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SWI (Structured Word Inquiry) - Describes how Structured Word Inquiry as a scientific approach that assumes English is as an incredibly ordered and structured system that can be investigated, in contrast to the belief that English is an irregular system requiring memorization.

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The reference you need when you want to impress and write the phoneme symbol for its corresponding grapheme(s).
/æ/ phoneme for grapheme <a>
/ʊ/ for <oo>, <u>, <ou> like in book, put, and could

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A site for users and fans of orthography, morphology, etymology, and the Real Spelling Toolbox.

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Power Point Presentations of how to understand the investigation of words like: democracy, wisdom, mistake, cave, written, the

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The collection of "how to guides"

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Learn the steps that can be applied to determine the nature of the orthographic relationship between any two words. The key to this process is to understand how to put words through two reliable and verifiable tests:

The Structure Test: Construct coherent word sums to see if the two words share a common written base.

The Meaning Test: Use etymological references to see if the two words share a common root origin.

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I regularly work with teachers and students trying to help them learn the steps that can be applied to determine the nature of the orthographic relationship between any two words. The key to this process is to understand how to put words through two reliable and verifiable tests:

The Structure Test: Construct coherent word sums to see if the two words share a common written base.

The Meaning Test: Use etymological references to see if the two words share a common root origin.

Recently I was working with my brother's ESL group and his Grade 11 English class. I've been working with the ESL group for a while, and just once before with the Grade 11 English group. I decided that my goal was to do a lesson that would help these students and my brother gain confidence in learning how to analyze any word they encountered. I wanted to make sure they were comfortable with bound bases and that they could use word sums and etymological references to draw conclusions to questions I know they will encounter when I'm not there.

If they encounter two words that have some similarity in spelling that makes them hypothesize a possible morphological connection, I wanted to make sure that they had guidance of the kinds of questions to ask, and the resources to use to come to their own conclusions.

I ended up creating this two page document that starts by providing a model of an investigation of the question of whether the words repercussion and concussion are related and if so, how.
Making a Word Matrix
I also wanted to use this session to help users know how to use the Word Searcher and the Mini-Matrix-Maker to construct a larger family of orthographically, morphologically related words when they identify two words that are in fact related.

I was quite pleased with how both groups with very different backgrounds were able to get through the process including constructing their own matrices.

Download the pdf here to see if you can use it in your work, and please let me know if you can think of any ways to improve it. If you and your team of scholars make insteresting discoveries, please share them in the responces to this post.
Post Script
The highlight of the day for me was what I was taught by one of the ESL students. She has been given the job of doing some morphological analysis of words for a reading frm the class and she had some questions for me before he presentation next week. One of the word sums she was not sure about was one for the word continue. She provided this analysis:

con + tinue --> continue

I was not convinced about a base < tinue>, but we decided to follow the advice from the lesson. In the process we found interesting etymological information, and I was introduced to a new word for me < retinue>. I'll let you do your own investigation if you are curious, but the only person more excited about my introduction to our discoveries than me, was the student whose question taught "the expert" something new. "This is so exciting!" she exclaimed as our reserach in Etymonline began to narrow towards our decision!

I understand there will be more coming from this student to share before too long...
Addendum Nov. 13, 2014
I had no idea how often I would point people to this post on the structure and meaning test when I first posted it here a long time ago. Since this post, I have worked over and over in many ways to represent this same process of scientific inquiry of the structure and meaning of related words.

This past fall I got to teach a lesson in Dan Allen's Grade 5 class in Zurich. For that truly special opportunity, I decided to have a go at working with an activity I've been using in workshops with teachers (based on activities by Lyn Anderson) to help clarify the difference between morphologial and etymological families. Since Dan posted that video (and others from that same school visit) I wanted to come back to this post and include it here. I think this video may help readers make better sense of the above post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC7brXsfa2I

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I regularly work with teachers and students trying to help them learn the steps that can be applied to determine the nature of the orthographic relationship between any two words. The key to this process is to understand how to put words through two reliable and verifiable tests: The Structure Test: Construct coherent word sums to see if the two words share a common written base .

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My evolving practice and learning through

"spelling-out-loud" and "writing-out-loud"

I have been refining my practice of "spelling-out-loud" and "writing-out-loud" since I encountered Real Spelling in 2001. I addressed this process in the morphological intervention study ( Bowers & Kirby, 2010) that introduced the term "structured word inquiry." Below you can see a screen shot of a document with a diagram I created as a worked example of the process of spelling-out-loud. The original document has been on my website and a regular feature of my workshops since 2011. I have just revised that document (May 25, 2018) and am posting it at THIS LINK. You can see a screen shot of one of the diagrams in that document below.

When I first began using and adapting practices for spelling-out-loud that I saw in Real Spelling I was thinking about it in terms of a useful way to help students focus on the orthographic structures of words in general and especially in the context of working with word sums. Over time I realized that it was an especially important aspect of building teacher's orthographic learning.

For year's now I've wanted to revise the document I put together as a kind of diagram explaining this process for each of the three suffixing changes (replacing final, non-syllabic <e>s, doubling final, single consonants and replacing <y> with <i>). My language with those conventions has evolved with my learning, so I needed that document (linked above) to reflect that change. As my understanding of what is behind this practice has grown, I also needed to rework my introduction to the process.

I am attaching a new 5-page document that attempts to give some more detail on the process, some of my reasoning behind the practice and ways I see it benefit the learning of teachers and students. You can download that document HERE. See a screen shot of the first page below.

A key point you will see in that document is that while I have developed my own conventions for spelling-out-loud and writing-out-loud, there is no adaption of the word sum. In fact a prime motive of my conventions for how to work with the word sum is to facilitate a precise use of and attention to this long-established linguistic tool for analyzing morphological structure.

The following two videos of students working with word sums are directly addressed in the document linked above.

The two videos below are not addressed specifically in the document, but offer illustrations of me working with word sums in classrooms. Below left you see me writing-out-loud with word sums and a matrix on the <do> and <go> family in a lower school class. Below right you see me "typing-out-loud" as I introduce word sums and a matrix to kindergarten students for the first time.

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My evolving practice and learning through "spelling-out-loud" and "writing-out-loud" I have been refining my practice of "spelling-out-loud" and "writing-out-loud" since I encountered Real Spelling in 2001. I addressed this process in the morphological intervention study ( Bowers & Kirby, 2010) that introduced the term "structured word inquiry."

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How to Use the Word Searcher with Word Sums & Matrix to Investigate Words

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How to Use the Word Searcher with Word Sums & Matrix to Investigate Words

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Use this lesson to introduce students and teachers to using the free on-line tool the Word Searcher, along with word sums and the matrix to investigate the interrelationship of spelling and meaning of words.

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Shows an example of a mini-matrix created with sample data (commands).

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This demonstration page shows the matrix created with Mini Matrix-Maker example data. It can be printed and most browsers will let you save it, like any other file.

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Morphology Home / Matrix Home

Welcome

Welcome to the main information page for Mini Matrix-Maker.

We aim to provide a simple low-cost web-based tool for creating word matrices, similar to the one below. For the moment, the current version is free.

Visit our Morphology Home page for other useful tools, which can help you improve your matrices.

Run Mini Matrix-Maker (free version)

Click the link below to run the program.

www.neilramsden.co.uk/spelling/matrix/run.html?version=temp

You may wish to add a bookmark to this link.

Please read the current terms and conditions before running it. They may be updated periodically.

Free Usage

We may charge for using the Mini Matrix-Maker in future, but for the moment usage is free. The most likely next step will be to include a voluntary donation box to help keep this web-site active.

Using Mini Matrix-Maker now doesn't commit you to any future involvement.

Example Matrix

View a sample Matrix Results Page, built from word sums around the base element <mode>.

What is Mini Matrix-Maker?

Mini Matrix-Maker will automatically build a word matrix for you from the set of word sums in your word family.

Normally, deciding how to organise your word matrix can be hard to get right and even one small change to your word sums can make a big difference in how the matrix looks.

Mini Matrix-Maker makes life easy for you, because all you have to do is concentrate on the word sums. From there, building an accurate, attractive matrix is all done for you.

How do you use a Word Matrix?

Word matrices are powerful tools for exploring and testing knowledge of word structure. They provide a graphical shorthand for illustrating families of interrelated words.

Word matrices read from left to right.

From them, you make single, complete words.

You may use one element from a column at a time.

You don't have to take an element from every column of a matrix - but you must not "leapfrog" over a column.

How does Mini Matrix-Maker compare with Word Microscope?

The Word Microscope program can more actively guide you in creating word sums and matrices. It recognises prefixes, bases, connecting vowels and suffixes, and includes checks and reference tools. You can also easily save and retrieve your work, or print a customised findings log.

Learn more by reading the quick comparison between Word Microscope and the Mini Matrix-Maker.

There is a Word Microscope download for Microsoft Windows, which can be used for free for a limited period.

Word matrices originated within Real Spelling. Visit the Real Spellers web-site to discover more about Real Spelling concepts and the role of matrices in understanding English orthography.

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Welcome to the main information page for Mini Matrix-Maker.

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In this demonstration page, normal input is disabled. You would also normally need to log-in, with a special user name and password. You can see the effect of normal editing by pressing the example button for each instruction below.

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Teacher resource presented at the Nueva conference this past summer, July 2016.

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Our Teacher Resource Book

Teaching How the Written Word Works offers an introduction to the core concepts of how the ordered way English spelling works. It uses a series of lessons designed to help teachers, tutors and parents make sense of English spelling along with their young co-learners. The lessons focus on morphological analysis with the matrix and word sum.

Research Tested

These tools are central not only to understanding how morphological families of words are structured, but also how morphology interrelate.

The main series of lessons in this book were the lessons I used in my Grade 4/5 intervention ( Bowers & Kirby, 2010) that showed generative vocabulary learning.

The lessons take teachers and students through all the morphological suffixing patterns and much more including...

1. Guidance morphological problem-solving so that you can use these lessons as a jumping off point to investigate any words that grab your interest or that of your students;

2. Links to other on-line resources;

3. Links to related Real Spelling resources.

When students and teachers work with word sums and morphological matrices for a little while, these are the kinds of questions that grab the attention of a class.

Integrating morphological analysis into shared and guided reading lessons

As well as explicit lessons taking teachers through "teacher-led inquiries" of words, this books models ways teachers can integrate word structure instruction into reading and writing in any content area by using morphological problem-solving as a tool for shared and guided reading.

By practicing spelling investigations with lessons in the book, you will be prepared when students ask you spelling questions that you are not able to explain right away. You will have practices the process of investigaging spelling, so now you can move into "inquiry-led teaching" by applying the problem solving skills you learn through these lessons.

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WW Revised Teacher Resource Book & 70 Matrices DVD

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Our Teacher Resource Book Teaching How the Written Word Works offers an introduction to the core concepts of how the ordered way English spelling works. It uses a series of lessons designed to help teachers, tutors and parents make sense of English spelling along with their young co-learners.

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The Difference Between a Base and a Root

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The Difference Between a Base and a Root

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Scroll Down for a plethora of resources including:

1. ✦Etymonline

2. ✦Word Searcher

3. ✦Word Microscope

4. ✦Mini MatrixMaker

5. ✦Latdict (Use to investigate twin bases!)