 ]. Other therapies are based on visual movement discrimination training [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], a training to improve eye movement control [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], and syllable segmentation [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. Therapy studies focused on breaking up words into syllables improved reading performance in children.…”

A graphomorphemic approach to identifying and selecting a set of high utility, stable affixes common to the technical vocabulary of science

“…By fourth grade, competent readers are able to perceive syllable units more quickly and accurately than single letters (Adams, 1990). There is some evidence to suggest that syllabication, the process of analyzing the vowel and consonant patterns within big words to determine how to segment and pronounce them, can lead to improvements in general word reading skills (Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004; Shefelbine, 1990) as well as word reading within the content areas (Bhattacharya, 2006). As suggested by Bhattacharya (2006), this type of syllabification strategy could be extremely helpful for teaching older struggling readers because it can be incorporated into content-area lessons across the curriculum.…”

“Bring Your Textbook!”

“…For example, to understand biology, students must know how to recognize, pronounce, and define certain words so that they can build higher knowledge when they use the words to understand, apply, and analyze more complex information from that content area. It is important to review the multisyllable words used in the textbook to distinguish the essential words for a discipline from words for which synonyms can be used, such as use for utilize (Bhattacharya, 2006).…”