Morphological/Structural

Analysis
for Word Identification,
Spelling and Meaning
Education 573
Spring, 2015
University of Bridgeport
Teaching students key vocabulary can
include teaching them to look for affixes
and root words that they know and can
help them determine the meanings of
new words as they read.
 Morphology is…
morphe = form -logy = to study

• The study of meaningful units of language

and how those units are combined in
words
• Morpheme: the smallest meaningful unit or form in a
language

• Example: cat -s
cats (1 syllable word, 2 morphemes)
Why study morphology?

Knowing morphemes can help

readers identify words.
Why study morphology?

Knowing morphemes can help

readers figure out the
meanings of words.
 Structural Analysis
• The number, order of and type of
morphemes used to make up a particular
word is called its structure.
 Structural/Morphological Analysis

• For about 40-50% of words known by children,

there is evidence that they worked out meanings
by consciously combining prefixes and suffixes
(i.e. Un-, -able) with known root words or by
analyzing compound words into their components.
(Anglin, 1993)
More research is needed.
 Typical structure:

prefix + root + connective + suffix

trans port a tion

 Bound Morphemes
Bound morphemes:
Have meaning, but cannot stand alone.
Bound morphemes are referred to as affixes

Prefix: trans-

Suffix: -able
• There are two types of affixes;
• There are two types of bound morphemes;

prefixes and suffixes

 Prefix

Letters added to the beginning of a

(base/root) word that changes its meaning

un- pre- re- trans- inter- sub-

 Suffix

Letters added to the end of a (base/root)

word or another suffix that changes its
meaning or the way it can be used in a
sentence.
Free morphemes: Have meaning and can
stand alone.
Free morphemes are referred to as roots

lock
 3 morphemes

un + lock + ing
bound free bound
prefix root suffix
 Root
The form of a word after the affixes (prefixes and
suffixes) are removed.

Reporter transformed
contracting
 Compound Words

A compound word is made when

two words/roots are joined to form
a new word.
A compound word is made when
two free morphemes are joined to
form a new word.
 Compound Words

lifetime elsewhere upside grandmother

cannot baseball fireworks passport

become became sunflower crosswalk

basketball superstructure
 -ject = to “throw”
(-tion “the act of”)
• Verb Noun
• e (ex) (“out”) eject ejection

• in (“in”) inject injection

• pro (“forward”) project projection

• inter (“between”)interject interjection

• sub (“under”) subject subjection

• re (“back”) reject rejection

 When do we teach?
• Grade 1 introduce the concept with very basic common
morphemes (suffixes: -ing, -ed, -er, -est) Can introduce the
Latin elements such as the prefix ex-, pre-

• Grades 2/3 continue with common prefixes and suffixes, use

compound words to develop the concept of morphology

• Grade 3/4 introduce the most common Latin roots, continue

with affixes

• Grades 5-6 study in depth Latin roots and affixes, introduce

Greek, chameleon prefixes

• Grades 7/8 study in depth Greek combining forms

• High school continue studying the most sophisticated

morphemes
 7 Guiding Principles for Morphemic
Instruction
• Provide explicit instruction in how morphemic analysis
works
• Teach most common, most transparent first
• Examine relationships between words through “word
families”
• Provide a structure so students can use analysis
independently
• Sufficient review and practice to build automaticity
• Summarize and reflect on the lesson content, structural
patterns and procedures
• Be clear that it (morpheme analysis) doesn’t always work
 Lesson 1
Setting the stage using compound words

Objectives:
1. Define the term morpheme
2. Know that parts of words carry meaning
3. Knowing the parts can help define the
whole
4. Knowing it doesn’t always work
 Lesson 2:
Examples versus Non-examples

Objective:
1. Define prefix.

2. Define suffix.

3. Locating examples/ non-examples of the prefix pre-

pretty prevent

Locating examples/ non-examples of the suffix –ing

looking vs. king

 Typical Introduction
T: Present orally: support, transport, import, export,
report
S: Repeat above
T: In what way do those words sound the same? (port)

T: Presents visually above words

S: Reads words
T: In what way do these words look the same (p,o,r,t)
T: Where is “port” p,o,r,t in the words?
T: What does “port” mean? How does “port” change the
meaning of the root word?
 port to carry
•
• My brother needed
• tra transportation to
the airport.
•
 Introduction: “tion”

T: Present orally: support, transportation, invitation,

S: Repeat above
T: In what way do those words sound the same? (shun)
T: Presents visually above words
S: Reads words
T: In what way do these words look the same (t,i,o,n)
T: Where is “shun” t,i,o,n in the words?
T: What does “shun” mean? How does “tion” change the meaning
of the root word?
 -tion words
• Verb • Noun
• collect • collection
• invent • invention
• infect • infection
• perfect • perfection
• elect • election
• experiment • experimentation
• explore • exploration
-the a is a bridge to get us from the word to -tion
 A word about the really weird
looking suffixes:
Some suffixes look really hard and scary, but
once you understand them, they are easy to
read. They always say the same thing:
-cian /shin/ -xious /shus/
-cious /shus/ -tial /shul/
-tious /shus/ -cial /shul/

The key ci and ti make the sound /sh/.

The spellings alter to accommodate whatever came
before it in the word.
 Examples of student tasks:
• Read the room for prefix/ suffix of the day or to
review several affixes
• Grab any text and search for morpheme of the
day, list on paper
• After doing several affixes, teacher posts several
base words, teams mix & match base words and
affixes to make as many words as possible in 1
minute
• Cumulative review Bingo- affixes on board, T
calls out definition, S match to affix
 Building a Morphology Board
Prefixes Latin Roots Suffixes

pre- ject -ing

un- spect -ful
dis- dic/dict -ly
re- -tion
e-, ex-
rejection
predicting
disrespectfully
 Resources for Beginning the
Study of Morphology
• Ganske, K. Mindful of Words. Guilford Press. 2008.
• Henry, M. Words. Pro.ed. 1990.
• Johnson, K & Bayrd, P. Megawords Workbooks 2-8.
EPS. 2002.
• King, D.H. English Isn’t Crazy! Pro.ed. 2000.
• Numes & Bryant. Improving Literacy by Teaching
Morphemes. Routledge. 2006.
• Websites of interest:
http://etymonline.com
http://wordinfo.info