Continuum Unpacked

Morphological Knowledge in Reading and Spelling

Layers of Language

Category: Word-Level Reading and Spelling

The English writing system is based not only on sound but also on meaning. Orthographic knowledge refers to the understanding of the English spelling system and its patterns, including grapheme positions and combinations in a word. Morphological knowledge refers to the understanding of how morphemes can be used to form words. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning within words, including prefixes, suffixes, and bases. All words are made up of one or more morphemes.

Students apply their consolidated phonological awareness and phonics knowledge, as well as their developing orthographic and morphological knowledge, to read and spell words in isolation and in various text contexts.

Knowledge and Skills:

Applying Morphological Knowledge in Reading and Spelling

Kindergarten to Grade 4

Understanding that words consist of bases that convey meaning and that can be modified with affixes (prefixes and suffixes) to change the meaning of the word. Adding prefixes and/or suffixes may have three other impacts on the resulting words:
changing the word’s function or role in a sentence (e.g., changing a verb to a noun);
changing the word’s pronunciation (e.g., medic vs. medicine); and/or
uncommonly, changing the word’s spelling (e.g., hop vs. hopping, divide vs. division)
Developing the ability to segment words into recognizable morphemes and to apply their morphological knowledge to spell and read longer and more complex words

Looks like

K/1

beginning to use suffixes, including: –s, –es, –ed, –ing
recognizing that some suffixes can be pronounced in different ways (e.g., –s can be /s/ as in “cats” and /z/ as in “dogs”)
orally working with groups of words with the same base (e.g., play, playing, playdate)
recognizing affixes in oral or written language
recognizing compound words during oral activities

Grade 1

using prefixes, including: un–, re–, in– (not), dis–
using suffixes, including: –ing, –er/–or, –est, –ly
applying suffixes with and without base changes, including three common suffixing patterns: doubling, e-drop, and changing y to i
understanding the three sounds of –ed and applying them to spelling
using compounding to join bases (e.g., for book, note + book = notebook, book + shelf = bookshelf), and affixing when appropriate

Grade 2

using prefixes, including: pre–, de–, a– (schwa), co–, uni–, bi–, tri–, mis–, dis–
using suffixes, including: –ion, –ure, –er, –or, –ist, –ish, –y, –ness, –less, –able/ –ible, –ful
understanding that derivational affixes not only change the meaning of the word, but also can change the part of speech
recognizing that as affixes are added, pronunciation may shift
adjusting syllable stress and schwa to produce the correct pronunciation
exploring derivational word families while adding affixes to a learned base (e.g., changing a verb to a noun: instruct + ion = instruction)

Grade 3

using prefixes, including: trans–, post–, inter–, intra–, over–, under–, sub–, non–, in–/im– (in/into), anti–, mid–
using suffixes, including: –ic, –al/–ial, –ous, –ive
using adverbs (e.g., recognizing and using suffixes to form adverbs that describe a specific manner, period of time, or order: –y, –ly, –ful, –less)
recognizing and using bound bases
understanding how words move across grammatical boundaries depending on their use and context (e.g., The students enjoyed their success (noun). → The successful (adjective) student aced the test. → We are successful (adjective). → She successfully (adverb) climbed the mountain.)
using derivational families to support spelling words with a schwa sound (e.g., students can use define to choose a grapheme for the schwa in definition)

Grade 4

using prefixes, including: fore–, super–, semi–, en–/em–
using suffixes, including: –ant, –ent, –ate, –ism
understanding how words move across grammatical boundaries depending on their use and context (e.g., The students enjoyed their success (noun). → The student was successful (adjective) and passed the test. → We are successful (adjective). → She successfully (adverb) climbed the mountain.)
using derivational families to support spelling words with a schwa sound (e.g., students can use define to choose a grapheme for the schwa in definition)

Why is this important?

Phonics lays the foundation for reading comprehension. By learning phonics, students acquire the ability to decode words. Decoding allows students to read words, sentences, and eventually, texts accurately.

To decode, students must understand the relationship between sounds and print, or grapheme-phoneme correspondence. To support automatic, effortless word reading, it is crucial that students can accurately and automatically associate graphemes with phonemes.

Instruction

This grapheme-phoneme correspondence should be systematically and explicitly taught, within a scope and sequence that builds from more simple to more complex concepts. Explicit instruction is characterized by direct modelling, guided practice, and purposeful individual practice. Grapheme-phoneme correspondences should not be taught in isolation, but should instead be closely linked to other activities in the literacy block. Students should practice both reading and writing words containing sound-spelling links they have learned, and texts should offer students opportunities to decode words with this pattern. This careful integration encourages students to apply developing knowledge and skill to other reading and writing tasks.

Students need to be taught that…

Resources

Morphology for Meaning: Grade 3 Suffix Slide Deck

Melinda Hinch, Speech-Language Pathologist at Greater Essex County DSB, has adapted morphology lessons from The Morphology Project, an open-source series of lessons developed by a group of teachers and school leaders in Australia. This is a series of slides to teach grade 3 students the

Morphology for Meaning: Grade 2 Suffix Slide Deck

Melinda Hinch, Speech-Language Pathologist at Greater Essex County DSB, has adapted morphology lessons from The Morphology Project, an open-source series of lessons developed by a group of teachers and school leaders in Australia. This is a series of slides to teach grade 2 students the

Morphology for Meaning: Grade 3 Prefix Slide Deck

Melinda Hinch, Speech-Language Pathologist at Greater Essex County DSB, has adapted morphology lessons from The Morphology Project, an open-source series of lessons developed by a group of teachers and school leaders in Australia. This is a series of slides to teach grade 3 students the

Morphology for Meaning: Grades 1 & 2 Prefix Slide Deck

Melinda Hinch, Speech-Language Pathologist at Greater Essex County DSB, has adapted morphology lessons from The Morphology Project, an open-source series of lessons developed by a group of teachers and school leaders in Australia. This is a series of slides to teach grade 1 and 2

Teaching Spelling: An Opportunity to Unveil the Logic of Language

Moats emphasizes the importance of spelling knowledge and language understanding in literacy development in this article. It highlights that spelling is not just about memorizing letters but involves various language aspects like pronunciation, spelling, meaning, and grammatical structure. Good spellers possess comprehensive mental images of

How Spelling Supports Reading

Comprehensive article outlining the key principles for making sense of the English spelling system.

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Funding for ONlit.org is provided by the Ministry of Education. Please note that the views expressed in these resources are the views of ONlit and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ministry of Education.

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