Understanding the Spelling-Meaning Connection: Structured Word Inquiry

Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 1

matrix from Real Spelling

Booklet of Lessons & Resources 2015 by Peter Bowers

struct + ure/ + ed → structured …[L]earning to read is learning how to use the conventional forms of printed language to obtain meaning from words…This view implies that the child learning how to in + struct + ion → instruction read needs to learn how his or her writing system works [emphasis added]” (p. 34). Rayner, et al. (2001). How psychological science informs the teaching of reading, Instruction which builds understanding of word American Psychological Society, 2, 31-74. structure as a tool for investigating the the interrelation of spelling an meaning. www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 2 Guides for Structured Word Inquiry

Two Guiding Principles of Structured Word Inquiry A model of English orthography from www.realspelling.com The primary function of English spelling is to represent meaning. The conventions by which English spelling represents meaning are so well-ordered and reliable that spelling can be investigated and understood through scientific inquiry. Scientific inquiry is necessary to safely guide spelling instruction and understanding. Scientific inquiry is the only means by which a learning community can safely accept or reject hypotheses about how spelling works. Above figure from www.realspelling.com Click here for a full draft document expanding on these ideas, including definitions of key concepts and terms.

Process of “Structured Word Inquiry” 1) Catch learners with an interesting spelling question. (e.g., why in ?) 2) Strategically present a set of words that makes the relevant pattern more salient. 3) Help learners hypothesize a solution from carefully presented evidence. 4) Guide testing of learners’ hypotheses and identify the precise pattern. 5) Practice the identiﬁed pattern with appropriate tools (e.g., word sums, ﬂow charts).

See more on structured word inquiry, and the difference between “teacher-led inquiry” and “inquiry-led teaching” at this link.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 3

What is crazy -- the English spelling system, or our typical systems for teaching spelling? Consider the frustration experienced by the student in this story. The teacher does the best his training allows as he tries to help his student deal with yet Cursing our crazy spelling system seems like a natural another “irregular” spelling. Imagine the consequences for learning when such response to Robb’s story about the struggle to learn and experiences are repeated over and over. teach reading and spelling in English. It would be so much easier if we just had a reliable, logical spelling system! “Know More Explosions” Ironically, it turns out that our spelling system does meet these exact criteria. Unfortunately this assertion seems Excerpt from a Grade 4 teacher’s email absurd in light of the instruction most of us have received. My program is for junior students identified with behaviour It is important to recognize, however, that the common problems, problems which make their full-time participation assumption of English spelling as an unreliable, in "standard" classrooms problematic for everyone involved. exception-riddled system is a hypothesis that can be Most of our students have ADHD identifications, often coinci- tested. dent with LDs and other difficulties, and virtually all of them The science of spelling: Scientific inquiry of the conven- read more than two grade levels lower than they should. In tions of English spelling provides plenty of evidence that many instances, the students' behaviour difficulties and their language deficits pose a chicken-and-egg question. our spelling system is an extremely reliable and ordered system for representing the meaning of words to English In a guided reading session I was doing with a burly and ea- speakers. (e.g. Carol Chomsky, 1970). ger Grade 4 student reading at PM 9, the student pointed to the work "know" and asked what it said. Knowing my stu- There is obviously much more to spelling than morphol- dents, I prepared him for my answer with "OK, this is going ogy. However, scientific analysis of English spelling makes to blow your mind, but . . . ." When I finished with "It says it clear that we cannot make sense of our spelling system /no/," he didn't miss a beat. He tore the book off the table without morphological understanding. and flung it across the room. And then he started: "It does Orthographic morphology is the conventional system by not f*#!ing say 'no!' " - giving the whole class a language which spoken morphemes are written. Instruction can di- lesson as he tore a path toward the classroom door - " rect the attention of learners to this concrete representa- says /k/ and says /w/, so it does not say f*#!ing 'no' !" tion of the meaning structure of words. Students can use How am I supposed to learn this sh*!t when the rules morphological knowledge gained through instruction to change? f*#!ing says /k/!" define words they were not taught, but which are morpho- After the student de-escalated - and being told that logically related to words that they were taught. (Bowers & says /night/ DIDN'T help, I promised him I'd find out Kirby, 2010). However, teaching morphology is not only why that word is pronounced as it is. about showing learners how bases and affixes can be Robb used to learn new vocabulary. Click here for lessons investigating the spelling of inspired by Robb’s story.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 4 Touching on the Research Meta-Analyses & Reviews of Morphological interventions Research has long emphasized the importance of letter-sound knowledge for literacy development (e.g., Adams, 1990; Ray- ner et al., 2001). There is an enormous amount of research showing that instruction which explicitly teaches grapheme- phoneme correspondences and phonemic awareness is more effective that “whole word” based instruction which does not emphasize the internal structures of words. That evidence, however, says nothing about the effect of teaching about morphology, or the interrelation of morphology and phonology. Nevertheless, many researchers and research models rec- ommended not addressing morphology until later years. In her seminal 1990 book, Adams wrote, “Although teaching older readers about the roots [base morphemes] and suffixes of morphologically complex words may be a worthwhile challenge, teaching beginning or less skilled readers about them may be a mis- take” (p. 152). The following 20 years of research largely behaved as though The best evidence is that we should teach how the writing system there was clear evidence supporting this hypothesis. In 2010 works from the start. See a teacher friendly review of the research meta-analyses of morphological interventions were finally here. conducted (Bowers & Kirby, 2010; Goodwin & Ahn, 2010; 2012) to test that assumption. The exact opposite was found. It makes sense that learning letter-sound correspondences would be facilitated by a fuller understanding of how they operate within Not only did morphological instruction help students in gen- the morphological frame. As linguist Richard Venezky pointed out eral, less able and younger students gained the most long ago, "the simple fact is that the present orthography system from morphological instruction. Devonshire, Morris, & is not merely a letter-to-sound system riddled with imperfections, Fluck (2013) Conducted an intervention with 5-7 year olds that but, instead, a more complex and more regular relationship compared an experimental group with instruction of the inter- wherein phoneme and morpheme share leading roles" (Venezky, relation of morphology, phonology and etymology with word 1967, p. 77). sums and matrices to best practice phonics like instruction. They found significant effects on standardized measures of Teachers need to know about more than morphology to explain reading and spelling for the experimental group. There is no these spellings, but establishing the morphological structure of a research evidence showing that phonology needs to be taught word is a necessary part of that process, even for base words. before morphology.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 5

Is really an irregular spelling? Links to Structured Word Inquiry Videos Typically instruction leads children to believe that is one of many irregular spellings they have to memorize. In contrast, the word is treated as regular. Click here for a tutorial video showing See how the matrix and word sums below make sense of these spell- how beginners can use the Word Micro- ings by providing a concrete representation of the interrelation of scope to guide an investigation through structure and meaning of the and word families. a stud of the word .

Click here for an inspiring video on Lyn A morphological matrix for ing Anderson’s “Beyond the Word” Blot. It do shows 5-year-old students investigating and es go ne the word and some of its surprising relatives in Etymonline.

Click here for a video of a tutoring ses- Word Sums for and sion with a 7-year old investigating the do + ing → doing go + ing → going meaning-spelling connections between do + es → does go + es → goes words with the matrix and word sum. do + ne → done go + ne → gone Click here for an inspiring video / post from a Grade 5 public school with stu- With these linguistic tools, children can be introduced to as dents describing their experience learn- an ingenious spelling because it marks its meaning connection to its ing through structured word inquiry. See base with a consistent spelling. The spelling structure of these a WW Update on this post here. word families is a brilliant opportunity to show children why it is useful that most letters (graphemes) can represent more than one pronun- Click here to learn about twin and ciation. Only in this way could the spelling of and use bound bases through a video of a the same spelling of the base! classroom investigation. Instead of adding it to a list of irregular words, teachers who understand morphology can use the spelling of a word like to in- troduce children to the ordered way their spelling system works. Click here for a Grade 7 student ex- plaining his understanding of the politi- “Teachers who consider English a chaotic and unprincipled writing sys- cal world through linguistic analysis of tem likely foster a similar view among their students. Such pupils may the word . not look for patterns in the system because they believe that few exist to be discovered. Teachers who appreciate the writing system can help students find its patterns, fostering a positive attitude about spelling” Explore a large bank of videos of structured word inquiry Treiman and Kessler (2005, p. 133) in classrooms at this YouTube page.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 6

Learn more about etymology and how it helps understand the spellings of the words from the slide above from the Real Spelling Tutorial ﬁlms at this link. See the Real Spelling Tutorial ﬁlm on “The Homophone Principle” at this link.

Find a tutorial ﬁlm on function and content words and additional resources on this topic here.

The slide at left illustrates the structure of a morphological family as revealed by a matrix and word sums and how that structure interrelates with phonology. Note the varied pronunciation of the base depending on the word Latin root: struere "to and how the pronunciation shift of the grapheme is pile, build, assemble," shown with the grapheme chart. We also see that all of the words in this family share the Latin Root struere for “to build”. Not only does working with matrices and word sums help us make sense of the morphology and meaning of words -- it helps us understand the grapheme- phoneme correspondences.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 7 The word matrix (www.realspelling.com) The morphological matrix is Interrelation of graphemes a map of the interrelation of structure and and morphemes s meaning of written word families ing The word matrix represents members of an ortho- un ed graphic morphological word family. Such word families in share a connection in both structure and meaning. re quest (Real Selling tutorial films on morphology here.) s • structure: common underlying spelling of the base con Latin Root ion able • meaning: common ultimate etymological origin of the Graphemes comprised of single letters or quaerere ing base 2- or 3-letter teams that represent a pho- ‘ask, seek, gain’ neme. They occur within morphemes. Inclusion of a word in a matrix is tested with a word Possible phonological representations of a The word matrix marks the only feature of an sum. The word sum isolates the constituent mor- grapheme are signaled by circumstances. orthographic morphological family that is stable - phemes (bases and affixes) on one side of the rewrite arrow (marking all morphological suffixing conventions) The diagram above shows three of the the underlying orthographic representation of its possible phonological representations of morphemes. These representations correspond and on the other, the realized surface structure of the the grapheme. Two of these are real- to what Carol Chomsky (1970) called “lexical word. ized in the words of the matrix spellings.” An “echo” of the denotation of the root meaning of the shown on this page. The pronunciation and connotation of a mor- base of any word represented by a matrix can be de- Note that since the and the pheme can vary across members of a family. The tected in the connotation of that realized word. The de- graphemes in are not in the same lexical spelling of a morpheme -- that is captured notation of the root meaning of a word is checked with morpheme, there is no digraph in by word sums and matrices -- remains stable. an etymological reference (e.g. etymonline.com). this word.

base spelled base pronounced Word Sums (examples listed by pronunciation of base)

/kwɛstʃ/ quest + ion → question quest + ion + able → questionable /kwɛst/ in + quest → inquest con + quest → conquest re + quest + ed → requested

matrix base spelled base pronounced Word Sums (examples listed by pronunciation of base) ing /du:/ do + ing → doing do es ne /dʌ/ do + es → does do + ne → done

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 8 Structured Word Inquiry Activities...

See next page for a description of how to use the “structured and meaning test” to see clarify this task and for links to related resources.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 9

Activity: 3 Word Families & The Structure & Meaning Test • , and : 1) Semantic word families -- a general meaning connection All of these words share the same Latin root ‘placere’ for “to be acceptable, be liked, be approved”. Thus these words “pass the meaning test”. They The words in the “Semantic Family” section of the diagram (previous page) belong in the circle (same etymological family). were selected because they can be considered to share a common general sense and meaning. The “structure and meaning test” allows us to study the Which of these words also pass the structure test (coherent word sum) and orthographic structure of these words to analyze and categorize the nature therefore also belong in the square for words of the same morphological of that meaning connection scientifically. family? 2) Words in the same etymological family pass the “meaning test” please/ + ing ➔ pleasing Words in the same etymological family share more than a general seman- please/ + ure/ + able ➔ pleasurable tic connection. They share a common history that is marked by a common plead ➔ plead etymological root that can be researched in an etymological reference (e.g. Additional hypothesis: Can all these words to a common base ? Etymonline). The denotation of a historical root is echoed in the meaning of its descendants -- current English words. Words that share a root can be Test this hypothesis with a word sum: plea + se ➔ please placed within the area of the circle in the diagram. There is no evidence of an <-se> suffix, so we much reject this hypothesis. Example Investigation: The words and can be analyzed to show the • and have no historical connection, so they do not fit any- same underlying base element , so they are of the same morpho- where within the circle. logical and etymological family. • , and share the Latin root ‘placere’ so they There is no word sum that can link to the base , so belong within the area of the circle. But which of these words fit within the square of the “morphological family” inside that circle? is of the same etymological family of but not the same morphological family. Similarly, shares the same root, but no base, 3) Morphological Families (structure test): so it can be included in the etymological family circle. To determine if words are of the same orthographic morphological family -- Note! We can see that one root can grow into multiple bases. and could therefore be represented in the same matrix -- we need to show that they pass BOTH the structure and meaning tests. Why categorize words this way? 1) Meaning test: The words in question must share a root. The process of analyzing words according to these categories forces us to inspect the history and structure of words carefully. In this way we build not 2) Structure test: The words in question must share a base element as only our vocabulary, but our understanding of our writing system, and thus demonstrated through analysis with a coherent word sum. our curiosity motivation to notice and spelling-meaning connections, and For a word scientist to determine that a word sum is coherent, they must be our skill for analyzing and understanding those connections. able to show a) evidence that each morpheme is used in another words, and b) that the word sum is in coherence with suffixing conventions. Computer tools to make your own matrix with word sums Example Investigation Continued: • Mini-Matrix-Maker (Basic Tool - Free, for both Mac & PC) • and : Clearly no word sum could link and , so they cannot be in the same morphological family. your investigation, includes banks of morphemes, The lack of any spelling connection gives no reason to hypothesize an etymologi- saves and organizes data from investigations cal connection. By chance, however, some words seem to share a base, but turn and more. Currently for PCs only. The video at out not to share a root (e.g., and ). Such words “pass the struc- this introductory page offers a good review of the ture test” but cannot be placed on the same matrix because they do not pass the process of the structure and meaning test. meaning test -- they share no root. www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 10

d) Work with your group to ﬁnd a way to present your research, dis- Structured Word Inquiry Challenges coveries and any questions that remain. 1) Roots growing into multiple bases e) Make a similar investigation with any of the following: Latin roots: “aster”, “caedere”, “rumpere” Greek roots: “hydr”, “morphe”, “khronos” (Remember that just because one root can grow into multiple bases is not evidence that it must!) 2) From RS Theme 5L: An etymological project on words to do with stars

Review the information above from page 37 of THTWWW to guide an work on the following challenges: a) Find the 8 members of the etymological family with the Latin root ‘placere’’ identiﬁed by www.etymonline.com when you type that root in the search engine. b) Use word sums to do morphological analysis those words to 3) Use word sums to identify the common base and identify the distinct written bases that can be found in those words. The diagram above shows two ( and ). root for these sets of words and construct a matrix. How many more can you ﬁnd? a) , , , c) Construct at least one matrix that represents at least 5 words b) , , , built from one of the bases. You might want to use the Word Searcher, and/or Mini-Matrix-Maker to help you. Feel free to to c) , , , the matrix by hand also.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 11 Alternate investigations of the same word family. Investigate the structure of !

Grade 4s investigate the structure of ! 1. Analyze these words with word sums according to the hypothesis that Circle the base Write out the word sum for each word. Spell it out-loud they share the base . (Can you prove all the afﬁxes?) as you write it! Remember to announce the and 2. Represent analyzed words in the Matrix. digraphs, and pause at the plus signs!

known known knows knows knowable knowable knowing unknown knowing knowingly unknown unknowingly knowingly knowledge unknowingly knowledgeable knowledge knowledgeable unbeknownst know

know preﬁxes sufﬁxes un- -ing -n -s -ly -ledge -able

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 12

WordWorks Lessons! by Peter Bowers, 2007,www.wordworkskingston.com Based on (Ramsden 2001) www.realspelling.com Name______Activity Sheet #1 Lesson #2: Spelling Detectives Word Building: Using a Real Spelling™ Word Matrix When does Suffixing Cause Changes at the Joins? A WORD MATRIX USUALLY ONLY SHOWS SOME POSSIBLE WORDS. YOU CAN OFTEN FIND MORE IF YOU TRY! Rules for reading a word matrix: A) Investigation: Developing a hypothesis al • Read a matrix from left to right. re ing Study the matrix for and the word sums created from it to • Make only single, complete words from a matrix. ed see if you can discover a consistent suffixing pattern. • Only build words you can use in a sentence. as • You don’t have to take an element from every sign er column of a matrix – BUT... ment Word Sums from Matrix • You must not ‘leapfrog’ over a column. (Draw a line through silent s replaced during suffixing as shown in the second sum.) • WATCH THE JOINS! Sometimes changes happen re de ate ure move + s ! moves where you add a suffix. s move + ing ! moving Build words with your cut out prefixes and suffixes on the base . Once you have built a ing move + ed ! moved word, write the word sum as modeled in 1 and 2. re ed Part A: un move move + er ! mover er move + ment ! movement ment ______re + move + ed ! removed prefix(es)- base - suffix(es) re + move + er ! remover ! 1) sign + al  signal un + move + ed unmoved 2) as + sign + ment  assignment 1. What is the change that sometimes occurs at the suffix join? 3) ______ ______4) ______ ______2. List the suffixes that cause the change: ______3. List the suffixes that cause no change: ______5) ______ ______4. How are these suffixes different from each other? 6) ______ ______

7) ______ ______5. Our class’ hypothesis to explain how you know which suffixes may 8) ______ ______force a change at the join:

9) ______ ______

10)______ ______Real Spelling Tool Box Connections 1K - Learning from Love (Learn about the letter ) 3A - Revisiting Suffixing (Learn many roles of the single, silent

Real Spelling Tool Box™ Connection 12 3E - The base elements and 8

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 13

WordWorks Lessons! by Peter Bowers, 2007,www.wordworkskingston.com Based on (Ramsden 2001) www.reaslspelling.com

WordWorks Lessons! by Peter Bowers, 2007,www.wordworkskingston.com Based on (Ramsden 2001) www.realspelling.com Activity #3 Lesson #2 Continued… Flow Chart for Dropping the Single, Silent During Suffixing B) Testing our Hypothesis: Instructions: These matrices build on base words (a one morpheme word - no prefix or suffix) that end with • On a separate page, rewrite the beginning of the word sum provided. the letter ‘e’. • Use the flow chart to identify the correct spelling when fixing the suffix to the base. • Create word sums from a variety of the matrices to test our class hypothesis. (You don’t need to build every possible word from each matrix to test the hypothesis.) • When a silent is replaced by a vowel suffix, cross it out on the left or the “rewrite arrow” before competing the spelling on the left side of the arrow. • Be ready to share interesting discoveries with the class. Any surprising findings, or words whose pronunciation changes when you add affixes?

s es ing ed dis un ed please ant hope ful ure less

ing ed s dis agree ment ing able re take en out s ing Example: date + ing ! dating mis be ed es have er Word Sums our (Can) i ing 1. cave + ed ! 11. laze + y ! or (US) en large ed 2. create + or ! 12. rule + er ! ly 3. require + ment ! 13. imagine + ary ! ish be ing 4. smile + ing ! 14. pure + ly ! en ment s 5. rude + ly ! 15 please + ure ! 6. brave + est ! 16. operate + ion ! Real Spelling Tool Box Connections 1D - The effect of suffixes on a single, silent 7. brave + ly ! 17. smile + s ! 1B - Making plurals - 1- whether to use <-es> or just <-s> 3G - The end of base words or just ? the suffix <-age> (understanding the silent in 8. include + ing ! 18. amaze + es ! 1G - ‘long’ and ‘short’ vowels and the single, silent 9. lone + ly ! 19. amaze + ment ! 1I - Homophones -1- (Make sense of the silent in 1H - Compound words -1- (Does break suffixing conventions? 10. close + ness ! 20 ice + y ! 18 15 Real Spelling Tool Box Connections 3A - Revisiting suffixing (Is <-y> a vowel suffix?)

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 14 The Word Sum and the Matrix The word sum is the basic linguistic tool for revealing the structure of any word. We need to learn how to write and spell out loud word sums with our students. Here one example:

Complete these word sums, by writing and spelling them out loud. Make sure to show any changes. See Real Spelling Theme 1D “effects of suffixes on the single, silent ” Click here for more resources and films on spelling-out word structure. un + help + ful → ______rupt + ure + ed → ______hope + ing → ! ______re + play + ing → !! ______fight + er → !! ______pass + ion + ate → ! ______state + ion + ary → ______image + ine + ate + ion → !______

www.WordWorksKingston.com SpellingStructured Out Word & Inquiry: Writing Developing literacyOut and Word critical thinking Structure by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 15

Do these activities with guidance of the “Constructing Word Sums Booklet” (click here). Explore this page and this page for more on spelling out word structure. Synthetic word sums: Analytic word sums: 1. Mark sufﬁxing changes on left. 1. Spell out your hypothesis of the structure of the given word without the (See tools for sufﬁxing conventions here and here.) scaffolding of a completed word sum with a partner. 2. Spell out and write out your word structure hypothesis n the right side 2. Test your hypothesis (or hypotheses) by writing out the substructure on of the re-write arrow following the conventions in the “Constructing the right of the word sum. Word Sums Booklet”. Note: To spell out the word structure in the “Analytic Word Sums”, you need to identify whether the starter word is a base, or if it is complex.

Synthetic Word Sums Analytic Word Sums Substructure ! → ! Surface Structure Surface Structure ! → ! Substructure spring → spring reach! →! care + ful + ly → carefully react → spell + ing → does → cute + er → pliers → cut + er → duckling → → act + ive + ity + es spilling → busy + ness → rightfully → busy + body → logically → graph + eme + ic → disruptive → phone + o + log + y → → un + heal + th + y + ly → assistance nate + ure + al + ly → sisterhood → bookkeeper →

Videos of teachers and students spelling out word structure with word sums and working with matrices • The word sum is the basic linguistic tool for analysis of morphological word structure. See Real Spelling tutorial ﬁlms on this topic here. • Visit the WordWorks YouTube page for many videos illustrating and integrating spelling-out word structure into everyday instructional practice. • See a Skype tutoring session with a Grade 2 studentwww.WordWorksKingston.com using spelling out of word structure with word sums and the matrix. Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 16 From the Matrix to the Word Sum Rules for reading a word matrix: The starting point of making sense of English spelling, and thus the • Read a matrix from left to right. foundational strategy for structured word inquiry is gaining practice building word sums from matrices. • Make only single, complete words from a matrix. • Only build words you can use in a sentence. All of these matrices are taken from the 70 matrices DVD. You can copy and paste any of those matrices to build lessons in minutes. • You don’t have to take an element from every column of a matrix – BUT... • You must not ‘leapfrog’ over a column. • WATCH THE JOINS! Sometimes changes happen where you add a suffix.

d) Some Challenges Write your word sums that come from these matrices on a separate page. Investigate the matrices to build word sums that... • Produce compound words. • Show each of the sufﬁxing changes. • Force a change in the pronunciation of the base. • That produce complex words that have ‘long vowel sounds’.

Some Questions • Can you ﬁnd a base with a digraph that can represent more then one phoneme? • What base uses a trigraph? • What base uses a to represent /t/ in one derivation, but /ʃ/ in another derivation (the same phoneme commonly asso- ciated with the digraph). • What questions challenges could you give your class from these matrices?

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 17

Finish the Word Matrix!

Word Detectives Activity: Finding Word Families Word families are words related in spelling structure and meaning to a common base. 1) Finding a family of words related to with the Word Searcher. To find the Word Searcher: - Type the words Neil Ramsden Word Searcher into Google - Click on the first hit “Word Searcher” - Youʼre there! Background for Finding the Family: Testing for structure and meaning The Word Searcher does not know about bases, prefixes and suffixes. If we are looking for words in the same word family as , we first have to analyze this word to see if it is a simple base word (one image morpheme word) or a complex word (a base with at least one other morpheme). ably One hypothesis is that has the base and the suffix with this word sum: ine image/ + ine → imagine To be confident this hypothesized analysis is correct, we test the word sum to make sure it makes sense in terms of meaning and spelling structure. (See confirmation of that analysis in box below.) Warning about Word Searcher searchers! ate Typing the letters in the “Search Pattern” field Testing Meaning and Spelling Structure will not bring up the word because the Word Meaning Test: The hypothesis of a meaning Searcher just pics words with the same letter connection between and is After youʼve identified which of the 20 words below do use the base , build word sums sequence. The word uses the base word reasonable. To “imagine” something is to create to find affixes needed to build the matrix. spelled , but it does not have the letter an “image” of it in our mind. We can confirm this sequence . connection by looking at the origin of both of these words. Etymonline cites the Latin root imago for Search Results for "imag" To get a list of words that are likely related to the base "copy, statue, picture, idea, appearance". We (20 matches) , we need to type the letter sequence . have evidence to conclude and Starting the Search... are really related in meaning. image imagined Step 1: Finding potential family members Spelling Structure Test: We have already imagery imagines demonstrated that there is a base spelled imaging Type the letters in the “search pattern” field . To be sure the word sum works, we images and press the “go” button. have to test imaginable imagining You should get 20 matches. Is <-ine> a suffix? A quick check of a dictionary imaginary imaginings Step 2: Refining the list to the family shows a number of uses of the <-ine> suffix. One imagination pilgrimage Look for connections of structure and meaning. entry in my Oxford gives this citation: a suffix imaginations pilgrimages Some of the words in this list might not use the base forming chiefly abstract nouns and diminutives unimaginable such as doctrine, medicine, figurine. A can see the imaginative . Copy and paste the words that you think are structure and <figure/ + ine>. Iʼm imaginatively unimaginably built on into a word processing document. curious about but can leave that for imagine unimaginative With a partner, try to make word sums that could use the moment. the base and which have a connection in Does <-ine> replace final, single, silent s? meaning to that word. Yes! We need to learn how vowel and consonant 2) Use the same process and tools to find a family of words that links these words Step 3: Building the matrix suffixes operate so that we can do this kind of , and ! Can you build a matrix on your own? Use the prefixes and suffixes from the word sums that analysis. Note that this worked for figure/ + ine → work to build the matrix that is started for you. The figurine also. See Real Spelling Theme ID “The suffixes you need to build and some other effect of suffixes o the single, silent ” or the words are already included. See what else you can get lessons in WordWorksʼ “Teaching How the Written in this matrix for the word family of ! Word Works” for ideas for teaching and learning about this suffixing pattern.

www.WordWorksKingston.com www.WordWorksKingston.com

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 18 s ly s ion ive ary able ably s ing ate (Why not <-ery>?) Scientists search for the most elegant solution. solution. for the most search elegant Scientists A for is to the look inquiry of scientific principle number the largest structure that explains deepest of cases. Effective to know who thinkers critical are learners evidence. with sources authoritative even question before reference one to than more They look conclusions. strong drawing Effective to use they know strategies have learners they get stuck a problem. on when Effective and at identifying skilled are learners hypotheses. testing Effective with working comfortable are learners answers. ambiguous that have questions The is of investigation an the process through learning answer. a specific than valuable often more system that prime ordered is an spelling English It be can meaning. it to function represent careful through understood and investigated solving. problem Some Some of the “Big Ideas” developed and reinforced through investigations:these ry es ed ing ine image www.WordWorksKingston.com un Answer Key (Other organizations of the same morphemes are possible) are of morphemes the same Key (Other organizations Answer t pronounce it? t pronounce t seem to make work work t to seem make ʼ ʼ Is there an <-ation> suffix like the suffix like Is <-ation> an there says or is it <-ate> suffix an dictionary suffix? <-ion> by an followed I can suffix. the <-tion> with fit a word a word into stuck When making sum to to a word matrix, sure use make at the structure of look that carefully word. <-ery> suffix an or ause Does <-ry> suffix? as a <-cy> suffix? ItIs a thing such there for the word one I like need looks . when Why a is there in I don though even a base be there Can ? word is no there Questions & discoveries sparked by Questions sparked & discoveries investigating ! For more on this lesson and ideas for related inquiries, go to go this link: inquiries, for related ideas and this lesson For on more http://web.mac.com/peterbowers1/Site_29/Enduring_Understandings_from__imagine__lesson.html

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 19

Step 3: Collect more members of this written morphological family. Identifying words that share a written morphological relatives by Using the Word Searcher I find testing structure AND meaning (working with bound bases) more potential members of this family by typing into the search field. Here’s what we find: Search Results for "cuss" Example investigation question: (27 matches) Are concussion and repercussion part of the same written morphological family? cuss focussed concussion concussions cussed concussed cussedness discussions Step 1: Structure Test -- Can a coherent word sum be constructed linking these cusses concusses discussing repercussion words with a common base with the same spelling? concuss discussed discussion percussionist percussion (Each morpheme in the word sums must be proven to have a coherent word sum.) cussing discusses repercussions discuss focussing percussive percussionists cussedly concussing unfocussed con + cuss + ion → concussion !! ! re + per + cuss + ion → repercussion In groups use the structure and meaning tests to find at least 3 other words that share the bound base element from the Latin root ‘quatere‘ for “to shake, strike, beat”. Note: Each of these affixes , , and <-ion> affixes can be proven by testing the example words a dictionary lists in entries with these affixes. Finding an affix listed in a dictionary is not evidence that it is an affix. But Write their word sums in your book. a dictionary can help us narrow down words we can use as data to test!) Step 4: Use the Mini-Matrix Maker to construct a matrix from our word sums: Conclusion: These words pass the structure test, so they could share the bound base element -- but only if they also pass the meaning test! A) Follow the steps above to prove the connection between any of these word pairs. Step 2: Meaning Test -- Do the words share a common ROOT origin? Use Etymonoline and/or other etymological references to show that the two words share the same root. For example here is what I find on Etymonline when I investigate concussion and repercussion: concussion (n.) c.1400, from Latin concussionem (nominative concussio) "a shaking," noun of action from past participle stem of concutere "shake violently," from com- "together" (see com-) + quatere "to shake" (see quash). Modern brain injury sense is from 1540s. repercussion (n.) c.1400 (implied in repercussive) "act of driving back," from Middle French répercussion (14c.), from Latin repercusionem (nominative repercussio), from past participle stem of repercutere "to strike or beat back," from re- "back" (see re-) + percutere "to strike or thrust through" (see percussion). Meaning "reverberation, echo" first recorded 1590s; the metaphoric extension is recorded from 1620s.

I follow the link to ‘percussion’ and ﬁnd... percussion (n.) early 15c., "a striking, a blow; internal injury, contusion," from Latin percussionem (nominative percussio) "a beating, striking; a beat as a measure of time," noun of action from past participle stem of percutere "to strike hard, beat, smite; strike through and through," from per- "through" (see per) + quatere "to strike, shake" (see quash). Reference to musical instruments is first recorded 1776.

Conclusion: Both words share the common Latin root ‘quatere‘ for “to shake, strike, beat” . I can conclude that these words share the same written base because they pass Box above from Kit 4 B “Being more precise about base elements both the structure and meaning test. “Free” and ‘Bound’ Bases of Real Spelling Tool Box 2

www.WordWorksKingston.com www.WordWorksKingston.com www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 20

Making a Matrix with Bound Bases

Below is a starter matrix for the bound base with pre-chosen af- ﬁxes that can be used to build on the previous lesson.

To the right is a bank of words collected from the Word Searcher in the process of investigating the structure of the word .

Conduct the structure and meaning test (previous page) to identify which of these words share a base with When you are ﬁnished, construct a matrix with the Mini-Matrix-Maker, the Word Microscope or by hand that represents and any of the other words from this list that belong.

Did you discover any affixes that were new to you? To prove an affix it must be a letter sequence that… 1) You need a letter or letter sequence that can be fixed to a proven base or stem. 2) That same letter or letter sequence must be used for the same purpose in more than one word.

Also, remember that you can use a dictionary to help you check afﬁxes that are new to you. And, never analyze deeper than you can prove!

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 21

The <-ly> suffix My son’s class did an activity on the <-ly> suffix from a spelling book. This is the set of words used to study this suffix. Analyze these words with word sums and see if you can use word sums to Download the old RS Theme “Learning from Love” here. identify the words that do not belong in a list of words with an <-ly> suffix.

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 22 Integrating word structure knowledge into classroom instruction Helping students investigate (and practice) how meaning Supporting Science Knowledge... elements build words is not an end, but a means... Students independently apply morphological problem Word building instruction sets the stage for teaching how to untangle meaning solving to deepen vocabulary and understanding of cues from complex words - including unfamiliar words that use familiar mean- scientific concepts during science class. Click here ing elements. Morphological problem solving skills are added to the use of for the story of this investigation of the condensation. context clues to facilitate working out the meaning of new words. Initial lessons investigating the “mechanics” of word structure look like “spelling instruction”. However, once students develop word knowledge and investigation skills, teachers can start to guide application of that knowledge during any classroom content area. Word building (spelling) instruction becomes word analysis (reading) instruction. All the while children receive engaging, generative vocabulary and vocabulary-learning instruction. Integrate word structure inquiries into story reading. “I was worried about my snowman melting as spring was coming.” 1. Find the <-ing> suffixes in this sentence. melt+ing --> melting; *spr+ing --> spring; come/+ing --> coming Students learn that the finding the letters doesn’t necessarily mean that they have found an <-ing> suffix. Students learn to look for structure and meaning in words. 2. Why do we use the word “snowman”? snow+man --> snowman We explain that this is a compound word that is about a man made out “The more that teachers think about relating new terms of snow. The word is not a compound word because it has to familiar terms based on morphology or spelling- nothing to do with cars or pets. meaning criteria, the more they will make connections-- and the more excited they will be come as they share these connections with students.” Shane Templeton (2004) www.WordWorksKingston.com Co-author of Words Their Way. Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 23 7 - - - I

the

dis

they

accu found

inves on

words.

we chart.

of fixes

be the af

after can placed

to to

ealspelling.com post nature

continuing .r

until

only

in www could block

were

classrooms

morphemes in

demonstrated

categories

fixes reference

af a

students new

building was

tools

of as

the add

use where these

consonant theory

s of

theories

then model

and

chart Based on (Ramsden 2001)

want

the they

These student’ images

vowel to

used oom “Sticky-Note Morpheme Chart” that the

students be into More

that context.

can

fixes dworkskingston.com any along,

words. suf

.wor

section” morphemes chart

of All

the . The Classr of www convinced

this

Students post sticky notes with their theories of afﬁxes. theory was all:

bank number and ganize

W fix a or

encountered Activity

- t class up -

“af

in notes ord with

an the they

don’

W I

builds website. by Peter Bowers, 2007,

sticky when

words worked

orks

class on

in words.

a convention dW

developing that

of chart”

W up that fix

time, orks Lessons

af noticed

Generative ficial dW “Affix Theories” section: They had to include a word sum using the proposed suffix. It never takes long before I am pestered to take up these theories in class discussions so we could decide which discoveries belonged on the “official chart”. or My class morpheme chart starts out with even fewer morphemes than are shown above picture. It keeps on growing as students encounter more and more morphemes dur ing ongoing “word de tective” work. A Morphemes Over tigations cover ended had “of rate on the W

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 24 Class Sticky-Note Morpheme Chart

e Preﬁxes Bases Sufﬁxes

Free Basees Consonant Vowel Sufﬁxes Sufﬁxes re- dis- pack ease -s -ly -ful -ed -ing un- in- graph ment -es e- per- -et

sub- ad- Bound Bases -age -ent suc- ac- -ant rupt sist cuss sur- fract cess

de- + sign + -ate + -ion

+ Preﬁx(es) + Base + Sufﬁx(es) +

Keep adding bases, prefixes and suffixes to chart above as you encounter them in attested Affix Hypotheses Chart sources (Real Spelling Themes, Dictionary searches) or when you -ry or -ery? prove them with word sums with which you are confident. -ennial As students encounter these or ? morphemes, and you confirm their ? accuracy by adding them to the chart, they gain in their ability to analyse more words.

Keeping an “Affix Hypothesis Chart” encourages students to share the ideas they have about possible new affixes as they are encountered. By placing them on this chart, other students know not to trust these suffixes yet. On a regular basis the teacher can take up the hypothesized affixes and model using word sums and dictionaries to prove or disprove them. The proven ones get attested on the official chart. In my experience, students are always proud to get their affixes attested and not embarrassed when theirs is shown not to work. I make it a rule for students to include hypothesized word sums and their names to put up their hypotheses. Be ready for this chart to get filled up quite quickly with great theories! Affixes that you can!t resolve can be placed on the “Wonder Wall” shared with other classes. If they remain unresolved, email Pete and Melvyn to see if we can find an answer!

Click here for a pdf of “reference charts” you can ﬁnd by exploring this link on our website

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 25 2004 Ramsden www.realspelling.com Melvyn © poly- post- pre- pro- re- red- retro- se- semi- sub- suc- suf- sug- sum- sup- sur- sus- super- syn- sym- syl- sys- sy- tele- trans- tra- tran- ultra- un- with- entries and so. separate separate as hyper- hypo- hyp- in- il- im- ir- infra- inter- intra- intro- male- mal- meta- meth- met- mis- mono- mon- non- ob- o- oc- of- op- para- par- per- peri- exhaustive necessarily so so

not prefixes not is are list bases, words. Prefixes Prefixes list and their variations are will this “prefixes” cata- cath- cat- circum- com- co- col- con- cor- contra- contro- de- di- dia- dis- dif- di- dys- ec- en- em- epi- eph- ep- eu- ex- e- ef- extra- for- as compound compound and dictionary claimed claimed actually good are A - (OE) (OE) - - elements (Gk) instance, a- a- an- ab- abs- ad- a- ac- af- ag- al- an- ap- ar- as- at- al- amb- amphi- ana- an- ante anti ant- apo be- bene- bi- bin- by- Many For !

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 26

Kit 1 Kit 2 Kit 3 Kit 4 Kit 5 Kit 6

The < i / y > relationship The trigraph < igh > Revisiting basic Consonant letter doubling The variable sufﬁx The digraph < ui > A Part 1 2 : vowel letter + < igh > sufﬁxing patterns with polysyllables <-able / -ible >

Grapheme alternatives Signs of words Being more precise: The plural suffix <-(e)s > Words with Prefixes that have < ck > / < k > and from Greek: ‘free’ and ‘bound’ The basic pattern unexpected < h > variable forms B < tch > / < ch >? -1- base elements Constructing plurals Letters < o > and < u >: Consonant letter doubling The letter < n > and Fine tuning of When the base conventions that the suffixing Eponyms with monosyllables graphemes that contain it C or stem changes concern them conventions The functions Homophones 2 The several facets Constructing the plurals The suffixes Heteronyms and of final single Single-element of the digraph < ea > of words with final < o > <-or > <-er > homographs D non-syllabic < e > homophone pairs

The trigraph < igh > The trigraph < ugh > Etymological The base elements Using the apostrophe Plurals -4- Part 1 : consonant and other graphemes project: < sci > and < sign > 2: showing possession Final details E letter + < igh > for the phoneme / f / names of fabrics The phonology Two important families: the The < i / y > relationship The suffixes The suffixes American and of the graphemes ‘wh-words’ and <-ery > <-ary > British spelling Part 2 <-ion > <-ian > <-ity > F < c > < k > and < ck > < them / they / their > <-ory > differences Graphemes for / dΩ /, The orthographic Graphemes When to use the suffix <-t > More about The IPA symbol the suffix <-age >, phonology of ‘long A’ for the ‘long U’ instead of <-ed > compounds system G final < ge > or < dge > Letters < w > and < x > Signs of words Compounding The orthographic Twin Connecting their place in English from Greek: and its components phonology of base elements vowel letters H orthography / f / -2- Free base elements Learning from the spellings The orthographic Double < cc > is rare Portmanteau The grapheme with final < dissect > < disease > phonology of ‘long E’ in English spelling words < ugh > I < f > < l > < s > or < z > < disaster >

Choosing between The twin bases The lessons The suffixes The spelling Learning from final syllabic< le > < cede / cess > of the suffix <-ed > <-er > <-est > <-ist > of numbers < privilege > J and <-al > < sede / sess > Homophones 3 Learning from Learning from the Graphemes for Homophones -4- Homophones that Words from Arabic the spelling of < love > spelling of < was > the phoneme / ʃ / and holorimes K may be complex

The phonology Naming the days Using the apostrophe The sufﬁxes Etymology: words Voiced consonants L of ‘long I’ and ‘long O’ of the week 1: Showing Omission <-y > <-ie > <-ee > to do with stars The shewa These Themes are being re-written These Tool Kits are in TBox2 multimedia format for the Tool Box 2 multimedia format

www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 27

Links & Resources Teacher Blogs with Videos, Investigations etc: Wordworks: www.wordworkskingston.com • Dan Allen’s Grade 5 Blog Free resources, images, video clips and descriptions of this instruction in • Ann Whiting’s Grade 7 Blog action around the world. • Skot Caldwell’s Grade 4/5 Blog • YouTube videos of structured word inquiry in practice. • Mary Beth Steven’s Grade 5 Blog • WordWorks Newsletter: Email us at [email protected] • Lyn Anderson’s blog for SWI in the early grades to receive our free Newsletter with updates, Word Detective Episodes and frequent extra resources. See a recent example here. • Jen Munnerlyn’s LIteracybytes Blog (See Jen teach from the Real Spelling Theme “Learning From Love” in K-5 classes at this link.) • Teaching How the Written Word Works (Bowers, 2009). This book builds on the 20 session intervention study I conducted (Bowers & Kirby, 2010) in Grade 4 and 5 classes. The lessons with the and matrices are the first lessons in that book. Email Pete to order a copy. References Bowers, P. (2009). Teaching how the written word works. (Available from Real Spelling www.realspelling.com www.wordworkskingston.com) This is not a spelling program or teaching approach. It a reference that Bowers, P.N., & Cooke, G. (2012, Fall). Morphology and the common core building explains how English spelling works. Find many free resources and also students’ understanding of the Written Word. Perspectives on Language and Liter- excellent resources for sale. acy. 31-35. LEX: Linguist-Educator-Exchange (Get LEX grapheme cards here) Bowers, P.N., & Kirby, J. R. (2010). Effects of morphological instruction on vocabulary This excellent blog by Gina Cooke for educators who trying to make acquisition. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23, 515–537. sense of the linguistic structure of words. Bowers, P.N., Kirby, J.R., & Deacon, S.H. (2010). The effects of morphological instruction on literacy skills: A systematic review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 80, 144–179. Carlisle, J.F., (2010). Effects of Instruction in Morphological Awareness on Literacy On-line Structured Word Inquiry Tools: Achievement: An Integrative Review. Reading Research Quarterly, 45, 464–487. The Word Searcher: Chomsky, C. (1970). Reading, writing, and phonology. Harvard Educational Review, 40, 287–309. A key free tool for collecting words according to surface patterns so that word scientists can investigate the substructure of words. This is an in- Goodwin, A.P., & Ahn, S. (2010). A meta-analysis of morphological interventions: effects on literacy achievement of children with literacy difﬁculties. Annals of Dys- valuable tool for your spelling investigations. lexia, 60,183–208. Mini Matrix Maker Henry, M. K. (2010). Unlocking literacy: Effective decoding & spelling instruction. Bal- A basic tool for typing word sums and turning them into matrices. See a timore: Brookes. “how to video” at this link. Kirby, J.R., Bowers, P.N., & Deacon, S.H. (2009, August). Effects of instruction in mor- The Word Microscope: phology on reading. Paper presented at the biannual meeting of the european This software allows the user to construct matrices from word sums, Association for research in Learning and Instruction, Amsterdam, the netherlands. search for likely members of morphological families and much more. It Nunes, T., & Bryant, P. (2006). Improving literacy by teaching morphemes. New York: guides learners in their quest to make sense of English spelling. Routlege. See a short user’s manual and “how to video” here. Reed, D. K. (2008). A synthesis of morphology interventions and effects on reading outcomes for students in Grades K-12. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, Real Spellers: www.realspellers.org 23, 36-49. This website by Matt Berman (Grade 4 teacher at Nueva School in Hills- Treiman, R., Kessler, B. (2005). Writing systems and spelling development. In M.J. borough, California) is an excellent site for resources and spelling dis- Snowling & Hulme, C. (Ed.) The science of reading: A handbook. (pp. 120-134). cussions from teachers around the world. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.