Baker, Haney, Harris, Solomon LITR 3130-C 1
Morphemic Analysis Handout
A. Name of Area:
vocabulary
B. Name of Strategy and Purpose:
morphemic analysis
The purpose of this strategy is to show how a combination of morphemes can change the
meaning of words.
C. GPS for the content area (Social Studies):
SS3H2-The student will discuss the lives of Americans who expanded people’s rights and
freedoms in a democracy.
a. Paul Revere
D. Learning Outcome (LO) related to the GPS content (Social Studies):
The students will discuss the role Paul Revere played in expanding people’s rights and freedoms
in the United States of America.
E. Essential Question (EQ) related to the GPS content (Social Studies):
How was Paul Revere influential in the independence of Americans?
F. GPS for ELA—strategy specific:
ELA3R2: The student acquires and uses grade-level words to communicate effectively. The
student
e. Identifies and infers meaning from common root words, common prefixes (e.g., un-, re-, dis-,
in-), and common suffixes (e.g., -tion, -ous, -ly).
G. Learning Outcome (LO) related to the ELA GPS:
Students will identify, and morphemically analyze words from a passage.
H. Essential Question (EQ) related to the ELA GPS:
Baker, Haney, Harris, Solomon LITR 3130-C 2
How can knowing prefixes, suffixes, and root words help us to understand the meaning of
unknown words?
I.
Implementation procedures:
Teaching:
Morphemic analysis is a word attack skill that helps determine the meaning of a word by
examining its prefix, root, and/or suffix. It is similar to syllabic analysis. However, in morphemic
analysis, morphemes are chunked. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning (Pearson 521)
Take the word “unpredictable” for example. The word has five syllables but it only has three
morphemes: un-predict-able. To better help you understand the strategy, we’ve created a
graphic organizer of words relating to Paul Revere that can be morphemically analyzed.
The teacher will use the SMARTBoard to display the completed graphic organizer. The teacher
will go over the graphic organizer pointing to and explaining each section and its contents.
The first vertical section lists the words with multiple morphemes. The proceeding sections all
correspond with the words in the first column. The second section lists prefixes and their
meanings. The third column lists the roots and their meanings. The final column lists suffixes and
their meanings.
The teacher will remind students that some words do not contain a prefixes, and others do not
contain a suffix. Sometimes words have neither prefixes nor suffixes.
The teacher will explain that the boxes for the words fitting the latter descriptions are blank on
the graphic organizer. The students will then be asked if they have any questions. If questions
arise, then the teacher will respond accordingly. However, if there are none, the teacher will
proceed with guided practice.
Guided Practice:
Once the students have seen and understood the facets of the model, they will construct one
together as a class. Students will be given a handout of a passage about Paul Revere and a list of
common affixes and their meanings. The instructor will explain to the students that as they
read, they should identify words that can be morphemically analyzed. Remind the students that
these words have a combination of prefixes, root words, and suffixes. The students will be
informed that they should use the list of affixes and their meanings to help them complete the
graphic organizer. Students should then take turns raising their hands to share words that they
have found in the passage.
•
Display a blank graphic organizer on the board.
•
Ask students to raise their hands to share words that they have found.
Baker, Haney, Harris, Solomon LITR 3130-C 3
•
J.
Fill in the graphic organizer as the students answer.
Blank copy
Name:
Date:
prefixes, root words, & suffixes
word
prefix & meaning
root & meaning
suffix & meaning
prefix-A prefix is added to the beginning of a base or root word to change its meaning.
root word- The root word is the part of a word that remains when all affixes are removed.
suffix-A suffix is added to the end of a base word to change its meaning or part of speech.
Baker, Haney, Harris, Solomon LITR 3130-C 4
Harris, E. (2012). Morphemic Analysis. Unpublished graphic organizer, Valdosta State
University, Valdosta, GA.
K. Reference Page
Harris, E. (2012). Morphemic Analysis. Unpublished graphic organizer, Valdosta State
University, Valdosta, GA.
Honig, Bill, Linda Diamond, and Linda Gutlohn. Scholastic, 2000. Web. 5 Mar. 2012.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/bestpractices/vocabulary/pdf/prefixes_suffixes.pdf
This site provided a graphic organizer that included a list of prefixes and suffixes. It charted all
of the affixes with their meanings and their keywords. It was an excerpt from a teacher resource
book designed for teachers teaching Kindergarten through eighth grade.
Paul Revere Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/about/ modified by N. Solomon.
This site provides information on the life of Paul Revere. This information included things such
as his early life, his career, his involvement in expanding freedom, and his later life. It also gives
a virtual tour of his “Midnight Ride” and the Paul Revere House.
Pearson Custom Education: Developing literacy: LITR 3130. New York: Pearson Learning
Solutions, p. 521-525
The book provides information about different strategies for vocabulary. It contained a section
on morphemic analysis. It defined morphemic analysis a word attack method in relation to other
vocabulary strategies. The book also provided visual examples of charts of how to break up the
morphemes of words.
L. Research Article
Baumann, Boland, Edwards, Kmae’enui, & Olejnik, (2003). Vocabulary tricks: Effects of
instruction in morphology and context on fifth-grade students’ability to derive and infer
word meanings. American Educational Research Journal, 40(2), 447-494. Retrieved
from http://aer.sagepub.com/content/40/2/447.full/pdfhtml
This article is about an experiment researchers conducted to test different types of vocabulary
instruction. They wanted to see effects of morphemic and contextual analysis instruction compared to
those of textbook vocabulary instruction. This article tested fifth grade students. However, the earlier
students are exposed to morphemic analysis strategies, the better they will be a decoding word
Baker, Haney, Harris, Solomon LITR 3130-C 5
meaning and taking tests. This article could be beneficial to a third grade teacher. It concludes that
morphemic analysis instruction is effective way to learn vocabulary.
a. The subjects of the research were 157 students in eight different classrooms. They were all fifth
graders. Half students received morphemic and contextual analysis instruction, while the half
received textbook vocabulary instruction.
b. The purpose of the study was to test which instruction method was better for tests the students
would take.
c. The article reported that the students excelled on tests that they catered to their vocabulary
instruction method. Students who were taught using the morphological and contextual analysis
method were more successful and decoding words.
Guided Practice Passage
Revere and Dawes decided to continue on to Concord,
Massachusetts, where weapons and supplies were secretly
hidden. There, they were joined by a third rider, Dr. Samuel
Prescott. Soon after, all three were unjustly arrested by a British
patrol. Prescott escaped almost immediately, and Dawes soon
after. Revere was held a longer amount of time but later
released. Left without a horse, but capable of walking, Revere
returned to Lexington in time to witness part of the battle on the
Lexington Green.