English
Teaching Resource

Morphology in Content

By ONlit Last updated 2025/05/30

Description

Morphology is the study of the structure of words, focusing on the smallest units of meaning—morphemes—rather than just syllables or sounds. Teaching morphology to students is a powerful tool for enhancing their reading, writing, and comprehension. As students gain awareness and understanding of morphemes, they can decode and understand unfamiliar words more effectively, expanding their vocabulary and background knowledge.

Morphology in Content consists of 18 slide decks and student pages designed to support systematic and explicit instruction of morphology in the context of the content curricula. Each 20-minute lesson includes:

  • a predictable, consistent routine 
  • active participation and opportunities to respond are embedded throughout the routine
  • animations to guide educators and provide additional information 
  • explicit vocabulary lesson
  • multisyllable word reading instruction 
  • morpheme instruction 
  • making meaning and connections between words, supporting the enhancement of knowledge networks
  • follow-up sentence writing that can be extended into a longer writing task based on an educator’s professional judgment

Curriculum Connection

B2. Language Foundations for Reading and Writing
This document supports systematic and explicit instruction of morphology.
Grade(s): 5 6 7
Topic(s): Applying MorphologyExplicit Instruction
total length

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