Reading Big Words: Instructional Practices to Promote Multisyllabic Word Reading Fluency

The Difficulty With Big Words

As students move into upper elementary grades, there is a notable difference in the type of words they are being asked to read (Hiebert, Martin, & Menon, 2005). A student with LD who has learned the necessary skills to decode words such as cat, dog, bench, and church is now faced with words such as competitiveness, advertisement, transportation, and measurement. Poor decoders, even those who can read monosyllabic words fluently, often have difficulty with reading multisyllabic words (Duncan & Seymour, 2003; Just & Carpenter, 1987; Perfetti, 1986). These words are more complex, and struggling readers often do not have the skills necessary to read these big words. For example, Shefelbine and Calhoun (1991) found that advanced readers utilize morphological knowledge and accurate letter-sound associations to read unfamiliar multisyllabic words, but poor readers focus on letter units and partial syllables. Similarly, others have reported that adept readers see words in morphological parts whereas struggling readers rely on contextual clues and pictures to identify unknown words (Archer, Gleason, & Vachon, 2003; Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004).

Difficulty with word reading is an issue for older readers as much as for beginning readers, and their chances of success are greatly affected when instruction does not address these skills. Not only does this difficulty affect their reading fluency, but it also interferes with their ability to comprehend text. Decoding instruction often ends after second grade, but the average number of syllables in words that students read increases steadily throughout their school years. The average fourth grader encounters 10,000 new words each year, and most of these words have two or more syllables (Kearns et al., 2015; Nagy & Anderson, 1984). More importantly, often these words carry the meaning of a text (Carnine & Carnine, 2004). Consider the multisyllabic words that might be difficult for struggling readers in Figure 1.

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Figure 1.

Fifth Grade Studies Weekly Passage.

Students often skip over or unsuccessfully decode multisyllabic words such as colony, settlements, or unclaimed. However, without the words colony and settlements, the meaning of this passage is impossible to decipher. The word unclaimed provides an important detail about colonized regions. Even with additional comprehension instruction focused on strategies such as self-monitoring or inferencing, the meaning of the passage would still lack clarity. When students allocate too much attention to decoding these multisyllabic words, they may not attend enough to the meaning of the text (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974; Perfetti, 1985; Stanovich, 1980).

Multisyllabic Word Reading

Multisyllabic word reading instruction is effective in improving the word reading skills of struggling readers (Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004; Diliberto, Beattie, Flowers, & Algozzine, 2008; Lenz & Hughes, 1990; Shefelbine, 1990). Despite promising findings in these studies, recent research reveals new directions for multisyllabic word reading instruction. For example, students’ knowledge of phonics-based rules does not necessarily predict their multisyllabic word reading skills, and no relationship appears to exist between knowledge of syllabication rules and successful reading (Kearns, 2015). Additionally, many struggling readers have deficits in phonological memory (Shankweiler, Crain, Brady, & Macaruso, 1992; Wagner & Torgesen, 1987), which may make it difficult for them to simultaneously process morphologically complex words and recall appropriate strategies. Ultimately, successful reading comprehension relies on students’ exerting less attention when processing and reading words so they can dedicate more attention to understanding texts. This suggests that less cognitively demanding approaches to teaching multisyllabic word reading might enhance reading comprehension.

One approach for teaching multisyllabic word reading is to focus on the development of automaticity by providing multiple opportunities for students to manipulate and read words rather than focusing on rule-based instruction. This helps students acquire word representations through repeated exposures to words and word parts within the context of their larger word units (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1991; Perfetti, 1992; Stanovich, 1996). Specifically, instruction moves from part to whole, introducing morphemes

The following instructional practices align with this progression.

Practices for Multisyllabic Word Reading

In this section, five research-based instructional practices to support students’ multisyllabic word reading development are presented. When students with LD receive supplemental reading instruction, many require continued focus on word study. This need not (and should not) be the sole focus of their supplemental instruction, but it is valuable for students to receive explicit, targeted instruction and opportunities for practice. These multisyllabic word reading practices are best used with students who are proficient decoders of most vowel patterns in monosyllabic words. If students are not proficient in monosyllabic word reading, instruction should first target vowel patterns that students do not know. This ensures they have the necessary decoding skills to begin working with more complex words.

Rather than provide rules-based instruction, these five practices focus on promoting automaticity. These practices are supported by previous research and have been recently investigated as part of a reading intervention developed and tested by our team (Toste, Capin, Vaughn, Roberts, & Kearns, 2016; Toste, Capin, Williams, Cho, & Vaughn, 2016). Across two studies, a total of 175 struggling readers in third through fifth grades were randomly assigned to receive a multisyllabic word reading intervention or business-as-usual reading instruction provided by the school. The intervention was delivered in small groups of 3 to 5 students by a trained tutor. Students who received this reading intervention experienced significant growth on word identification, decoding, and spelling compared to those who received standard reading instruction. Each intervention session included five instructional principles.

Affix Learning

The first instructional practice to support multisyllabic word reading is learning affixes. Teachers introduce an activity called Affix Bank in which students are explicitly taught high-frequency prefixes (e.g., pre-, dis-, un-) and suffixes (e.g., -ing, -ly, -tive). White, Sowell, and Yanagihara (1989) published a list of the most commonly used prefixes and suffixes in third to ninth grades. Learning these affixes supports greater efficiency when reading multisyllabic words. During Affix Bank, teachers introduce approximately three new affixes each day using the following instructional sequence:

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Figure 2.

Student Chart for Logging Affixes Learned.

What might this instruction sound like? A teacher leading students in Affix Bank might use the following routine: “This is the prefix de-.” The teacher writes the affix on the whiteboard. “One word I know that begins with de- is defrost.” Teacher writes the word on the board. “This affix means remove. Because we know that this affix means remove, then we know the word defrost means to remove frost from something. Can you think of any other words that begin with the prefix de-?” The teacher encourages students to share their responses. “Now, let’s add de- to our Affix Bank.” Students copy de- in the prefix column of their chart. “Great! Let’s practice reading aloud all of our prefixes and suffixes.” Teacher uses flashcards for students to chorally read affixes.

Peel Off Reading

Another instructional strategy that supports students’ practice and fluency in reading multisyllabic word reading is breaking apart or segmenting words into their parts. This is often called a peel off strategy, wherein students are asked to read the smaller words or word parts that they already know or can easily decode. The focus is on accurate and fluent word reading, not the meaning of the words or word parts. Teachers can use an activity called Beat the Clock to do this. Students are given a new list with approximately 40 multisyllabic words each day (see Figure 3), and teachers use the following instructional routine:

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Figure 3.

Sample Word List Used for “Peel Off” Reading.

Word-Building Games

During the instructional practice, students do the opposite of peel off reading; the focus here is on assembling or blending word parts together. To make this practice more engaging, a variety of word-building games that emphasize automaticity of the reading process can be used. Before introducing the game, the teacher first selects a number of base words (e.g., judge, extend, thought, visible, strong). After introducing base words, students then play a game that provides them with multiple opportunities to practice building and reading big words. Students build both real and pseudo (nonsense) words; this ensures that they are able to work on the skills necessary for quick and accurate decoding of unknown words. Table 1 provides descriptions of five different word-building games: Quick Search, Build-a-Word, Word Train, Elevator Words, and Spinner Words. Although these games differ slightly, they follow a similar instructional format:

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Table 1.

Word-Building Game Descriptions.

Game	Materials	Description
Quick Search	● Base word cards ● Affix cards	Students read all affix and base word cards and place them face up on a table. Students take turns choosing one affix and one base word card. They read the parts separately and then read them together to make a word.
Build-a-Word	● Base word cards ● Affix cards ● Small white boards ● Dry-erase markers	The teacher reads a base word card aloud, defines it, and uses it in a sample sentence. Then, the teacher adds an affix card to the base word. Students read the parts and then blend them together to make a real word. Then, students define the word using the affix and word definition.
Word Train	● Base word cards ● Affix cards ● Engine and caboose cards ● Pocket chart	Students read aloud all affix cards and sort them into two piles: prefixes (engines) or suffixes (cabooses). Then, they read the base word cards and place each one in the center of the pocket chart. Students choose an affix card, place it before or after the base word card, read the parts, and then read the whole word aloud. Students then move the affix down the pocket chart and read with each base word card.
Elevator Words	● Base word cards ● Affix cards ● Pocket chart	Students read aloud affix cards and place prefixes on the left side of the pocket chart and suffixes on the right side. Then, students read aloud the first base word card, place it in the top row of the chart, combine the parts, and then read the new word. Then, students move the base word card down the pocket chart to read with each of the affixes.
Spinner Words	● Plastic spinners (2) ● Dry-erase markers	The teacher writes the five base words on one spinner and affixes on the second spinner. Students read aloud the affixes and base words and then take turns spinning the spinners. Students combine the parts on the spinners and read each word aloud.

How might you differentiate instruction? Teachers can use several variations when playing the games, as described in Table 1. To simplify, the teacher may choose to play any of these games using only prefixes or only suffixes. Limiting the game to only prefixes or suffixes makes the task easier for students as they do not have to identify the type of affix used in the word. To make it more challenging, students create words using both prefixes and suffixes. In this case, students blend words that have at least three syllables. Finally, a teacher could ask students to build only real words. The teacher could also have students write all of the real words they build on the board or in their notebooks.

Word Reading Fluency

Researchers have shown that an excellent predictor of student reading fluency is the amount of time students spend reading. For struggling readers, this reading practice should be targeted, for example, words with the same patterns (e.g., phonograms) or multisyllabic words. Student practice should also include immediate, corrective feedback from the teacher. For example, if students do not know the medial sound in the word boil, the teacher might provide a correction by noting which sound was incorrect: “This vowel team says /oi/. What sound? So this word is boil. What word?” If the student reads a word incorrectly or pauses for more than 2 s, the teacher provides the word and asks the student to repeat the word: “This word is colony. What word?” The teacher may also choose to wait until the end of a timed reading to provide corrections, so as not to interfere with the students’ pacing.

One effective instructional practice focused on word reading fluency is the use of timed reading of targeted word lists, which supports students in their reading accuracy and rate. Teachers can implement an activity called Speedy Read, which is simple but highly structured:

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Figure 4.

Sample Word List Used for Word Reading Fluency Practice.

What might this instruction sound like? “It’s time for Speedy Read.” Distribute copies of today’s word list to students. “Let’s do our choral read first. As we read each word, I want you to follow along with your finger. Let’s go!” Read the words chorally as a group.

“Now it’s your turn to read the words independently. Let’s see how many words you can each read in 30 seconds! ______ will go first. Is everyone pointing? Great. Ready? Go.” Start the timer. After 30 seconds have elapsed, say, “OK, good work! On your Speedy Read chart, write how many words you read correctly in 30 seconds.”

Connected Text Reading

The final instructional practice, while not directly targeting multisyllabic words, moves students’ fluency practice from the word level to the text level. It is important for students to practice their reading with connected text (e.g., sentences and passages). Teachers should be purposeful in selecting text for them to read. For students with LD, who are struggling with reading, gradual integration of multisyllabic words supports skill development. Rather than begin reading long passages immediately, prepare sentences that target multisyllabic word reading skills that students have been practicing. For example, students can read:

Table 2 provides examples of these sentence reading tasks.

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Table 2.

Sample Sentence Reading Tasks.

Sentence Type	Examples
Maze sentences	The teacher guided OR guiding the students through the reading lesson. When he saw Kathy’s expressed OR expression, he knew that she was upset. In the United States, we import OR report most of our bananas from Central and South America.
Cloze sentences	Wednesday is in the middle of the week. We say that it is week. Mr. Mort had the children sit on the rug in a circle to listen to the story. My little brother knocked down my Lego building when he got mad at me. I had to construct it.
Whole sentences	Carter’s substitute teacher would not let him display his artwork on the board. The pain in my ankle would not subside. Finally, it went away when I applied ice to it. I was an inactive member of the soccer team because I was injured.

Passage reading focuses on expository text that includes many multisyllabic words. Teachers can use the following routine. Following this format increases the students’ opportunities to practice reading text aloud repeatedly while also providing corrective feedback.

Summary

The set of routines described in this article provides teachers with a series of research-based instructional practices that promote multisyllabic word reading fluency. These practices can be easily integrated into small-group instruction and intervention, either in the general education classroom or resource room setting. They can easily be incorporated into reading goals for students’ individualized education programs. Some sample individualized education program goals might be the following:

All five practices are appropriate within daily intervention programs for students with LD; however, teachers may choose to use any combination of these practices based on the needs of their students. One of the fourth graders who participated in an intervention development study (Toste et al., 2016) noted,

A good reader focuses on the words, looking at them and chunking them. You have to know a lot of big words because you’re gonna see a lot of big words when you read. It can be a very important thing. If you don’t know what they say, then you miss them and you won’t know what the story means.

Students understand the challenges that come along with being unable to read words accurately and fluently. Increased skill in decoding multisyllabic words promotes students’ continued development as proficient readers, as well as supporting their achievement into the upper elementary grades and beyond.