Morph Mastery: A Morphological Intervention for Reading, Spelling and Vocabulary

Morph Mastery is an accessible, practical guide designed to support learners with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) who are struggling with spelling, reading and vocabulary. It is an effective, research-based and fun solution for when phonics-based teaching has run its course.

Understanding the morphological regularities in English helps to support both spelling and reading comprehension, yet there are few practical interventions that take a morphological approach. Morph Mastery combines this exciting new approach with tried-and-tested teaching methods that work. The activities in this book follow three engaging ninja-like characters, Prefa, Root and Sufa, who represent the three core components of morphology (prefixes, root words and suffixes) and use their sceptres to craft words.

Key features include:

• Exciting and engaging activities and games, designed to be used by individuals or small groups
• Detailed, curriculum-linked assessments, enabling specific target setting
• A morphological awareness assessment designed to support target setting and planning, as well as reading and spelling of morphemes
• Extensive word lists for planning
• Extensive word lists with meanings for Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes
• Fun, engaging and multi-sensory ideas for teaching morphology in class
• Photocopiable and downloadable activity sheets and resources

Written in a user-friendly tone, for teaching assistants, teachers and other professionals with little or no specialist knowledge, this book is a must for any school with struggling readers and writers aged 9–13.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Author’s Note

How to Use this Book

Case Studies: Morph Mastery The Pilot

1. Morphology and the Mastery of Language. An Introduction
2. Spelling: Friend or Foe?
3. Key Skills in Becoming a Morph Master
4. Golden Rules for Becoming a Morph Master Teacher
5. Laying the Foundations: What you Need to Know
6. Assess – Plan – Do – Review: An Overview of Morph Mastery the Intervention
7. Measuring, Planning and Monitoring through Assessment
8. Using the Assessments to Plan
9. The Lessons in Detail
10. Games and Resources
11. Using Morph Mastery in Class
12. What next?

Appendices

1. Morphological Awareness Assessment
2. Knowledge of Morphemes Assessment Adult Record Sheet
3. Knowledge of Morphemes Assessment Pupil Word Lists
4. Assessment Summary Sheet
5. Morph Mastery 6 week Plan
6. Suggested Teaching Sequence of Affixes with Roots
7. Word Lists for Planning
8. Lesson Plan Masters with Guidance
9. Lesson Plan Masters
10. Meet the Masters
11. Morph Mastercard
12. Word Mastery Questions
13. Examples of Phonologically Opaque Morphemes
14. Morpheme Cards
15. Greek and Latin Meanings and Derivations Chart
16. Impact Data from the Pilot
17. Morpheme Cards with Greek and Latin
18. Useful Resources
19. Reference and Bibliography
20. Glossary

"Morph Mastery uses recent research on the development of morphological knowledge to support structured and cumulative learning. The games are fun and adaptable, the learners are encouraged to develop independence through their ‘word espionage’ and the materials are engaging for all ages."
- Julia Carroll, Professor, Coventry University

"What a fantastic resource! The characters that run through the book really facilitate the use of morphology to unlock spelling and reading for learners with SpLD. This book will appeal to primary school aged learners but also to secondary school learners, a group of learners who often get forgotten. The research based assess/plan/do/review format for the intervention will support pupils to achieve their specific targets, build their lexicon, extend their grammatical knowledge, improve their reading skills through recognition of common morphemes, and progress their spelling skills through encoding root words, prefixes, and suffixes. The addition of game-based resources should allow for the reinforcement, repetition and overlearning that so many SpLD learners need to help cement new learning."
- Claire Harvey, Head of Education, Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity