EDU 371: Phonics Based Reading & Decoding week 2 DQ 2

8 Teaching Advanced Word Patterns

Justin teaches fourth grade, and he still considers himself a phonics teacher.

Sure, I teach phonics, but it’s not the b buh, t tuh phonics that people think of when they hear the word phonics. I think that phonics means helping students see the connection between letters and groups of letters and the sounds that they represent. That is just what I do with my students, except the groups of letters we work with are the root words and prefixes that come from Latin and Greek. I introduce one or two roots or prefixes a week and we spend about 10 minutes each day exploring the meaning, pronunciation, and real words that contain those roots. I ask students to look for the roots we have studied in their reading, and I challenge them to use the roots in their school talk. This is the first year I’ve tried this with my students, but I can really see that it’s turning some kids on to words and how words get their meaning. I get a lot more predictions about word meanings when we come across unknown words in reading, especially in the different content areas.

Onsets and rimes provide teachers with a powerful tool for helping students discover how words work. With knowledge of common onsets and the 75 Essential Primary Rimes (Figure 8.1), students are able to decode literally thousands of single‐ and multisyllabic words. However, as Justin has found, other patterns in words have the added feature of containing meaning, which can help a reader not only to decode a word but also provide essential information about its meaning. These types of patterns (affixes and derivational patterns) are generally taught after students have studied onsets and rimes.

A root is a word part that carries meaning. One type of meaning‐bearing word pattern is affixes, patterned word parts that are attached to existing words to alter their basic meaning. Prefixes and suffixes are both affixes. The second category of meaningful word patterns or roots is called derivational patterns. These are word parts derived from other languages, notably Greek and Latin, that have found their way into many English words, particularly the academic words that students encounter in math and science. Derivational word patterns are important for understanding and decoding unfamiliar words and often appear in new words in English (e.g., microchip) as well. Although the study of Latin is often thought of as something taught in the secondary grades, a growing body of research is demonstrating that Latin‐ and Greek‐based roots can be taught successfully in the primary (Biemiller 2005; Mountain 2005; Porter‐Collier 2010) and intermediate (Baumann et al. 2002; Carlisle 2000; Kieffer and Lesaux 2007) grades.

Teaching affixes and derivational patterns provides students with several benefits: expanded strategies for decoding unknown words, expanded vocabularies, and strategies for determining the meanings of unknown words. Given this enormous potential, we believe that a good word recognition program should provide direct, systematic, and ongoing instruction in their recognition and use.

8.1 Teaching Affixes

Fairly comprehensive lists of prefixes and suffixes are provided in Appendices C and D. Although teaching each affix is unnecessary, the lists provide the raw material for exploring affixes with students.

Teaching affixes can begin in the first grade with suffixes that denote number (‐s ending) and tense (‐ed ending). As students begin to develop basic word recognition skills, teachers can introduce other prefixes and suffixes. As a rule of thumb, teaching approximately 50 affixes per year in grades 2 through 8 would cover the entire lists in Appendices C and D. As with rimes, we recommend that teachers in these grades confer with one another to determine which grade levels should take primary responsibility for teaching particular affixes.

Frequently used affixes should be introduced and then revisited throughout the elementary grades. According to Carroll, Davies, and Richman (1971) the following seven prefix groups represent 66 percent of all words that contain prefixes:

• un‐

• re‐

• in‐, im‐, il‐, ir‐ (not)

• dis‐

• en‐, em‐

• non‐

• in‐, im‐ (in or into)

With suffixes, the frequency analysis yields an even more critical set that should be taught. The following seven suffix groups represent 82 percent of all words containing suffixes:

• ‐s, ‐es

• ‐ed

• ‐ing

• ‐ly

• ‐er, ‐or (agent as in presenter or actor)

• ‐ion, ‐tion, ‐ation, ‐ition

• ‐able, ‐ible

Because no single method has proven more successful than others in teaching affixes, we suggest an eclectic approach focusing on one or two affixes per week. Introduce students to the affix, discuss its meaning, and brainstorm words that contain it. List these on a word wall and encourage students to use the words in their speaking and writing and to be on the lookout for other words to add to the list. Selected words from the brainstormed list can be added to the class’s spelling list. Revisit the targeted affixes and words briefly throughout the next several days.

Many of the activities discussed in later chapters can be employed to teach affixes: Making Words and Making and Writing Words (Chapter 10), word banks and word sort activities (Chapter 11), cloze activities using texts that focus on targeted affixes and words (Chapter 12), and word games (Chapter 14). For the most part, affixes are learned through wide reading, in‐depth examination, and frequent use. These activities should provide sufficient opportunities for examination and learning.

Knowledge of derivational patterns, those roots derived from Greek, Latin, and other languages, will help students decode words and discover their meanings. For example, knowing that the root hem‐ or hemo‐ means “blood” helps us with some of the pronunciation and meaning of longer words like hemodialysis, hemoglobin, hemorrhage, hemostat, hemophilia, and hematoma. An extensive list of Greek and Latin derivatives or roots can be found in Appendix E. (You may also want to check out some of the websites listed in Appendix F for ideas to turn your students on to words and word study.)

Derivational patterns are best taught after students have developed some facility with basic word recognition strategies and affixes. Third or fourth grade is a good time to begin study of derivational patterns, though teachers at any grade level can take advantage of teachable moments to introduce and explore individual patterns.

The same sort of instructional strategies and activities that we suggested for teaching affixes can be used for derivational patterns. Introducing students to one or two roots and their derivations per week should be sufficient to whet students’ appetites for learning and exploring derivational patterns. Begin each week by introducing a new root and listing on the class word wall and in the students’ word journals the English words that are derived from the root. Then encourage the students to use the words in their speech and writing throughout the week. Additional activities such as word sorts, Making and Writing Words with Letter Patterns, cloze activities, and word games should help solidify students’ recognition and understanding of these important word parts.

An alternative or complementary approach to teaching derivational patterns is to begin not with the word part or root itself, but with actual words that are derived from the Latin or Greek root. Our list of essential words and derivations is provided in the appendix at the end of this chapter, and a list of resources for teaching derivations can be found in Figure 8.1. Used as the basis for word of the week, it would take over two years for students to cover all the targeted words. The words on this list contain one or more derivational patterns that can be used to learn the pronunciation and meaning of many other words. The targeted word is really only the starting point for study. Students are exposed to and learn the meaning of other words that contain the derivational root. Word study expands to a wide variety of longer, more difficult, multi-syllabic words.

Ehrlich, I. (1988). Instant vocabulary. New York: Pocket Books.

The book highlights 259 derivational patterns, mostly from Greek and Latin, used in English. Each pattern is identified with its meaning. A list of words and definitions that contain the targeted derivational pattern is also provided.

Fry, E. B. and Kress, J. E. (2006). The reading teacher’s book of lists: Grades K–​12 (5th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass.

This book of lists is a treasure trove for reading teachers. Among other resources, it contains lists of homophones, homographs, instant (high‐frequency, sight) words, spelling demons, word idioms, metaphors, prefixes, suffixes, and Latin and Greek roots.

Lundquist, J. (1989). English from the roots up: Help for reading, writing, spelling, and SAT scores. Bellevue, WA: Literacy Unlimited.

Individual Greek and Latin roots are presented in lesson‐like formats. Words derived from each root are presented as well as teaching notes for telling the story behind each root.

Rasinski, T., Padak, N., Newton, R., and Newton, E. (2008). Greek and Latin roots: Key to building vocabulary. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Educational Publishing.

An introduction to the study of roots in the elementary, middle, and secondary grades. The book provides instructional ideas for exploring roots.

Rasinski, T., Padak, N., Newton, R., and Newton, E. (2008). Building vocabulary from word roots (Levels 1–​11). Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created Materials.

This is a comprehensive instructional program for teaching vocabulary through word roots from grades 1 through 11.

8.3 Model Lessons

In the following sections we offer three instructional strategies for affixes and derivational patterns that have been successfully implemented in elementary and middle grade classrooms (Rasinski, Padak, Newton, and Newton 2008; Rasinski, Padak, Newton, and Newton 2011).

Divide and Conquer

Divide and Conquer is an instructional approach for helping students recognize the structure, sound, and meaning of affixes and derivational patterns. It is an excellent activity for introducing students to particular roots and then guiding them in studying the essential meaning of the roots. Here is an example of a Divide and Conquer lesson.

Start with a list of approximately ten words that have the same prefix (e.g., for the prefix dis—​ distract, disinterested, disapprove, disorder, disrespect, disregard, disown, disloyal, disarm, dishonest). Read the words orally with students. Have students choose one or two words from the list, identify the two basic units of each word, and speculate about what each means. As students offer explanations, elaborate on their responses to focus on the critical meaning of the prefix. Help students understand that the meaning of the full word is obtained through the relationship of the base word with the prefix.

On a display board or chart, as well as on individual student sheets, have students list each complete word, divide each into component parts (prefix and root), and then provide a personal definition for each word. An example is provided below:

Word Spokes and Word Charts

Word Spokes is a visual approach for reinforcing a root introduced in Divide and Conquer. The activity requires a visual display made up of a center circle with spokes coming from the center, much like the center and spokes of a wagon wheel. We recommend that you have a classroom version of the display and that individual students have their own, say in their personal word journals.

Begin the lesson by reviewing the root that is the topic for the week, focusing on its essential meaning. Remind students, for example, that dis‐ used as a prefix means “not” or “the opposite of.” Then, working alone, in small groups, or as a whole class have students brainstorm words that contain the dis‐ prefix and list them at the ends of the spokes on the word spoke chart or paper. In addition to words used in the Divide and Conquer lesson encourage students to think (or search) for other words, such as displease or disprove. Once the Word Spokes chart is developed, guide students in a discussion of the meanings of the words and using them in sentences.

We think of the classroom Word Spokes chart as a specialized word wall. Throughout the week make frequent references to the words on the chart and encourage students to add new words they may come across to the Word Spokes chart. Be sure to have students use the words in their own written and oral language.

You can also create simple word charts organized around a particular root. At the top of the chart print the target root. Beneath it, have students brainstorm and list all words that are associated with the target root. For example, on Earth Day you might want to do a word chart about geo‐ (earth or land), with students brainstorming words such as geothermal, geometry, geology, and geography. Then throughout the week, you can make specific references to the root and the associated words. Again, encourage your students to do the same in their oral and written language.

8.4 Be Creative with Word Study

Behind all this instruction and activity is the idea that students need to learn these important word patterns, but also to develop an intense fascination with words—​to become wordsmiths. Unquestionably, one of the greatest wordsmiths of all time was William Shakespeare. Richard Lederer (1998) reported that Shakespeare invented over 8 percent of all the unique words he used in his writings. Words such as lackluster, bedroom, frugal, dishearten, birthplace, premeditated, submerge, and skim milk have their first known attribution to one of Shakespeare’s works. That’s pretty remarkable.

If word invention is good enough for Shakespeare, it certainly should be good enough for our students. Help students notice that Shakespeare invented many of his words by combining already known words or roots (e.g., countless). Once students gain understanding and control of a fair number of affixes and derivational patterns, they can join the teacher in inventing new words to describe particular phenomena. For example, in one fifth‐grade class we recently visited, students who had been studying affixes and derivational patterns came up with the following words and riddles:

• What sort of animal might experience photophobia? A mole

• In what countries might a person find paleologs? Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome

• Why might dogs be called brevorous? They eat quickly

• What is an autophile?  A person who loves himself or herself

• What is a matermand? A mother’s order

Students enjoy engaging in such creative use of words, especially if it gives them the opportunity to stump their teacher and classmates.

Another creative use of words is found in poetry writing. Myra Cohen Livingston (1997) devised a simple poetry game to encourage her students to think creatively and playfully with words when writing poetry. Provide students with a set of unrelated words, one to begin with and then up to six or more. Challenge students to write a poem that uses all the chosen words. Although some students may find this challenging initially, with time and practice students can become quite adept at using words in creative and divergent ways to create a coherent poem. Livingston published her students’ remarkable poetry using this game technique in I Am Writing a Poem about . . . ​A Game of Poetry.

Word study need not end after students develop mastery of basic phonic skills and strategies; rather, we can nurture a fascination with words, along with a deeper understanding of how words work, by continuing to explore words throughout students’ years in school. Affixes and derivational word patterns provide wonderful opportunities to continue our study of words beyond initial phonics.

As Justin, the fourth‐grade teacher we introduced in the beginning of this chapter, discovered for himself, affixes and Greek and Latin derivations are very useful in helping students decode (pronounce) and understand particular words. As students move beyond the initial stages of word recognition, word study should turn toward these more sophisticated word patterns. Knowledge of word patterns helps students pronounce and predict the meanings of unknown words containing the patterns.

The same activities and playful attitude that characterize early word study should also manifest themselves in learning about these more sophisticated patterns. If we approach word study with a sense of playfulness and fascination, it is likely that students will be fascinated by words throughout their lives.