1. Increase spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension
English Words
from Latin & Greek
Increase spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension
Susan Ebbers 2005

2. How many words are there in the English Language?
The Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of interjections, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes, etc. These figures take no account of entries with senses for different parts of speech (such as noun and adjective).
Susan Ebbers 2005

3. Yea, yea, so get to the point…
This suggests that there are, at the very least, a quarter of a million distinct English words, excluding inflections, and words from technical and regional vocabulary not covered by the OED, or words not yet added to the published dictionary, of which perhaps 20 per cent are no longer in current use. If distinct senses were counted, the total would probably approach….
Susan Ebbers 2005

4. three quarters of a million 750,000 Thatsalotawords!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you ready for this?
three quarters of a million
750,000
Thatsalotawords!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Susan Ebbers 2005

5. Real world demands….
Only 30% of 4th graders are proficient readers National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP 2007)
42 million adults in the US are "functionally illiterate," meaning that can't read the front page of the newspaper. (NAEP 2007)
Lack of vocabulary can be a crucial factor underlying the school failure of disadvantage students (Becker, 1977; Bielmiller, 1999).
Susan Ebbers 2005

6. Shrinking personal vocabularies
The average sixth grade student knows approximately 25,000 words.
The average high school graduate knows approximately 50,000 words.
This means that average students learn roughly ,000 words a year (Graves, 2007).
This translates to 8 words a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year - including weekends or summers.
Susan Ebbers 2005

7. Some specifics on the importance of vocabulary…
Growing up in poverty can seriously restrict the vocabulary children learn before beginning school and make attaining an adequate vocabulary a very challenging task (Coyne, Simmons, & Kame'enui, 2004; Hart & Risley, 1995).
Less advantaged students are likely to have substantially smaller vocabularies than their more advantaged classmates (Templin, 1957; White, Graves, & Slater, 1990).
Susan Ebbers 2005

8. 30 million fewer words than their more advantaged peers.
It is estimated that by age 3, some less advantaged students have heard
30 million fewer words than their more advantaged peers.
It is also estimated these students’ vocabularies may be half the size of those of their more advantaged counterparts
(Hart and Risely 2003 & Graves, 2007 ).
Susan Ebbers 2005

9. Bet cha’ didn’t know…
In California they determine how many jail cells they will build to house future inmates - by calculating how many children are not reading on grade level by third grade.
Susan Ebbers 2005

10. Here is a short cut! Half of all “high-frequency words”
every day words,
and two-thirds of all academic and technical words are derived from Latin or Greek.
So learn the meanings of roots, prefixes, and suffixes and these basic elements make it easier to learn new words.
Susan Ebbers 2005

11. Basic Terms
root form: a word with no prefix or suffix added; may also be referred to as a base word inspector, thermal
affix: meaningful part of a word attached before or after a root or base word to modify its meaning
prefix: an affix which is placed before the stem of a word re-, un-, dis-
suffix: an affix which is placed after the stem of a word -able, -ive, -ly
derivation-a word formed from an existing word, root, or affix: electric, electricity
Susan Ebbers 2005

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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
What about -ment, -ous, -ness?
Susan Ebbers 2005

15. 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

16. 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

17. Developing content-specific, academic vocabulary depends on a basic understanding of Greek and Latin
Sixty percent of the words in English texts are of Latin and Greek origin Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997
Susan Ebbers 2005

18. 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

19. Look Inside—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

20. So what exactly are we going to do here at Oltman Middle School?
Learn to use context clues effectively
Study and practice most common root words
Study and practice most frequently used prefixes and suffixes
Learn to use THEIVES as a reading strategy to use all the clues in the text to uncover word meaning.
Susan Ebbers 2005

21. So…
Ready?
Set?
Here we go!
Susan Ebbers 2005