Morphology: It sounds like a science that studies the morphing of transformer like figures into rampaging purveyors of doom. But no, it’s a little less dramatic than that, but possibly just as powerful. Morphology is the study of the structure of words. Research shows that intentional vocabulary instruction along with morphology increases students’ abilities to comprehend text. These strategies are especially important to students in urban settings and to English Language Learners.
Academic language is especially hard for many students with reading and comprehension deficits. Even students who might read a fictional text with ease can struggle to understand the academic language that is required to read Social Studies or Science texts. English Language Learners who understand English well enough to converse and interact with their English speaking peers may still lack academic vocabulary that is essential for success in the upper grades.
This article refers to “attack strategies” that students can use to comprehend what they read. Students can be taught to break down words into their smaller parts known as morphemes. Students learn about common roots, and affixes in order to break up words for meaning. They are taught to search within a word for a segment that they recognize and understand. I believe that strong readers do these things automatically, but struggling readers can be taught to apply these strategies when they read.
In thinking about these strategies and some of the words used in this article I thought of a fun way to introduce and implement this in the classroom. Why not use the word “morphology” and the idea of “attack strategies” to interest kids in an exciting strategy that they can use? I can see a bulletin board with transformer-like machines attacking words to break them down for meaning and understanding. This action theme might engage kids and help them to remember the strategy and put it to use!
