REWARDS – Why
Students will decode unknown multisyllabic words containing
two eight word parts.
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Decoding is necessary for comprehension.
o Word recognition is a necessary, though not sufficient, skill to allow comprehension.
o “There is NO comprehension strategy powerful enough to compensate for the fact that you can’t read the
words.” (Archer, 2008)
Struggling readers often have difficulty reading multisyllabic words.
o Poorly developed word recognition skills are the most pervasive and debilitating source of reading
challenges. (Adams, 1990; Perfetti, 1985; Share & Stanovich, 1995)
o Poor decoders, even those who can decode single syllable words, have a difficult time with multisyllabic
words. (Just & Carpenter, 1987)
Struggling older readers have specific challenges when reading long words.
o Poor readers attempt to process long words letter by letter rather than part by part. (Bhattacharya, 2006)
o Poor readers are more likely to mispronounce affixes and vowels and to omit syllables. (Shefelbine &
Calhoun, 1991)
The number of multisyllabic words significantly increases in the intermediate grades.
o From fifth grade on, average students encounter approximately 10,000 words a year that they have never
previously encountered in print. (Nagy & Andersen, 1984)
o Most of these new words are longer words having two or more syllables. (Cunningham, 1998)
Students need a flexible strategy for pronouncing long words. (Archer, Gleason, & Vachon, 2003)
o No relationship exists between knowledge of syllabication rules and successful reading. (Canney &
Schreiner, 1977)
Older students benefit from systematic instruction on multisyllabic word reading.
o When taught to use affixes and vowels to decode words, students made significant gains. (Shefelbine,
1990)
o 7th, 8th, and 9th graders who were taught a decoding strategy for long words had fewer oral reading errors
and increased comprehension. (Lenz & Hughes, 1990)
o Students’ ability to read multisyllabic science terms improved over time as a result of syllable segmentation
training. (Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004)
Activity Directions: Assume you cannot read multisyllabic words. Read the following passage, deleting the underlined,
multisyllabic words. How much would you gain from reading this social studies passage?
“When explorers from Portugal arrived in Brazil in 1500, as many as 5 million Native Americans lived there. During the
1500s, the Portuguese established large sugar cane plantations in northeastern Brazil. At first they enslaved Native
Americans to work on the plantations. Soon, however, many Native Americans died of disease. The plantation owners
then turned to Africa for labor. Eventually, Brazil brought over more enslaved Africans than any other North or South
American country.”
REWARDS – Why Resource (October, 2016)
Michigan's Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Act
(IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.
Students will read narrative and informational text accurately with
appropriate rate (fluency).
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Fluency is related to reading comprehension.
o (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Fuchs, Fuchs, & Maxwell, 1988; Gough, Hoover, & Peterson, 1996;
Jenkins, Fuchs, Espin, van den Broek, & Deno, 2000; National Reading Panel, 2000; Rasinski, Padak,
Linek, & Sturtevant, 1994)
o When students read fluently, decoding requires less attention. Attention can be given to
comprehension. (Samuels, Schermer, & Reinking, 1992)
When reading is slow and laborious, struggling readers select not to read. (Moats, 2001)
o An accurate, fluent reader will read more, receiving many benefits. (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998;
Stanovich, 1993)
o The rich get richer. The poor get poorer. (Stanovich, 1986)
What are some of the benefits of reading a great deal?
o Increased decoding skills
o Increased reading rate
Students will have expanded general academic and domain specific
vocabulary.
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Students benefit from explicit instruction on academic vocabulary.
o “direct vocabulary instruction has an impressive track record of improving students’ background knowledge
and comprehension of academic content.” (Marzano, 2001, p. 69)
o .97 effect size for direct teaching of vocabulary related to content. (Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986)
Students will experience increased comprehension and facility with
text-dependent comprehension questions.
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Asking students to respond to text-dependent questions on what has been read increases comprehension
of the focus passage and future passages.
o (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001; National Reading Panel, 2000; McKeown, Beck, & Blake, 2009)
Students will accurately spell more multisyllabic grade-level words.
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Strong relationship between spelling and reading.
o Learning to read and spell rely on much of the same underlying knowledge (letter-sounds, affixes, etc.).
(Moats, 2007)
o Spelling instruction can be designed to help children better understand key knowledge, resulting in better
reading. (Ehri, 2000)
Strong relationship between spelling and writing.
o Writers who must think too hard about how to spell use valuable cognitive resources needed for higher
level aspects of composition. (Singer & Bashir, 2004)
REWARDS – Why Resource (October, 2016)
Michigan's Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Act
(IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.