Structured Word Inquiry: Developing Literacy and Critical Thinking by Scientific Inquiry About How Spelling Works 1

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Structured Word Inquiry: Developing Literacy and Critical Thinking by Scientific Inquiry About How Spelling Works 1 Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 1 Structured Word Inquiry The Joy of Understanding Spelling struct + ure/ + ed → structured in + struct + ion → instruction Peter Bowers, PhD Instruction which builds understanding of WordWorks Literacy Centre, word structure as a tool for investigating 2016 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 and some basic terms for Structured Word Inquiry A model of English orthography from www.realspelling.fr Guiding Principles of Structured Word Inquiry The primary function of English spelling is to repre- sent 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 instruc- tion and understanding. Go to the Real Spelling Gallery and explore the “Morphology Al- Scientific inquiry is the only means by which a learn- ing community can safely accept or reject hypotheses bum” to learn more about these terms. The film on “Connecting about how spelling works. Vowel Letters” is a particularly rich way to make sense of this term that is absent most teacher resources. www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 3 “Handy” Guides for Instruction of the Written Word Harness the Kinesthetic Memory For just one example, read the section under the title “Structured word inquiry from the start” on page 4 in this WW Newsletter to see a story of how the fist and two fingers association with bases and af- kinesthetic (adj.) fixes was so effective in the learning in a preschool classroom. also kinaesthetic, "pertaining to kinesthesia," 1880, coined by British neurologist Henry Charlton Bastian (1837-1915) from Greek kinein Understanding of the kinesthatic memory is also particularly impor- "to move" (see cite) + aisthesis "sensation" (see anaesthesia). The tant in the instruction of Real Script. coinage is perhaps on model of aesthetic, prosthetic. The entry of Etymonline above shows that <kinesthetic> is about sense and movement.. The motor memory is a particularly strong memory pathway that we should harness to help children build their understanding of core orthographic concepts. If we model consistent motor movements in conjunction with thee concepts, and encourage children to engage with them in the same way, these concepts be- come automated extremely early and quickly. This wording and image is from Lyn Anderson and her excellent “Beyond the Word” blog. www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 4 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 - "<k> rect the attention of learners to this concrete representa- says /k/ and <w> 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? <K> 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 & <knight> 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 <know> inspired by Robb’s story. www.WordWorksKingston.com Structured Word Inquiry: Developing literacy and critical thinking by scientific inquiry about how spelling works 5 Alternate investigations of the same word family. Investigate the structure of <knowledge>! Grade 4s investigate the structure of <knowledge>! 1. Analyze these words with word sums according to the hypothesis that Circle the base <know> Write out the word sum for each word. Spell it out-loud they share the base <know>. (Can you prove all the affixes?) as you write it! Remember to announce the <kn> and 2. Represent analyzed words in the Matrix. <ow> 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 6 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 mor- phology, 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 begin- ning 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
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