Building Vocabulary Through Morphemes

Knowledge of vocabulary has a profound effect on reading comprehension. Even if a reader possesses the skills to decode words encountered in print, comprehension is impaired if the reader is unable to understand the words being read. Avid readers tend to have broad vocabularies because of their frequent exposure to words in print. Struggling readers, for whom reading is a frustrating task, tend to read less which often results in their having very limited vocabularies; this in turn, negatively impacts their reading comprehension skills.

Direct vocabulary instruction with a focus on morphemes is an effective way to enhance and build vocabulary in struggling readers. Morphemes are the smallest units of a word that have meaning. They are commonly divided into prefixes, suffixes, and root words. The word uninterested, for example, is comprised of three morphemes: the prefix un- meaning “not”, the base word interest, and the suffix -ed which indicates that the action happened in the past.

Thousands of English words are formed from combinations of the most common morphemes. Teaching vocabulary with morphemes can enable students to expand their current vocabulary and to better determine the meaning of unknown words they encounter in the future.

As many as 60% of the words encountered in texts are derived from Greek and Latin roots. Once students are taught a number of these roots, they are well equipped to decipher the meaning of new words that share the same root. For example, the root word tract means "to pull". Knowing this definition is helpful in deciphering the meaning of several words derived from this root such as tractor, contract, retract, and traction.

There are a number of instructional resources well suited to providing explicit instruction in vocabulary through the study of morphemes and Greek and Latin roots. Included among these are:

o Vocabulary Through Morphemes

o English From The Roots Up

o Vocabulary From Classical Roots

o ABeCeDarian Levels C and D

o Word Roots

Each of these resources may be utilized for classroom, small group, or individual instruction.