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At Home Activities:

BrainPOP ELL: BrainPOP ELL helps students build their grammar and vocabulary skills. This website provides students with newly learned vocabulary words, reading comprehension, writing, and listening skills through story driven lessons.

www.brainpop.com

StarFall: StarFall helps all ELL students through multisensory interactive games that allow students to see, hear, and touch as they are learning. This website will help ELL students enhance their proficiency language skills.

www.starfall.com

ABCya: ABCya is a fun and engaging website that provides games, skills and videos for all students learners within grade K-5th. This website provides games and activities based on the states common core standards.

www.abcya.com

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References:

Barta, A. & Hughes, D. (2023). "Phonology l Definition, Rules & Examples" https://study.com/learn/lesson/phonology-examples-rules.html

IMSE Journal. (2022) "Morphology and How It Helps with Vocabulary" https://journal.imse.com/how-morphology-helps-with-vocabulary/

Sarah Snippets. (2025). “Understanding Morphology: Part 1 – Sarah’s Teaching Snippets” https://sarahsnippets.com/understanding-morphology-part-1/

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English has the most words of any language and estimates range from 600,000 to more than one million words. English is derived from many languages, including Old Norse (the root of German, Dutch, Nordic languages, and English), French, Latin, and Greek, and other borrowed words from many other languages. All of this "borrowing" makes learning how to speak, read and write English quite challenging.

Parents, teachers, and reading specialists have long understood the power of phonics for young readers-in more technical terms: 'phonemic' and 'phonological' awareness builds on children's understanding of the individual sounds in words and the ability to manipulate them and larger units of sounds, including syllables.￼￼ Morphological awareness is also a key part of student development. A 'morpheme,' is the smallest meaningful unit of language that cannot be further subdivided.

Most educators are aware of the concept of morphology but do not receive adequate training to help their students recognize base words and patterns early on in literacy acquisition. Morphology teaches students how to unlock other related words <see example below> and broaden their overall vocabulary. It is also a bridge to other Latin-based languages. Students understand and use basic morphological knowledge as early as kindergarten and first grade.

In 2017, research by J. Kirby and P. Bowers, on Morphological Instruction and Literacy made the case for morphology being the one linguistic feature that links directly to orthographic patterns, pronunciation, and meanings of words. According to this view, better morphological knowledge gained through explicit instruction can be expected to increase not only morphological knowledge but also grapheme-phoneme and semantic (vocabulary) knowledge. This theory provides a way of understanding the literacy gains observed from early morphological instruction.

P. Bowers and J. Kirby identify nine key features of morphological instruction:

Integrate morphology with other aspects of literacy instruction.

Extend morphological instruction to include etymology.

Integrate morphological instruction with subject area learning.

Employ an inquiry-based problem-solving approach.

Target free and bound bases as well as affixes.

Teach morphological families using a matrix, rather than isolated morphemes.

Target instruction to reduce the effect that phonological and spelling shifts (suffixing changes) across morphologically related words have on reading and spelling.

While most states publish academic standards that require students to analyze the morphemes to determine word meaning, there is inconsistency between academic standards and teacher training. Morphology should be taught within the context of vocabulary instruction as a strategy for understanding the relationships among words based on their shared meaningful units - i.e., their bases, prefixes, and suffixes. For example, root and base words are two different concepts. A root refers to the original word such as the Latin root word 'placere'. Bases (either bound or free) are the morphemes derived from the original root. is the base that derived from the Latin root 'placere'.

Seeking root relationships in words helps develop curious learners. Over time, students begin to understand that most words are structured according to logical patterns of meaning and spelling. Consider that the 20 most common make up 97% of all prefixed words and the 14 most frequently used word roots provide clues to the meaning of over 100,000 words. The correlations between morphological awareness and success in reading, writing, and spelling are strong.

Whether a student is taking a science, math, or history class, morphology helps learners, including English language learners, make important connections among vocabulary words within the same , and transfer those ideas across content or subject areas.

For more information on Morphology training, please visit https://imse.com/training-descriptions/
Please connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest to get tips and tricks from your peers and IMSE. Read the IMSE Journal to hear success stories from other schools and districts, and be sure to read the OG Weekly email series for refreshers and tips.

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Morphology and How It Helps with Vocabulary - IMSE - Journal

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Most educators are aware of the concept of morphology but do not receive adequate training on how morphology helps with vocabulary.

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Classroom Activities:

Vocabulary Builder: ELL students will build their vocabulary quickly by using flashcards with a picture to match on the back. This will enhance students communication skills by using their newly learning vocabulary words

Reviewing vocabulary words: Students are able to preview these vocabulary words before reading a new book or completing short answer questions. These vocabulary words can be posted in the classroom titles "Word Wall" for students to review during classroom instruction

Differentiation: ELL students have the ability to decide and choose which vocabulary words they would like to focus on and use them in a complete sentence

Picture Dictionary: Students have the ability to use pictures that are located on the back on an index cards to help understand the vocabulary term previously learned

Differentiation: ELL students can choose which vocabulary words they would like to use and discuss during whole or small group discussions. They can also work with a partner to practice understanding a specific vocabulary word

Listening Activities: Out of all the classroom activities, listening is the most crucial and important activity because this allows students to first listen to instructions before completing an assignment.

Simon says: Students can play a game where teachers give specific directions that students must listen to first but only if the command starts with, "Simon says"

Differentiation: ELL students are provided with a visual card with a specific movement the teacher will command but only when they say, "Simon says". This card will show students how to complete a specific movement

Listening activity: Students will stay seated listening to a story or directions provided by the teacher before completing the assignment

Differentiation: ELL students will be provided with an ear or lip card. The ear card indicates that students will need to use their listening ears. The lip card will indicate when it is the student turn to respond of speak

Speaking Activities: For ELL students, it may be difficult for them to participate in speaking activities due to a language barrier. Creating fun and engaging activities will motivate students to participate and gain confidence for speaking in front of the classroom

Word of the Day: Students will be provided with a word of the day where they are asked to define the word, provide a sentence using the word and also writing the word five times.

Differentiation: ELL students will be provided with an index card of the word of the day where teachers can explain the importance of the word and how it pertains to classroom activities/lessons

Songs and rhymes: Group speaking can be encouraged by students learning a new song about newly learned vocabulary word (for example: Heidi Songs). This will encourages students to sing and dance together to learn new words

Differentiation: ELL students will be provided with a song list and website for students to learn the songs and rhymes at home to enhance students learning at home and begin speaking more fluently in the classroom

Writing Activities: Students will complete writing activities while using their vocabulary flashcards to increase their writing ability.

Sentence starters or sentence frames: Students will be provided with a writing topic and a sentence starter to complete a writing task

Differentiation: ELL students will first discuss steps for writing. Focusing on the different parts of writing such as capitalization, punctuation, understanding and spelling. Completing these steps will encourage students to begin their writing by using a sentence starter provided by the teacher

Create a short story: Students will be provided with vocabulary words that will be used to complete a short story Students can make a story on their own using previously learned vocabulary words

Differentiation: ELL students will be provided with a sentence starter that will allow students to build the sentence by adding more words. Students will also be provided with a picture (visual) to help increase their writing ability.

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Morphology: What is it?

Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words

It focuses on the smallest units of meaning within words, known as morphemes. (Sarah Snippets, 2025)

Morphology helps students break down and understand the meaning of words

For ELL students it helps use context clues to understand new words and expand their language understanding

Morphology can be used in all subject learning classes in which students can make connections among vocabulary words

"Morphology should be taught within the context of vocabulary instruction as a strategy for understanding the relationships among words based on their shared meaningful units – i.e., their bases, prefixes, and suffixes." (IMSE Journal, 2022)

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This morphology post has been a long time coming! I have started and stopped so many times because it feels so big! I have had an interest in morphology for years and have slowly been developing my understanding of morphology and dabbling with how to incorporate morphology in the elementary classroom. I've always been hesitant to complete and publish this post because I still don't have all the answers. But I decided a little snippet about morphology is better than nothing! Morphology is one of the components of a Structured Literacy classroom. To read more about Structured Literacy, click here.

I decided to split this blog post up into 3 blog posts. This first one will provide background knowledge about morphology. I've realized over the years that before I can truly help my students apply morphological concepts, I need to have a better understanding of morphology myself! I hope this first post can provide the background knowledge you need to get started. The second will be about teaching morphology in the primary grades (K-2) and then the third will be about teaching morphology the intermediate/upper grades.

What is Morphology?

Morphology is the branch of linguistics that deals with the structure and formation of words in a language. It focuses on the smallest units of within words, known as morphemes. So, morphology is the study of how morphemes are combined to form words. I have found huge benefits to teaching morphology early and often. Usually in elementary classrooms, we focus on phonology, or the study of sounds in our language. This is absolutely essential! However, I have also found that sprinkling in morphology in the younger grades can set our students up for success by providing a deeper understanding of how words work. Then, by third grade we start to shift our focus from phonology to morphology. If they have some instruction all along, they are primed for more!

Morphological Awareness is the ability to consciously recognize, comprehend, and manipulate morphemes (Kirby & Bowers, 2012). The key word there is "consciously". We manipulate morphemes all the time when we speak but we are not conscious of what we are doing or how we are doing it. My goal with younger students is to help them to become aware of this process.

What are Morphemes?

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning. I always like to compare it to phonology, which is the study of sound patterns. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound. Letters and graphemes represent those sounds. By itself, a phoneme or grapheme does not carry any meaning. It is just a sound or a written representation of that sound. On the other hand, a morpheme does carry meaning. In her book, Beneath the Surface of Words, Sue Hegland says that "morphemes contribute to the overall sense of a word." She goes on to explain that "Morphemes cannot be further divided without losing the sense they contribute to words."

A morpheme can be an affix (like a prefix or a suffix), a base word, or a root. A morpheme can also be a function word like "to", "the", or "of".

Examples of Morphemes

A word can have only one morpheme or it can have several. I always think it's easiest to understand with examples.

Types of Morphemes

There are two types of morphemes: A free morpheme and a bound morpheme.

A free morpheme can be a word all on its own and it can also add additional morphemes to make new words.

A bound morpheme cannot be a word on its own. It has to have other morphemes added to it in order for it to be a real word.

The image below shows the types of morphemes and examples of each:

Base Words and Root Words

I get a lot of questions about the difference between base words and roots. Here is my understanding of the difference: Both carry the bulk of a word's meaning. Base words can be words on their own, whereas roots cannot.

Base words are the first type of morpheme that we teach. Base words are just regular words that do not have any additional morphemes attached to them. When I first introduce morphology, I begin with the concept of a base word. Base words are free morphemes, so they hold their own meaning and do not necessarily need any other morphemes attached to them to be a real word. Base words can have additional morphemes attached to them, but they don't have to. Roots, on the other hand, do need other morphemes. That is what makes them a bound morpheme. Examples of roots are "ject", "struct", "spect", and "rupt".

Bound morphemes carry their own meaning, but they are not a word on their own. They are simply a part of a word. This includes roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Take the root "ject". It means "to throw" but it is not a word on its own. But, you can add prefixes in-, sub-, or pro- to make the words "inject", "subject", and "project". You can also add suffixes to make the word even bigger: subjective, injection, projector. Because roots are not words on their own, I teach roots a little later. It is easiest to begin with base words with our younger students, then add on simple suffixes or prefixes.

Affixes: Prefixes and Suffixes

As I mentioned, base words and roots carry the bulk of the word's meaning. We tend to teach base words in the primary grades (k-2) and then get into roots later (starting in 2nd, but mainly 3rd grade and beyond). Prefixes and suffixes are both affixes. They are bound morphemes because they are not words on their own, but they are added to the beginning or end of a base word or root to change that word.

Prefixes

Prefixes are affixes attached to the beginning of words. Prefixes modify the meaning of words. "Prefixes negate the meaning of a word, intensify the meaning, or change the direction." (Unlocking the Logic of English by Denise Eide)

Take a look at the example below. All of these prefixes can be attached to the same root. The Latin root "port" means "to carry". They all change the meaning of the word slightly. When you report, you carry back information. When you "import" something, you carry it in. When you "export", you carry it out. Transporting is to carry across from one place to another and deport is to carry from a place. Pretty fun, right?!

The 4 most common prefixes (dis-, in-, re-, un-) in English "account for 97% of prefixed words in printed school English". (Scholastic source here)

These nine prefixes account for 75% of words that use a prefix.

Suffixes

Suffixes are affixes attached to the end of words.

The 4 most common suffixes (-s/-es, -ed, -ing, -ly) "account for 95% of suffixed words in printed school English." (Scholastic source here)

Ten suffixes (-s/-es, -ed, -ing, -ly, -er/or, -ion, -ible/able, -al/ial, -y, -ness) account for 85% of words that contain a suffix.

There are two types of suffixes: inflectional and derivational. (I do not get into these terms with my younger students. I simply use the term suffix. I am sharing this for your background knowledge.)

Inflectional suffixes change the verb tense (-ed, -ing, -s, -es), pluralize nouns (-s, -es), or show comparison (-er, -est). These endings do not change the part of speech.

Derivational suffixes create (or derive) a new word. It changes its meaning. These endings do change the part of speech.

I have created suffix posters (a small size for a morpheme wall and a larger size. You can find those suffix visuals here.

Suffix Changing Rules

Unlike with prefixes, adding suffixes isn't always straightforward. When you add a prefix to a word you just add it. It doesn't affect the base word at all. On the other hand, when adding, the base word can change. But don't worry! There are very consistent suffix-changing rules that you will see over and over again. The consistency of these rules makes them easier for kids to grasp and understand. The rule that applies to a suffix depends on what kind of suffix it is: a consonant suffix or a vowel suffix. ( Consonant suffixes begin with a consonant. Vowel suffixes begin with a vowel.) Most of time, when we add a consonant suffix to a root word, the spelling of the root word remains the same (except the y changing rule). No letters of the base/root are changed or added. However, when you add a vowel suffix to a base or root, changes often may be made.

I first teach the doubling rule at the end of my closed syllable unit. I review it again and again though, because it takes a while to get! I teach the drop e rules with my silent e unit. I teach the change y rule with my open syllables unit. (More about that in the next post!)

Here are some examples of those words in action. I hope it helps!

Morphemes Compared to Other Linguistic Terms

I posted this visual several years ago on Instagram and it seemed to help with understanding these terms.

There is often confusion about the difference between graphemes and letters. There are 26 letters of the alphabet. However, there are 44 sounds in our language. Graphemes are the written representation of those sounds. Graphemes can be one letter or they can be more than one letter. For example, the sound (phoneme) /b/ is represented by the grapheme <b> (which is also a letter). The sound (phoneme) /sh/ is represented by the grapheme <sh>. (The letters <s> and <h> together form the grapheme that spells /sh/.)

If you like those examples, I have created a few more and posted them on Instagram from time to time.

If you would like to download these examples, click here.

Morphemes vs. Syllables

Morphemes and syllables are easily confused. A syllable has to do with sound. It's like a beat in a word. It is chunk of sound that revolves around a vowel. With each syllable, our chin drops and it creates a separation. You can hear and feel syllables. You cannot always hear each morpheme. A morpheme is a piece of a word that has meaning. In short, a syllable is like a beat in a word, and a morpheme is a meaningful piece of a word.

A great example of this is with the syllable -tion. The syllable -tion consistently spells the sound "shun". However, did you know that the suffix is actually -ion?

Let's look at the word "instruction". When I break it up into syllables, I would say in-struc-tion. By contrast, when I break it up by morpheme, it is prefix in-, root "struct" (to build) and suffix -ion (in-struct-ion). The root is "struct" with that <t> being part of the root. The suffix is -ion. By itself, suffix -ion doesn't say "shun". It is only when it is combined with the <t> from the root that is says "shun".

The same is true for syllable -ture vs. suffix -ure. In the word "fracture", the syllables are frac-ture (with -ture saying "cher"), but the morphemes are root "fract" meaning to break and suffix -ure. This may seem confusing at first, but I've taught these same concepts to second and third graders and after much exposure and investigating lots of words, it clicks and makes sense to them. (More to come on that in the third blog post of this series.)

Influences on the English Language

One of the reasons why our language is so complicated (and interesting) is because it has many influences from other languages. The English language reflects English history. I don't get into this with my younger students, but it could be interesting for older students. Here is a quick breakdown. (Information is from Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling LETRS: Module 4)

Why Should I Teach Morphology?

Understanding morphology involves exploring how words can be broken apart into meaningful units. Teaching morphology is beneficial for decoding unfamiliar words, expanding vocabulary, and enhancing language comprehension.

Improve Decoding of multi-syllabic words: It is so helpful to be able to quickly identify prefixes and suffixes and common roots or bases while decoding. By the age of ten, morphological awareness is a better predictor of decoding ability than is phonological awareness. (Mann & Singson, 2003).

Building Strong Vocabulary: Teaching morphology helps students break down and understand the meaning of words. By learning about prefixes, suffixes, and root words, our students can figure out the meaning of or have a deeper understanding of so many more words. For example, if our students know that the prefix re- means "again", they can figure out that "rewrite" means to write again. "60% of new words that students read are made up of familiar morphemes that can lead the reader to its meaning (Carlisle, 2000).

Improving Reading Comprehension: Morphological awareness is closely linked to reading comprehension. Teaching students to recognize word parts allows them to figure out complex words and infer meanings. "Researchers have found that a 5th grade student's understanding of word parts, or knowledge of morphology, is a better indicator of reading comprehension than his or her vocabulary level." (Kieffer et al, 2007)

Enhancing Spelling Skills: Understanding the structure of words can really help with spelling! Teaching morphology helps students understand spelling patterns, making it easier for them to grasp spelling rules and exceptions. Multi-syllabic words often are not spelled how they sound. Students who can identify morphemes are much more likely to spell the word correctly. Here are some examples:

If a student is struggling to remember how to spell the word "really" and keeps spelling it "realy" with one <l>, you can explain that the word is made up of two morphemes: base word "real" + suffix -ly. There are two <l>'s in that word because one <l> belongs with the base word and the other belongs with the suffix.

Another example I like to use is the word "different". It sounds like it should be spelled "difrent". When we use morphemes, we can see that it is base word "differ" plus suffix -ent. When we say "differ", we can hear that /er/ sound. There are endless examples like this one.

When spelling the word "rocks", a student may want to spell it like "box" or "fox". Afterall, it does sound the same. The understanding that "rocks" is really "rock" plus suffix -s, meaning more than one rock can help with understanding of the word and spelling of the word. (See Instagram post explaining here.) This is a basic example, but it serves as a foundation for later understanding with more complex words.

(Read more about spelling instruction here. )

English is Morpho-Phonemic

To wrap it all up... English words are made up of two components: phonemes and morphemes. English spelling represents sounds, syllables, and morphemes. Students need knowledge of both phonology and morphology to fully understand English words.

Although we must teach sound-symbol correspondences and spend ample time mastering decoding and encoding early on, we also should begin introducing the concept of morphemes. We want students to be thinking about structures along with pronunciation. Both are equally important.

Morphological elements are spelled consistently even though the pronunciation will vary. Pronunciation can change as we add or take away affixes, but the spelling remains consistent. A schwa sound may move, the stressed syllable may change, and vowels may represent different sounds depending on the affixes you add. "Bases and affixes can have multiple pronunciations, but use consistent spelling to mark relations of meaning." (Pete Bowers)

Pronunciation Changes, Spelling is Consistent

Let's take a look at two examples of related words that change pronunciation, but keep spelling:

In this first example, see how the letters <e> and <a> change pronunciation. You can also see how the letter <t> represents the /t/ sound and then changes to /sh sound when combined with the -ion. The base here is "relate". We add the suffix -ive to make "relative". We add suffixes -ion and -ship to make "relationship". The pronunciation changes but when we look at it through the lens of morphology, it's easy to see the relationships. The only change in spelling was the consistent suffix rule of dropping e before a vowel suffix.

Now, let's look at another example. Here the root is "nat", which means "birth". When suffix -ive is added, the <a> makes a long a sound and the <t> represents the /t/ sound. But, if you add -ion to the root, the letter <t> no longer represents the /t/ sound. Once you another suffix -al, the <a> changes from a long a to a short a. Add yet another suffix -ity, and that second <a> goes from a schwa sound to a short vowel sound and that syllable is not the stressed syllable. See how pronunciation varies so much but the spelling and meaning totally make sense! It's like putting puzzle pieces together.

Irregular Words or Just Misunderstood Words?

Here is another picture from an old post to illustrate the words "do", "does", "doing", "done", "undone", and "redo". Often the word "does" is super tricky for students and we consider it an irregular word. It does seem irregular if we are only considering the sounds in the word. If we were to do phoneme-grapheme mapping, we would break it up like this: d-oe-s with <oe> representing the /u/ sound. However if we were considering morphology, the spelling sure does make sense. The word "does" is base word "do" plus suffix -es. This is similar to "goes". As with other words, the pronunciation changed when a suffix was added but the spelling remains intact.

The word done is base word "do" with suffix -ne (similar to "gone"). I remember reading somewhere that -ne is an irregular version of the suffix -en? That one is a bit trickier but super interesting! I'm sure there is a historical explanation.

The word "said" has a similar structure to "paid" and "laid". Pronunciation of "says" is different, but the spelling shows it is base "say" plus suffix -s. That's much better than trying to "sound out" that word.

One last example is the word "two". The <w> seems like it comes out of nowhere. Long ago, the /w/ may have been pronounced. The /w/ sound is still pronounced in related words, like "twin", "twelve", "twenty", "twice", and "between". All are related to the meaning of two.

This all feels like a lot of information that may be too overwhelming to throw at our students. Well, you're exactly right! It would be too much to just throw at them all at once. This is why we want to give little snippets starting early and continue to review and show more and more examples often! We start very basic and slowly add on.

So how do we do that? Check out my next blog post on how to get started with teaching morphology. Then, read the third morphology post about how to teach morphology in the intermediate grades.

Resources:

I've posted a few videos on YouTube that may be helpful. Click here to get to my morphology videos.

I'm still working on a morphology unit with activities that build and break apart words with roots and affixes. I'm hoping it'll be done soon! In the meantime, check out my other morphology resources.

Acknowledgements:

Eide, Denise. Uncovering the Logic of English: A Common-Sense Approach to Reading, Spelling, and Literacy. Logic of English, Inc., 2012.

Hegland, Sue Scibetta. Beneath the Surface of Words: What English Spelling Reveals and Why It Matters. Learning About Spelling, 2021.

Moats, L, & Tolman, C (2019). Excerpted from Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS): Module 4

Zafarris, Jess, and Marco Marella. Once upon a Word: A Word-Origin Dictionary for Kids: Building Vocabulary through Etymology, Definitions & Stories. Rockridge Press, 2020.

Home, www.wordworkskingston.com/WordWorks/Home.html. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

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Understanding Morphology: Part 1 - Sarah's Teaching Snippets

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Morphology is the study of how morphemes are combined to form words. Understanding morphology helps with spelling, decoding, and comprehension.

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Phonology: What is it?

The phonology definition linguistics provides is the study of speech sounds and manual units and how they change in different contexts within and among languages. (Barta, A. & Hughes, D., 2023)

It investigates how sound patterns contribute to word formation, syllable structure, and meaning.

Phonology analyzes phonemes, the basic units of sound in a language, and the phonological rules that govern how these sounds can be combined.

Phonology processing is crucial or both comprehension and the production of speech and language for reading and spelling

Phonology focuses on how each sound functions within a language's structure