SYLLABIC METHOD OF LITERACY: WHAT IS IT, ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The syllabic method of reading and writing was a methodology developed by the Germans Federico Gedike and Samiel Heinicke for the effective teaching of reading and writing. It is one of the most popular learning methods and continues to be used today despite many detractors.

Along with the syllabic method, there is also another popular method for teaching reading and writing during the early years, a method known as analytic.

Source: pixabay.com

Both methods have been appropriated and developed with different nuances by different pedagogues and teachers throughout history. In this article we will see the most important characteristics of the syllabic method of literacy.

History and theory

Reading learning methods

From the moment that writing was needed to document human actions, the teaching of reading and writing became fundamental to human evolution. Because of this, throughout history various methods have emerged to simplify this instructional process.

All the created methods can be classified into two broad categories. On the one hand, there is the syllabic or synthetic category, which includes phonetic, alphabetic and syllabic methods. Its function is basically to learn the written language starting from the minimum units of meaning (letters, syllables and phonemes) to the largest ones (words and sentences).

On the other hand, we find the analytical category, which begins with the evaluation of words, sounds and phrases to go down to the most basic components of syllables and letters.

What is the syllabic method?

The syllabic method consists of showing the student the letters, first so that they become familiar with their graphic representation (spelling), while their corresponding sound (phonetics) is shown. Then, once you have memorized the sounds on your own, you can move on to studying the sound combinations.

Normally it begins with the vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u), and then progresses with the combination of these basic sounds with the consonant use. Generally, it begins with the well-known syllabic pronunciation of mammemommo.

After this, the use of slightly more complex combinations of consonants grouped in syllables is taught, to give sounds that are more difficult to pronounce such as bra-bribbribrub or plaple-pliplop.

Then the reverse pronunciation method is used, which has to do with modifying the consonant in the order of the syllable to generate a sound with a higher level of complexity: al- el- il- ol- ul or also ar- er - go- or- ur.

Finally, it is passed to the mixed syllables, the diphthongs, triphthongs and at the end those of four letters called complex.

The books that best represent this method are the books known as syllabaries, widely used today for language acquisition.

Advantages of the syllabic method

- It does not focus so much on the pronunciation of the letters (only the vowels), but it goes on at once to the syllabic pronunciation, leaving aside the alphabetical method in which the pronunciation of the consonants is studied one by one.

- Maintains a chronological order that facilitates the follow-up of the lessons, giving structure to the acquisition of knowledge.

- The syllabic union is simple to learn and easy to retain. Therefore, the acquisition and learning of sounds is much faster and is recorded in the mind more easily.

- It works as a very effective method for the acquisition of the Spanish language, since it is a syllabic and phonetic language. That is, it can be pronounced by syllables, and reading and writing are related, since words sound like they are written.

- It is a simple method both to learn it and to teach it, so that the students themselves can transmit their knowledge in a simple way once they have acquired it.

- It does not require much support material for its implementation. Pencil and paper are sufficient as tools for practicing this method.

Disadvantages of the syllabic method

- As it is a method that goes from the particular to the general, sometimes students may find it difficult to understand the organic learning process. In other words, sometimes they might not understand the need for so many steps to acquire the tool.

- It can become heavy since it is a mechanical, repetitive and static learning that the child tends to reject from the outset.

- Although at the beginning the syllable is studied and not the letter or grapheme, learning becomes slow and tedious.

- Because it is a model of mechanical learning, there is a risk that the child does not acquire the abstract tools necessary for the comprehension of reading as a process, or that it later becomes difficult for him to understand reading as a whole.

Other learning methods

Analytical methods date from a more modern and current age. They differ from syllabic or synthetic methods in the fact that they begin by reading larger structures, such as phrases or sentences, trying to understand their meaning, to later descend to the smallest units of the spoken chain such as the word, the syllable and the letter.

The tongue as a sign of human intelligence

Language is a complex system that requires large amounts of intelligence to understand. Beginning in the 1960s, language psychologists began to delve into their theories about the high degree of abstraction necessary for understanding the conventions of language.

On the other hand, linguistics devoted entire decades to understanding language as a tool of human knowledge. Although there are still unknown processes, one of the most convincing explanations is that of the process of the double articulation of the linguistic sign.

This process is nothing more than the explanation of the human mental process to decode the reading processes in two moments. At first, we talk about the mental process in which the human brain decodes the signs it sees on paper and is able to read them. Those signs are known as meanings.

On the other hand, there is the second decoding, the one that identifies that sign with a sound and with a referent in reality. That referent is known as the signifier. Both methods require a large number of intense cognitive processes, which highlight the human capacity for knowledge and learning.

References

1. Carpio Brenes, María de los Ángeles, writing and reading: social, not natural fact. Electronic Magazine «Investigative News in Education» 2013, 13 (March-December): Available at: redalyc.org.
2. Estalayo, Victor & Vega, Rosario. (2003) Read well, within everyone's reach. The Doman method adapted to the school. New Library, Madrid, Spain. 270 pages.
3. Gaonac'h, Daniel & Golder Caroline. (1998). Read and understand. Psychology of reading. Edition 1. Editorial Siglo XXI. Federal District, Mexico.
4. Giudice, Jacqueline, Godoy, Marcelo, & Moyano, Estela Inés. (2016). Reading and writing practices in the framework of the teaching of Psychology: advances in an interdisciplinary investigation. Mexican journal of educational research. Retrieved on May 4, 2019, from scielo.org.mx.
5. Rugerio, Juan Pablo, & Guevara Benítez, Yolanda. (2016). Literacy practices of mothers and teachers: their effects on skills of preschool children. Mexican journal of educational research. Retrieved on May 4, 2019, from scielo.org.mx.