Morphology and its relation to Spelling
Why, when, and how to incorporate it in literacy teaching.
In this article, we are going to examine the role of morphology in relation to spelling, the nemesis of many a student!
We will consider its helpful role in developing spelling skills [the why we should utilize this valuable tool],
We will also consider how early we should begin this type of work with our students [the when]
Finally, we will look at what this may look like in a classroom or tutoring situation [the how]
Why teach morphology?
From the earliest days in school, we teach students the alphabetic code and they will practise their spelling with single syllable words as they build up their phonemic knowledge. In the main this goes along well until we reach tricky heart words such as ‘says,’ ‘goes,’ and ‘does’ which cannot be segmented according to the phonemes that are heard. Students will often struggle with words like these well into primary school unless they are taught the reason behind such spellings and here begins the self-talk ‘I’m a hopeless speller!’ [ More on says ,goes, does later].
Gradually students move to multi syllable words but at this point the spelling may become shaky and unreliable. When you consider the level of skill required for accurate spelling it is hardly surprising. The student will need be able to break words into syllables and then by using their existing knowledge of the alphabetic code segment each syllable according to the sounds that they can hear. The student will also need to have a good understanding of short and long vowel sounds and a degree of proficiency around consonant blends which are troublesome to so many struggling learners. Then of course there is the added difficulty of when to employ spelling rules such as the Double rule or the Drop e rule or Change y to i rule.
Let’s consider how a student may think if they have little or no awareness of morphemes.
If we look at the word ‘helpful’ a student can likely break the word into syllables [ help + ful] but without some awareness of morphemes may spell it as helpfull or even helpfle. Crazy? Well yes but not so if you haven’t been introduced to the suffix ful– meaning full of. Once that has been explicitly taught the student will start to notice the use of the suffix -ful in other words such as thankful and restful and consequently the knowledge of the suffix -ful forming an adjective will gradually take away the mystery and haphazardness of spelling such words.
Here is another common type of mistake: cheerd for cheered and talkt for talked. If you are spelling phonetically it works, but of course in both cases it totally disregards the use of the suffix ed forming a past tense verb. Again, explicit teaching of the suffix and the function of it in grammar will start to alleviate some of these problems.
When students move to spelling multi syllable words they will generally attempt to break words into syllables. This of course is good practice but not always successful. Let’s have a look at how a student may choose to spell the simple word reporter
If you think in syllables you might go with:
reporter = re + poor+ ter
or re + pour + ter
or even re +pore + ter.
All of these are valid spellings according to the code but are incorrect. Only when you have some understanding that the port in reporter is a base word meaning ‘to carry or bear ‘, along with the prefix re meaning ‘back’ and the suffix er meaning ‘someone who,’ does the correct spelling of reporter make sense.
When you consider all the places where spelling can go wrong it is really quite surprising that anyone can spell accurately and consistently! Even with students who are less challenged, when the mind is engaged with the thinking about what to write component [creativity], the spelling will often drop off [mechanics], as you can see from this fictional piece of writing below.
Teacherz of less capable spellers will be usd to seing spelling errors like the types of mistakes scatterd throughout this section. Without a sound understanding of affixes and the rules for how they add on to base words and roots, many teachers are runing into trouble when trying to give students useful feedback about the nature of these errors. When reporting on a student’s spelling progress, all that can be said is ‘Bill is still a phonetic speller’ without any detail about the types of errors or plans for their remediation. These types of errors indicate that a student is either not recogniseing that some of these words consist of a base with an affix added, or they are, but are unable to apply the correct spelling rule to suffix it. The trickyness inherent in the English orthography can lead to arguements with students about the correct spelling of words that can end in a teacher saying to a student “just spell it that way because that’s the right way!” Any teacher will agree that we owe our students more than this and we do not want our weaker spellers blameing themselves for what we aren’t able to adequately teach them.
When do we teach morphology?
Now that we have discussed how having a knowledge of morphemes is another tool for spelling, we need to consider when is an appropriate time to start its introduction.
In many instances the formalized teaching of morphemes for spelling gets going around the middle years of primary school. However, there is a growing belief that it can still be helpful for younger students. Children in the early years will benefit from having an awareness that affixes can be bolted onto a word to alter the meaning. As they learn to ‘bolt on’ and ‘chop off’ affixes they learn from the beginning that spelling has a form to it which they can master.
When the suffix ‘s’ is introduced [either in an informal way or with the full and complete teaching using terms such as suffix, noun, verb] the student word cracker boards are an excellent tool for practising phoneme manipulation in words and developing sound spelling habits. Here is an example of how this could be done with 5 letters [ i,t,p,n,s].
The next suffix that is generally introduced is the suffix ‘es’. Earlier we mentioned the tricky words ‘says’ ‘does’ and ‘goes. Once the student has been taught these 2 suffixes you will then be able to demonstrate the reasons behind the spelling of these words. By teaching in this way, students will learn from the beginning that spelling is not random and weird, and words can be explored to determine their etymology.
Now that we have discussed how having a knowledge of morphemes is another tool for spelling, we need to consider when is an appropriate time to start its introduction.
In many instances the formalized teaching of morphemes for spelling gets going around the middle years of primary school. However, there is a growing belief that it can still be helpful for younger students. Children in the early years will benefit from having an awareness that affixes can be bolted onto a word to alter the meaning. As they learn to ‘bolt on’ and ‘chop off’ affixes they learn from the beginning that spelling has a form to it which they can master.
How do we teach morphology?
The Word Cracker has a suggested sequence for introducing suffixes and spelling rules. These do not have to be strictly adhered to but they are helpful for someone who likes a structure to follow.
Whether we are introducing a new suffix, a spelling rule or any other component of morphology we should always start with:
1. explicit instruction [ I do]. Use the word cracker to model the new teaching point and demonstrate with plenty of examples.
2. practising together [ We do] Give the students words to practise on their student word cracker. Getting the students to ‘chin it’ [ writing the answer and placing it under their chin facing the teacher] will give the teacher quick feedback as to which of them may be struggling.
3. follow up work [ You do] students are given tasks such as word sums, dictation, and word studies to complete.
Spelling rules
Using the Tier 1 lesson presets, we initially introduce the students through what are referred to as safe patterns for base words. [vcc,vvc,vv,vy]
This early work will familiarize the student with the fact that there are morphemic boundaries in words as well as syllabic ones. The more confidence a student gains in encoding words with safe ending patterns the more likely it is that they will be alerted to unsafe ending patterns
Gradually the student can be introduced to the double rule, the drop e rule and the change y to i rule.
As each of these rules are taught it is useful for the students to have a record of each new spelling convention as it is learned. This could be done individually or on the large classroom version which is double sided.
Whilst we generally begin with suffixes the teacher will eventually want to start exploring some base words and roots which will bring necessitate the introduction of prefixes. Be mindful of the fact that in some cases the student will need to learn to chameleon [also known as assimilate] a prefix so that it fits onto the base or root word.
For example, succeeded would need explicit teaching of the root ‘ceed’ first as it not easily discernable. The word has been put together by taking the prefix ‘sub’ and chameleoning it into ‘suc’ so that it fits together nicely.
By the way, once a student has learned the clever trick of chameleon-ing a prefix it opens up a whole new world for spelling success[ suc + cess!] as ‘sub’ changes to ‘sup’ for support, to ‘sur’ for surround etc.
Have a plan but also have fun!
Never miss an opportunity to engage with the students’ curiosity and allow yourself to be diverted for some word journeys. Not only can these lead to rich vocabulary development, they also are starting to build pathways for spelling mastery.
We recently received a testimonial from year 2 teacher whose class was focusing on the word ‘grace’.
“The students were keen to explore all the affixes that could be used with the Word cracker, and they finally triumphed with the word’ ungracefulness’. The suffix ness must have sparked a conversation because they went off at a tangent discussing ‘mess’ [ rhyming word] which led to ‘messy’ which somehow led to’ busy’ [ not quite sure how that leap was made!] and finally ‘business’. [employing the change y to i rule] These occasions for incidental learning are gold and turn our students into active learners who develop their thinking skills around analyzing words and gaining confidence with spelling them.”
Spelling is complex but not impossible [ im + poss + ible !]
By now you should be able to see that the study of morphemes has a rich contribution to make towards developing good spelling skills. By using the Word Cracker to engage with your students they will become far more confident in pulling words apart and will be less likely to identify themselves as ‘hopeless’ spellers.
Morphology training
We have a comprehensive morphology training course if you want to learn more about morphology and how to teach it.
5 Responses
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Great article! I really appreciate the clear and detailed insights you’ve provided on this topic. It’s always refreshing to read content that breaks things down so well, making it easy for readers to grasp even complex ideas. I also found the practical tips you’ve shared to be very helpful. Looking forward to more informative posts like this! Keep up the good work!
Thanks! Glad it was helpful for you.