Syllable Division and How To Divide Words in Structured Literacy

What is syllable division?

Syllable division is a way of breaking down multi-syllabic words into more digestible parts for easier reading and spelling. We teach syllable types first, then move into syllable division.

In Orton-Gillingham, not only do we have overall syllable division, but there are deeper patterns within each pattern. For example, the VCCV pattern is the overall syllable division pattern, but it is broken down into RABBIT, REPTILE, CANDY, and HORNET syllable division as the deeper patterns within the overall pattern.

Syllable Division Patterns

Syllable division patterns include:

• VCCV: Vowel-Consonant-Consonant-Vowel
• VCV: Vowel-Consonant-Vowel
• Consonant +LE
• VCCCV: Vowel-Consonant-Consonant-Consonant-Vowel
• VV: Vowel-Vowel (Vowel Team)
• Compound Words
• Prefixes & Suffixes

Within these patterns are more detailed patterns for specific types of words.

• VCCV: Rabbit, Reptile, Candy, Hornet
• VCV: Camel, Tiger
• Consonant + LE: Puzzle, Table
• VCCCV: Ostrich
• VV: Lion, Poem
• Compound Words – no detailed pattern
• Prefixes & Suffixes – no detailed pattern

These patterns are great for breaking down words into parts for easier reading and spelling. They are also good for grouping words into patterns for students to work with and commit to memory.

Find no-prep, ready-to-use VCCV Syllable Division Packets with multisensory activities and readers.

How Are Words Divided in Syllable Division?

For most words, the steps to syllable division are the same.

VCCV, VCV, VV

Step 1: Underline the vowels or vowel sounds
Step 2: Code the word (VCCV, VCV, VV)
Step 3: Divide the word based on the rules of the syllable division pattern
Step 4: Label each syllable with REVLOC
Step 5: Read the syllables slowly, read the whole word

VCCCV Words

VCCCV are still divided between the consonants, but blends and digraphs stay together.

Step 1: Underline the vowels or vowel sounds (blends and digraphs are one vowel sound)
Step 2: Code the word VCCCV
Step 3: Divide after the first C, keeping blends and digraphs that need to stay together
Step 4: Label each syllable with REVLOC
Step 5: Read the syllables slowly, read the whole word

These steps work for dividing most syllable patterns. Consonant +LE, Compound Words, and Prefixes & Suffixes are slightly different.

Consonant +LE Syllable Division

Students underline the vowels, but also see the consonant +le pattern and underline it as a syllable.

Step 1: Underline the vowel and the c+le syllable
Step 2: Divide before the c+le syllable (go to the end and count back 3, divide)
Step 3: Code the word (first syllable open or closed) second c+le
Step 4: Read the syllables, read the word

Compound Words

Compound Words are in a more advanced position in the scope and sequence because they require a student to have seen a lot of words.

Dividing the word: sandpit. This means a student needs to be able to read, sand and pit and recognize those as two different words.

Prefix/Suffix Syllable Division

To divide prefix/suffix words, the steps will look like this:

Step 1: Underline vowel sounds
Step 2: Circle any prefix or suffix
Step 3: Divide the word into syllables
Step 4: Label the syllables with REVLOC
Step 5: Read the syllables, read the word

How Does Syllable Division Connect to Accenting?

It’s not advised to hold up a lesson for accenting, but it is advised to start teaching accenting with the VCCV patterns.

An Easy How-To for Accenting

When you start dividing the word nap kin into two syllables, you can ask, is it nap (stress) kin? or nap kin(stress)? (Answer: nap’kin).

Have the student say the accent on each syllable one right after the other and determine which way makes more sense.

One fun way to help students with accenting syllables is the “call the dog” method.

You would say, let’s call the dog!

Naturally, you will say, naaap, kin.

Whatever syllable you would call longer, is usually the accented syllable.

Let’s look at a word that would be the second syllable. The word is stampede.

Call the dog: stam peede is what naturally comes out. That second syllable is the accented syllable. The word accented looks like this: stam pede’

If a student isn’t picking up on accenting right away, just keep at it. Don’t hold up the lesson to make a student understand if they are not grasping. Move on, and ask the student for a couple or few words where would the accent go. Eventually, they will know all there is to know by studying accenting rules.

A Final Word

In our Orton Gillingham training, we are taught syllable division as a way to help our students break down words with more than one syllable into syllable types. Once they know how to break down words, they can recognize the syllables and read each syllable, then easily put those together to read the whole word.

Syllable division continues throughout our scope and sequence to the very end. We start at the top with VCCV, VCV, Consonant+LE, and VCCCV words and continue to the end where we divide compound words and words with prefixes and suffixes.

Way, way down in the scope and sequence, students are dividing words using accenting rules. It’s a process that students who learn with the Orton Gillingham approach will be very familiar with, and they will know how to unlock many words based on this one concept where things start very small and end up blossoming into the whole English language.

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