音節自1970 年代起已被視為重要的音韻單位。雖然在學術上音節所獲得的關注以及它在音韻學中的重要性與日俱增，然而學界對於如何劃分音節卻一直沒有定論。本研究回顧相關的文獻，探討音節在口語與書寫的過程中所扮演的角色，進一步歸納出英語音節劃分的基本原則，希冀將其應用於英語教學，尤其是應用於教導母語的音節結構比英語簡單的學習者。

Since the early 1970s, researchers have recognized the syllable as a fundamental unit of phonology. Despite this, no consensus has emerged as to how a phonetic string is segmented into syllables, i.e. syllabification. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature to provide an understanding of the nature and location of syllable boundaries, in order to help us understand what role syllables play in processing speech and written text—an especially crucial consideration for ESL/EFL learners with native languages whose syllable structures are simpler than that of English.