Category: Morphology

Why Teach Spelling?

Spelling knowledge is a gateway to higher student achievement in literacy. Individuals begin learning how to spell, as they begin manipulating sounds. Individuals begin to encode words as they begin writing symbols that represent sounds. Individuals are not initially wired to encode words they must be taught how the sounds are represented in print – for any language.

Spelling instruction enables students to become better skilled at decoding and encoding written words, which usually increases student reading fluency. Students also increase their lexicon, building depth and width of knowledge about different subjects. Students also increase their ability to write and use higher level words within their writing. Students also build or strengthen their synthesizing skills and become more self-assured.

Spelling instruction should encompass several different components that are known to increase student retention of how individual words are spelled. These different components assist students in completing “word studies” of how words are encoded. Spelling instruction should increase in complexity as students grow academically—moving in a systematic, sequential manner. Spelling instruction should include the following components:

• Phonology – “the study of spoken sounds (phonemes)—rules of how sounds are encoded, such as why these sounds follow this pattern to form this sound(s). Individuals should have phoneme awareness skills before learning how to read. This is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulated individuals sounds in spoken words. Phoneme awareness is part of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the ability to process and manipulate letter sounds, rhyming words, and segmenting of sounds within words. The study of phonology usually increases student ability to spell, pronounce, and comprehend written words” (Ray, 2019).

• Morphology – the study of the smallest units of meaning. Word analysis helps students understand how the smallest units of meaning dictate a word meaning. The word meaning determines spelling pattern. Morphology increases student lexicon and comprehension abilities of both oral and written language.

• Syllabification or syllable knowledge – how words are divided into different chunks or parts. There are six major syllable types in the English language. Understanding how words are divided into syllables usually increases student decoding and encoding skills. Syllable knowledge also increases the accuracy of language pronunciation and comprehension.

  • Orthography – the rules of how letters form written words. The internal structure of a word in print. Encoding words requires knowledge of how the letters and letter patterns of a word dictate its sound and meaning. In some cases, the same sound within words is generated by different letters, for example the long /ā/ sound is generated using these different letters or combination of letters:
  • -eigh (weigh)
  • ai (rain)
  • a – e (cake)
  • a
  • ei (vein)
  • -ay (stay)

Another example is the letter k that uses different single or combination of letters to create the /k/ sound, for example:

  • c (cut)
  • ck (back, chick)
  • k (kick)
  • ke (bake)
  • Orthography Mapping – “the mental process we use to store words for immediate, effortless, retrieval. It requires phoneme proficiency and letter-sound proficiency, as well as the ability to unconsciously or consciously make connections between the oral sound in spoken words and the letters in written words.” (Redding, 2023, slide 6). Instruction in orthography usually leads to faster retrieval of how words are spelled, which typically increases student reading fluency rates. Students memorize the letter layout of words and store them to be retrieved for later use—sight words.
  • Etymology – the study of word origins. English is deprived of many different languages that may have different rules of how letters are ordered within a word to create the same sounds. For example, words of the German or Latin language use different letters to form the same sounds of different origin. Some languages are more transparent than other languages. English is less transparent than other languages.

Students often resist being taught purposeful lessons about how to accurately encode letters into the “right” word. Students usually show less resistance to spelling instruction when it is embedded within other lessons.

Spelling should be taught systematically and explicitly. Students begin learning how to spelling written words through oral language. Students increase their knowledge of how to spell words when they begin bridging their oral language to written letters or combination of letters.

References

Redding, N. (2023). The importance of spelling instruction. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA).

Ray, J (2019). Structured literacy teacher, instructional knowledge. The Literacy Brain. https://theliteracybrain.com/category/structure-literacy-instruction/page/2/

Rosenberg, D. (2023). The forgotten skills needed for literacy success: spelling and handwriting. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA), Wilson Language Training.

The Necessary Components of Learning How to Spelling

Writing is often hard for students. Writing in general requires a higher level of cognitive skills. Writing requires students to synthesize known information. This is easier to accomplish orally. Individuals often speak (especially young children) at a higher cognitive level than they can write. Oral language is usually developed naturally through one’s environment, whereas writing words on paper requires instruction. Students often orally convey their thoughts in fragments, whereas most thoughts on paper must be put into complete sentences. One piece of the writing pie is correctly spelling or encoding words on paper. Students will often use lower-level words that they might be able to spell correctly. Students who struggle in spelling words correctly usually avoid writing words on paper. This is when creative instruction needs to be brought in play.

English is not a transparent language; it has stable rules and many exceptions to those stable rules. In transparent languages like, Finish or Italian the graphemes and phonemes are more consistent, with little expectations of the graphemes changing sounds within words. English is derived from multiple languages. Most American English words are derived from Latin, Greek, and Anglo-Saxon languages. These languages have stable rules that can be learned through studying letter-sound correspondences, syllable patterns and morpheme patterns. When a student knows where the word is derived from and the “rules” of that language assist in spelling the word accurately.  Webster brought more constancy in how we spell American English, while he creating the first instructional spelling books in the early 1800s.

Spelling requires students to know about phonology, orthography, and morphology to correctly encode a word. Phonology is the study of the sounds of letters that develop words. Students need to know the one-on-one grapheme-phoneme correspondences of the 26 letters in the English alphabet. During the study of phonology students begin learning how each letter may change its sound depending upon where the letter is placed in a word. Students should know these norms by Grade 2. They will use this information throughout their lifetime.

Orthography is the “rules” of how words are spelled within a language. The rules dictate if a letter will remain a one-on-one correspondence or change based on other letters within a word. Orthography is the visual representation or graphemes that represent words spoken orally. Students should have background knowledge of the “norms” of how letter placement creates the sounds of words. Orthographic knowledge increases student lexicon, which increases student reading fluency.

Morphology is the study of the meaning of the smaller parts of words, such as re- meaning again and -ing meaning an action. These different parts usually dictate its meaning. Students need to know the meaning of how something is spelled as American English has many words that are spelled differently, but sound the same (homophones).

Phonology, orthography, and morphology should be taught simultaneously. Phonemic awareness or oral language ability is the prerequisite in which these vital elements of learning how to decode and encode words is built upon. Some students will need to review some or all of the parts of phonemic awareness to effectively learn how to decode and encode words. Decoding is an easier skill for most students to grasp and use, than encoding words. Each of these components of learning how to spell words correctly increases with complexity as students mature. Teaching lessons about semantics along with lessons of morphology, usually increases student ability to effectively spell words that convey a more accurate meaning. These components are part of the Structured Literacy Method of effectively teaching students how to read and write.

References

Redding, Nancy. (2023). The Importance of Spelling Instruction. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA).

Rosenberg, Dee. (2023). The Forgotten Skills Needed for Literacy Success: Spelling and Handwriting. Presentation International Dyslexia Conference (IDA), Wilson Language Training.

 

 

 

Why Include Morphology Analysis in Literacy Instruction?

Students usually benefit immensely from learning how to analysis morphemes—spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and word memory. Students benefit across all subjects of education, as all subjects usually dictate that you must know how to read in order to successful pass each subject matter. Each subject contains words that are unique to that subject. Those words paint the picture(s) of that subject, such as in music-symbol, baritone, allegro or in math-adding, multiply, deduct. Research shows that teaching students about morphological awareness usually increases their ability to comprehend written passage(s) (Carlisle, McBride-Chang, Nagy, & Nunes, 2010). In the same article Carlisle, McBride-Chang, Nagy, & Nunes (2010) noted that learning how to analysis words or learning how to break down words into smaller units of meaning shows a strong correlation between morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. What is morphology and when should educators begin formal instruction of morphology?

Morphology is the study of word formation. Words are single or a combination of morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning. The different units of a word dictate its meaning, adding or subtracting different units of meaning help to fine tune its meaning. There are different types of morphemes that are used to orchestrate word meaning.

  • Unbound or free – These morphemes can stand alone and are usually the heart or base of a word. These are words like; spell, port, or graph.
  • Bound – These morphemes cannot stand alone. Bound morphemes are added to free morphemes and are generally referred to as affixes, like “ful”, “re”, “il”, “est” or “bi”.
  • Derivational – These morphemes change the meaning or direction of the word, such as hope, hopeless, hopelessly or hope, hopeful, hopefully.
  • Inflectional – These morphemes indicate a grammatical feature, such as numbers or a comparative. These morphemes are usually suffixes, like “s”, “ed”, or “ing”.

It is important to note that a vowel may function as a connector of meanings within a word, such as in therm + o + meter (Donah & White, 2017). There are others morphemes, such as conjunctions that serve as connectors of words within a sentence.

Students begin learning unconsciously about morphemes as they learn oral language. This is when they begin to add and subtract different morphemes (sounds) to form different words of meaning to better communicate their thoughts with other individuals. Students unconsciously build their vocabulary based on their environment. Some students may begin transferring their oral language knowledge to understand written words before they begin their primary school education. Most students are ready to begin discussing the analysis of word chemistry in kindergarten. The timeline will be different for each student. In most cases the student will begin the conversation about the spelling or different parts of word. Teachers might begin the conversation by asking questions about words that are familiar to that student or group of students, like “this” or “his”.

Studying the way morphemes interact, combine, and change the meaning of words seems like a daunting, laborious task that many students just assume avoid altogether. Addressing morphology in spontaneous and planned instruction may ease the task of learning the chemistry of words. Often students ask questions about words or groups of words that lend to the opportunity to have a “mini” word discussion. The depth of discussion about the question should be relevant to the learning level of student(s). Intentional instruction might be included throughout the instructional day within each subject of study. The when, how, and what of the lesson will be dependent on student ability or grade level. The format of planned instruction usually differs, taking into account time and student ability. Some lessons may last 5 minutes, others 30-45 minutes. Planned instruction might include metacognitive modeling, independent practice, small-group word exploration/collaboration, or interactive games. This is vocabulary or lexicon development and comprehension skill development, which are part of the foundational skills necessary to read and write effectively.

References

Carlisle, J.F., McBride-Chang, C., Nagy, W., & Nunes, T. (2010). Effects of

instruction in morphological awareness on literacy achievement: an

integrative review. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(4), 464-487.

https://doi.org/10.1598//RRQ.45.4.5.

Donah, S. & White, N.C. (2017). Morphemic awareness. International Dyslexia

Association Conference-Atlanta, GA.

Structured Literacy Supports All Learners-Dyslexic, ESL

Structured Literacy Supports All Learners:  Students At-Risk of Literacy Acquisition—Dyslexia and English Learners

Abstract

Learning to read is a complex endeavor that requires developing brain connections. The brain connections for reading written words begins forming during the development of oral language. The maturing of oral language and reading instruction continue the growth of the necessary brain connections to read and write. Structured Literacy instruction helps to develop and strengthen brain connections for reading and processing written language. Structured Literacy encourages educators to teach the essential literacy foundational skills during the pre and primary school years, so students have a better chance of achieving and maintaining proficiency in literacy. 

This article was published in the Texas Association for Literacy Instruction Yearbook, Volume 7, September 2020, Chapter 5, p. 37-43, downloadable at  http://www.texasreaders.org/yearbooks.html.

Structured Literacy Teacher, Instructional Knowledge

Structure Literacy Teacher (SLT) is a fairly new label, developed by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), to describe the most effective form of instruction for students identified dyslexic.  This type of instruction is also effective for English Second Language (ESL) learners and for other students at-risk for literacy acquisition (Baker et al., 2014; Gersten et al., 2009).  Structured literacy instruction should include following instructional principles: 

  • systematic instruction, taught in logical order—builds upon prior knowledge
  • students should learn the foundational or prerequisite skills of the current lesson
  • explicit instruction, direct—clearly explained and teacher modeled
  • scaffolded instruction to match student abilities, providing exact temporary support
  • interactive discussions about the “new” task
  • multiple opportunities to practice the new task or skill
  • monitoring of student achievement through observation, interaction, and formal assessment

Structured literacy instruction includes six pillars or parts of literacy development—oral and written.  Structured literacy instruction should begin with Pillar 1, as each is dependent on the previous pillar(s).

Pillar 1 is phonology, the study of spoken sounds (phonemes)—rules of how sounds are encoded, such as why these sounds follow this pattern to form this sound(s). Individuals should have phoneme awareness skills before learning how to read.  This is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulated individuals sounds in spoken words.  Phoneme awareness is part of phonological awareness.  Phonological awareness is the ability to process and manipulate letter sounds, rhyming words, and segmenting of sounds within words. The study of phonology usually increases student ability to spell, pronounce, and comprehend written words. 

Pillar 2 is sound-symbol correspondences or the relationship(s) between phoneme(s) and grapheme(s).  This may be referred to as phonics instruction that teaches predictable or the constant rules of sound-symbol correspondences to produce written language.  At this stage students learn one-on-one correspondence, for example the written letter B represents this phoneme or sound.  It is important to note that some letters are represented by more than one sound, depending on the origin and spelling of the word.  Students begin decoding and encoding words as they begin to learn the sound-symbol correspondences.  Student knowledge of the phoneme(s) and grapheme(s) relationships usually increases student ability to read, comprehend, and spell written language.

Pillar 3 is syllable knowledge, the understanding of the different types of syllables.  Syllable knowledge increases the accuracy of language pronunciation and comprehension.  Syllable knowledge also increases student decoding and encoding skills.  The English language has six major types of syllables that are described in the following chart.

Type of syllable

Example

CVC

cat, log, bit, set, cut

Final e

kite, bone, bake, cute

Open

me, sky, be/gan, mu/sic, fe/ver

Vowel Diagraph

oi-soil, oil; ee-sleep, keep; ea-beat, leak; oa-boat, road; oo-zoom, smooth

r-controlled

ar-car, start; ir-girl, swirl; er-her, flower; ur-fur, burn; or-fork, corn 

Constant-le

marble, puddle, bugle, maple, little

Pillar 5 of structured literacy instruction is syntax or the study of sentence structure.  The principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence.  These principles are also referred to as the mechanics, grammar, and variation of a sentence. Pillar 4 is morphology that is the study of the smallest units of meaning or morphemes.  Morphology focuses on how parts of meaning fit together to form words and new meaning.  Word analysis helps students to learn the meaning(s) of morphemes and how the word parts conclude its meaning.  Word analysis also increases student background knowledge, which increases student ability to comprehend written passages. 

The more common parts of a sentence.

Parts of a sentence

Definition

Examples

Verb

describes the action

bark, ran, call, like

Adverb

modifies a verb, helps to clarify or further define a verb

warmly, quiet, loudly, today, outside

Noun

person, place or thing

house, dog, car, book

Adjective

modifies a noun, adjusts the meaning or further defines the noun to clarify meaning

beautiful, dark, old

Article

determiners, modifies and precedes a noun

a, an, the

Preposition

usually precedes a noun and in relation to another word in the clause

at, in, on, with, for, about, of, after

Conjunction

connecting words, they connect clauses and sentences

and, but, if

Pillar 6 of structured literacy is semantics or study of the meaning of words, symbols, and units of words.  A person’s lexicon stores the meaning of words, symbols, and units of words—vocabulary.  People begin to develop their lexicon at birth. Individuals attach meaning to tones of sound.  These meanings are adjusted as individuals are introduced to new tones or meanings.  Individuals transfer the meaning of tones (voice) to symbols (print) as they learn how to read and write.  To better understand words and groups of words teachers often use concept maps to examine the definition of a word.   Students identify the related synonyms and antonyms of the word.  Students often identify or attach pictures to a word or groups of words.  Semantics assist in attaching inferred meaning to written and oral verbiage.  Semantics can include morphology.

You can find details about becoming a certified Structured Literacy Teacher on the IDA website.

References

Baker, S., Lesaux, N., Jayanthi, M., Dimino, J., Proctor, C.P., Morris, J., Gersten, R., Haymond, K., Kieffer, M.J., Linan-Thompson, S., & Newman-Gonchar, R. (2014).  Teaching academic content and literacy to English learners in elementary and middle school (NCEE 2014-4012).  Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications_reviews.aspx.

Gersten, R., Compton, D., Connor, C.M., Dimino, J., Santoro, L., Linan-Thompson, S., & Tilly, W.D. (2009). Assisting students struggling with reading: Response to intervention and multi-tier intervention for reading in the primary grades, a practice guide (NCEE 2009-4045). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/practiceguides/.

 

Structure Literacy, Pillars 5 & 6

Pillar 5 of structured literacy instruction is syntax or the study of sentence structure.  The principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence.  These principles are also referred to as the mechanics, grammar, and variation of a sentence.  The more common parts of a sentence are:

  • Verb-describes the action
  • Adverb-modifies a verb, helps to clarify or further define a verb      Example: warmly, quiet, loudly, today, outside
  • Noun-person, place or thing
  • Adjective-modifies a noun, adjusts the meaning or further defines the noun to better clarify the meaning                                                                        Example: beautiful, dark, old
  • Article-modify a noun, like an adjective Example: a, an, the
  • Preposition-usually precedes a noun and in relation to another word      Example: at, in, on, with, for, about, after, of
  • Conjunction-connecting words, they connect clauses and sentences Example: and, but, if                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           One form of syntax is sentence diagramming.

See the source image

commons.wikimedia.org

Pillar 6 of structured literacy is semantics or study of the meaning of words, symbols, and units of words.  A person’s lexicon stores the meaning of words, symbols, and units of words—vocabulary.  People begin to develop their lexicon at birth. Individuals attach meaning to tones of sound.  These meanings are adjusted as individuals are introduced to new tones or meanings.  Individuals transfer the meaning of tones (voice) to symbols (print) as they learn how to read and write.  To better understand words and groups of words teachers often use concept maps to examine the definition of a word.   Students identify the related synonyms and antonyms of the word.  Students often identify or attach pictures to a word or groups of words.  Semantics assist in attaching inferred meaning to written and oral verbiage.  Semantics can include morphology.

References

Birsh, J.R. (2011). Multisensory teaching of basic language skills.  Baltimore:  Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

Henry, Marcia K. (2010).  Unlocking literacy effective decoding and spelling instruction.   Baltimore:  Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

International Dyslexia Association, dyslexiaida.org/what-is-structured-literacy/

Moats, L. (2000). Speech to print. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

 

What is Structure Literacy Instruction – Pillars 3 & 4

Structured literacy instruction includes six pillars or parts of language development-oral and written.  This post includes Pillars 3 and 4. 

Pillar 3 is syllable knowledge, the understanding of the different types of syllables.  The English language has six major types of syllables:

  • cvc …….. cat, ban, bit
  • final e …. kite, bone
  • open …… me, began
  • vowel diagraph …… oi-soil, oil; ee-sleep, keep; ea-beat, leak; oa-boat, road; oo-zoom, smooth
  • r-controlled …… ar-car, start; ir-girl, swirl; er-her, flower; ur-fur, burn; or-fork, corn 
  • constant-le …… marble, puddle, bugle, maple, little

Syllable knowledge increases the accuracy of language pronunciation and comprehension.  Syllable knowledge also increases student decoding and encoding skills.

Pillar 4 is morphology that is the study of the smallest units of meaning or morphemes.  Morphology focuses on how parts of meaning fit together to form words.  Morphology includes word analysis that helps students to learn the meaning(s) of morphemes and how the word parts conclude its meaning.  Word analysis also increases student background knowledge, which increases student ability to comprehend written passages. 

Structured literacy instruction typically includes the following instructional principles:

  • Systematic instruction, students should learn the foundational or prerequisite skills of the current lesson 
  • Modeling of task being taught 
  • Interactive discussions about the task being taught 
  • Many opportunities to practice the new skill
  • Scaffolding of instruction to match student abilities
  • Monitoring of student achievement through observation and interaction  

Structured literacy may be used to teach literacy at all levels of instruction, such as Tier 1-general classroom, Tier 2-intervention usually taught in small groups, Tier 3-intervention usually taught in one-on-one group setting, or special education.  The number of levels for instruction in a RTI model may be different for each school, depending on the learning needs of the current students and the available resources.

References

Birsh, J.R. (2011). Multisensory teaching of basic language skills.

Baltimore:  Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

Henry, Marcia K. (2010).  Unlocking literacy effective decoding and spelling instruction.

 Baltimore:  Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

International Dyslexia Association, dyslexiaida.org/what-is-structured-literacy/

Moats, L. (2000). Speech to print. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

Morphology-Word Analysis

While reading a novel to a group of Grade 5 students, I came across a “new” or unfamiliar word.  The class and I began a discussion about the meaning of the word.  First, we looked for clues in the surrounding words and decided that there was not enough information to come to an absolute conclusion.  So, we began dissecting the word into smaller units of meaning or morphemes.  Many students did not know how to break down the word into morphemes, nor did they know the meaning(s) of the smaller units of the word.  But through further discussion, students began to focus on smaller units of the word and what those parts might mean. The meaning of the word began to ooze, which allowed students to make an educated conclusion of what new word might mean.  This is a form of morphology.

Morphology is the study of word structure.  The analysis of words or encoding and decoding of words helps individuals to understand their origin and how the word parts fit together.  Word analysis also helps students to learn the meaning(s) of morphemes and how the word parts conclude its meaning.  Word analysis also increases student background knowledge, which increases student ability to comprehend written passages.  Word analysis also increases student ability to spell and pronounce words.  Morphology should be introduced in the primary school years.  Morphology should be explicitly taught.

 

References

Birsh, J.R. (2011). Multisensory teaching of basic language skills.

Baltimore:  Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

Moats, L. (2000). Speech to print. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Pub Co.

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