Morphological Awareness as a Help With Comprehension The Response To Intervention Best Practices Institute Presented by Sally Grimes, Ed.M. www.grimesreadinginstitute.com sallygrimes@comcast.net October 16, 2012

Agenda Background and The Reading Process Morphological Awareness – Its Role in Reading Activities and Resources to Use “Tomorrow”

Source: Neuman, Susan B. and Dickinson, David K Source: Neuman, Susan B. and Dickinson, David K., “Handbook of Early Literacy Research”

Why Do Students Struggle? Contributing Factors Neurological “Wiring” Genes Environmental Lack of early language experience Inadequate instruction

One Size Never Fits All!

Reading Comprehension is Interaction Between Reader Language Competency Cognitive Processing Schemata Working Memory Metacognition Motivation Print ______ Level of text Book and Print Features Structure of Text Sentence Complexity Vocabulary/Language Content Linda Crumrine, 01

Morphological Awareness A morpheme (prefix, a suffix, root or base) is the smallest unit of meaning. Good readers analyze a word’s parts to find chunks of meaning. Latin and Greek roots are the basis of a host of words e.g. “struct” forms the basis of construction, instruct, reconstruct, destruct etc. Despite the scarcity of studies and the equivocal nature of the findings that do exist, most experts recommend some teaching of morphemic analysis. (Baumann, Font, Edward, & Boland, 2005;Carlisle, 2007; Graves, 2006; Stahl & Nagy, 2006) “Word parts are too valuable a resource to ignore.” Stahl & Nagy, 2006

Language Components Phonology – The sound system of a language… Was it taught? Was it learned? What “holes” exist? Morphology - the study of the smallest meaningful units of speech (morphemes: affixes, roots, “ed” “s” etc.) Very motivating to defeated students (See Vocabulogic) Syntax – underlying grammatical structure (HARD for ELL’s) Semantics - the ways in which a language conveys meaning Pragmatics – the social side of language…accent, tone, body language Etymology – the origins of the language…Fun! KEY POINT: With practice and experience, children develop skills in each of these components as they develop language. NOTE: These terms are included in the Facilitator’s Guide glossary.

What is Vocabulary Development? The ability….. to understand (receptive language) & to use (expressive language) words to acquire & convey meaning.

Research Has Found That… Vocabulary size in kindergarten is an effective predictor of reading comprehension in the middle elementary years. By the end of grade two, students in the bottom 25% have the same size vocabulary as an average kindergartener. For them to catch up, they must acquire words even faster than the average learner. (Scarborough,1998, 2001)

Baker, Simmons, Kame’enui, ‘95 Morphological Awareness is Key – Especially for Older Strugglers “There is considerable evidence that words, both spoken and written, are remembered in relation to other words and that word meanings are not stored in our memory as isolated wholes that resemble entries in a dictionary.” Moats, 2000 Because struggling readers do not read widely, a huge gap in word knowledge distinguishes them from their proficient peers. Baker, Simmons, Kame’enui, ‘95

Research Findings Vocabulary Development is both important and ignored. (Gough and Tunmer, 1986) We need to focus on root word growth. (Lorge and Chall, Beck and McKeown, 1990 & others) This can mean only 600 root word meanings a year; children can acquire about 1200 a year K-8.(Biemiller & Slonim, 2000, Anglin,’93) A child needs to know at least 4000 meanings of words by the end of grade 1 to progress at an average rate. (Biemiller) Words known by average 2nd grader: 5000-6000 The Oxford English Dictionary , the most complete lexicon, lists 290,000 know English words The average college educated adult recognized the meaning of 50,000-80,000 words when reading.

Stages of Word Knowledge 1. Never saw it before 2. Heard it, but doesn’t know what it means 3. Recognizes it in context as having something to do with _________ 4. Knows it well & can use it correctly. Dale & O’Rourke, 1971, Beck, 1994 Adapted from Isabel Beck’s Bringing Words to Life

Using Word Parts international transatlantic joyful impossible fearless invisible disappear unexpected When students encounter unknown words, they can use their knowledge of word parts - prefixes and suffixes to determine meaning. TRY IT!

Morphemes – The Smallest Unit of Meaning There is some evidence to suggest that the human brain may use a coding system to process words & may not register multisyllabic words in their entirety: “Words may be analyzed by access codes into units, consisting of their bases or stems with prefixes and suffices stripped.” Corson, 1985

“There is considerable evidence that words, both spoken and written, are remembered in relation to other words and that word meanings are not stored in our memory as isolated wholes that resemble entries in a dictionary.” “Each word is part of a network of related meanings…one of the ways word family networks are constructed in memory is by their morphological relationships.” Moats, 2000

Basic Terms root form: inspector, thermal base word: unlikely prefix: re-, un-, dis- suffix: -able, -ive, -ly Derivation - a word formed from an existing word, root, or affix: electric, electricity Susan Ebbers 2005

trans port able dis rupt ion pre script re tract or inter cept pro Latin: Some Common Roots trans port able dis rupt ion pre script re tract or inter cept pro ject ile de struct con duct miss al sub vers ive e dict to carry to break to write to pull to take to throw to build to lead to send to turn to speak Susan Ebbers 2005

20 Most Frequent Prefixes in School Texts 1. unable 2. review inedible (impotent, illegal, irresponsible) distrust enlighten (empower) nonsense inside, implant overcome misguided submarine prefix interrupt forewarn derail transfer supersonic semicircle antitrust midterm underfed Analysis: White, Sowell, and Yanagihara 1989 Susan Ebbers 2005

Prefixes: Meaning and Connotation Often Negative dis-, de- non- sub- in- un- mis- mal- anti, contra a- Somewhat Positive pro- co- bene- super- com- be- en-, em- ad- Susan Ebbers 2005

Derivational Suffixes Derivational suffixes change the part of speech words ending with –tion are often nouns words ending with –ive are often adjectives words ending with –ish are often adjectives words ending with –ity are often nouns Others: -ment, -ous, -ness Susan Ebbers 2005

Cognates Connect English and Spanish through Latin Origins Romance Languages (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, etc.) share the same Latin roots Morta: Roman goddess of death Example: The Latin root for the word death is mort. The French spell it morte and the Spanish, muerte. In English, we have a whole network of related words: mortal, immortal, mortality, mortician, mortuary, postmortem, etc. Ebbers, 2004 Susan Ebbers 2005

hydro graph geo pyro polis neuro ortho scope photo therm crat psych Greek Combining Forms hydro graph geo pyro polis neuro ortho scope photo therm crat psych chron phobe pseud onym crypt helio logy sphere the, theo Susan Ebbers 2005

mono uni di bi du, duo tri tetra quadri penta hexa sept oct nove deca Counting in Greek and Latin mono uni di bi du, duo tri tetra quadri penta hexa sept oct nove deca deci cent milli poly multi semi hemi Susan Ebbers 2005

Sixty percent of the words in English texts are of Latin and Greek origin. Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997 Susan Ebbers 2005

Anatomy and Medical Terms Content-Specific Greek Terms Anatomy and Medical Terms esophagus, thyroid, diagnosis, psoriasis, dyslexia Studies and Sciences biology, seismology, morphology, geochronometry Animals and Plants arachnid, amphibian, chlorophyll, dinosaur, nectar Theatre and the Arts charisma, drama, chorus, muse, symphony, acoustics Susan Ebbers 2005

gram, graph to write, written grammar graph gram grammar school photograph polygraph mimeograph phonograph telegraph paragraph telegram mammogram histogram anagram cryptogram monogram electrocardiogram photographer cartographer geographer cryptographer autobiographer xylographer paleographer biographer graphite grapheme graphologist graphic graphically grammar school grammar books rules of grammar grammatical grammatically ungrammatical ungrammatically grammatology graph grammar gram, graph to write, written Greek gram Susan Ebbers 2005

Look Inside the Word and Look Outside pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis Look inside the word for known word parts: prefixes, roots or combining forms, suffixes. Use the analogy strategy—“I don’t know this word, but I know pneumonia and I know volcano, so by analogy, this word might have something to do with lungs and heat.” Look outside the word at context clues, visuals The coal miners, coughing and wheezing, suffered from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Susan Ebbers 2005

Anglo-Saxon French Latin or Greek SO MANY SYNONYMS ANGLO-SAXON, FRENCH, LATIN, and GREEK Anglo-Saxon French Latin or Greek cook sauté concoct holy sacred consecrated kingly royal regal wreck sabotage subvert hearten encourage inspire show cinema theater See also Bryson, 1990; Lederer, 1991; King, 2000 Susan Ebbers 2005

“A Positive Emotion” GLAD PLEASED DELIGHTED OVERJOYED HAPPY CAREFREE ENGLISH: A RICH VOCABULARY SO MANY SHADES OF MEANING “A Positive Emotion” GLAD PLEASED DELIGHTED OVERJOYED HAPPY CAREFREE LIGHTHEARTED MERRY JOYOUS JOYFUL CHEERY CHEERFUL CONTENT BLITHE BLISSFUL SATISFIED BOUYANT BEATIFIC ECSTATIC EUPHORIC EUPEPSIC Susan Ebbers 2005

weather Coyne miasmic rainy turbulent gusty wet windy wet breezy stormy blustery weather sultry freezing humid snowy cold hot nippy frigid sweltering sizzling Coyne

Meteorology Instruments: Barometer Thermometer Rain Gauge Anemomter Precipitation: Rain Snow Fog Hail Patterns: Fronts High pressure Low pressure Storms: Thunderstorms Tornado, hurricane Tsunami

Let’s Prevent “The Matthew Effect”: Unrewarding Reading Experiences That Multiply Over Time and More Feelings of Inadequacy. Stanovich, 1986

Hypothetical “Matthew Effects” Average Progression Poor Reader 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Grades Author unknown

Special Resources www.colorincolorado.org www.corelearn.com www.Interventioncentral.org www.scoe.org (Kevin Feldman, Kate Kinsella) Vocabulogic (Susan Ebbers) WGBH: Martha Speaks www.wordshift.com www.leilenshelton.com www.fcrr.org

Supplemental Curricula Writing: Project Read (Language Circle); Step Up To Writing (Cambium); John Collins Writing Program; Expressive Writing (Haynes & Jennings) Landmark School); PLANS (Laud & Patel); Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students-Graham & Harris (Brookes) Vocabulary: Elements of Vocabulary (Beck); Keys to Literacy (Sedita); Vocabulary Through Morphemes (Ebbers);; Daily Oral Vocabulary Exercises (Ebbers & Carroll); Academic Vocabulary for English Learners (Cambium) Comprehension: Elements of Comprehension (Beck): Collaborative Strategic Reading (Vaughn); Keys to Literacy(Sedita); Ready To Read (Farrell & Matthews)

Miscellaneous Ideas Learning by Design, RAVE-O, Rewards (These Address Multiple Aspects of Reading Instruction) Bringing Words to Life (Beck et al) Vocabulary Handbook (Diamond and Gutlohn) Next STEPS in Literacy Instruction: Connecting Assessments to Effective Interventions (Smartt and Glaser) – Teacher Friendly Means of Driving Instruction-Based on DIBELS and AIMSweb) LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) Prof. Dev. TRE (Teaching Reading Essentials) Prof. Dev.

Resources For Videos, Webinars, Articles, etc. www.fcrr.org www.dibels@uoregon.edu www.aimsweb.com www.cast.org (for UDL) www.interdys.org www.cec.org www.pals.virginia.edu www.centeroninstruction.org www.rtinetwork.org www.progressmonitor.org www.scoe.org www.readingrockets.org www.vocabulogic.org www.adlit.org www.colorincolorado.org www.ncld.org wwwneuhaus.org www.lingui.org www.rti4success.org www.nasdse.org www.meadowscenter.org www.keystoliteracy.com www.betterhighschools.org www.middleschoolmatters.org

THANK YOU Danke Merci Gratias ευχαριστώ /efharisto/ Susan Ebbers 2005

Thank You! Sally Grimes, Ed.M. – The Grimes Reading Institute – Consultation and Professional Development in Literacy sallygrimes@comcast.net www.grimesreadinginstitute.com 508-776-2553 (cell) / 978-546-2144 (office)