Pennington Publishing Blog

Interactive Morphology Walls

Teachers love my free morphology walls! These interactive (drag and drop) Google slides feature 77 high frequency/utility Greek and Latin prefixes, bases, and suffixes from my Greek and Latin Morphology and Comprehensive Vocabulary programs. Following is the link to 18 slides–fully editable if you wish to add your own. Of course you can download these to PowerPoint®. Want to see it in action? Check out this half-minute video.

Now, if you want the definitions and practice with these morphemes before reviewing and extending learning with these walls, get an entire year-long program of 56 lessons in Greek and Latin Morphology in either of the aforementioned programs.

The 77 morphemes have been cleverly combined into 14 key anchor words to help students place these word parts into their long term memories. For example, the anchor word inter-medi-ary helps students remember their morphemic definitions (between-middle-relating to) so much better than memorizing the morphemes in isolation.

No prep. Simply teach and practice the 3 morphemes a week, and share the Greek and Latin Morphology Wall slides (or print them if you like) as weekly review/extension. You’ll be amazed at the morphological connections that your students make as they drag and drop not only the 3 new morphemes learned during the week, but also how they drag and drop to previously learned prefixes, bases, and suffixes to create new words. Great distributed practice! Enjoy the lessons, and consider purchasing the instructional programs that will help you teach and practice the 3 morphemes per week, quickly and concisely. You do have other things to teach!
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Covers All Grade-Level Standards

For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Greek and Latin Morphology

To teach 77 high frequency morphemes with quick interactive practice, check out Greek and Latin Morphology. Each scripted lesson focuses on one prefix, base, or suffix with variant spellings. The lessons are grouped in sets of three morphemes as Anchor Words to help students map the meanings, spelling) and pronunciation into their long-term memories. Following each set of three lessons, students review the word parts and Anchor Words by practicing on interactive Greek and Latin Morphology Walls. 

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Grammar/Mechanics Greek and Latin, Greek and Latin Morphology, morphology, morphology walls

My purpose in this article is convince educators to teach morphemes, not just academic words as part of a balanced vocabulary program and to provide the FREE tools to teach them. Good vocabulary instruction includes structural analysis (how words are put together), not just a list of tough academic words or difficult words which your students will be reading in a story or in an article. And good vocabulary instruction does not include a weekly list of Greek and Latin-based SAT or ACT vocabulary words with the quiz on Friday.

To support my case, that teachers should “Teach Morphemes, Not Just Whole Words,” let’s get on the same page regarding what function these Greek and Latin word parts serve as English vocabulary-builders.

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a morpheme is the smallest unit of language that has its own meaning, either a word or a part of a word: “Worker” contains two morphemes: “work” and “-er”. Notice that the word part must be meaning-based to be a morpheme; not an inflection. An inflection is a change in the form of a word (usually the ending) which indicates a grammatical function or attribute such as person, number, case, gender, mood, or verb tense.

Of course, Greek and Latin are not the only foreign-based morphemes in English. We have plenty of other languages which provide their own morphological contributions. I do suggest including a brief lesson on English Language History to teach your students why we have so many words which have inconsistent spellings and pronunciations. However, it’s the Greek and Latin derivations which constitute the vast majority of words which you students are challenged by in difficult text. You may wish to prove this to your students by using the clear examples from this article: Greek and Latin “Dead” Languages.

Check out the Latin (in red) in this first sentence from the Federalist Papers #1 by Alexander Hamilton:

After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting Federal Government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America.

“Government” was a Greek derivation through the French, by the way. Not to be outdone, let’s check out the Greek (in red) in this sentence about Hamilton’s arch rival, Thomas Jefferson:

Thomas Jefferson’s views on democracy were greeted with widespread cynicism, sarcasm, and even panic by European rulers.

Now, most teachers would agree that these are important Tier 2 (Beck in the Common Core Appendix A) academic words to master. I agree, but not by creating a list, having students look them up in the dictionary, and quizzing on Friday. Instead, teach the morphemes!

Let’s use the first word, unequivocal, to prove my point.

Let’s say you passed out the word list of the above red words on Monday and had students look each up in the dictionary. Students look up unequivocal. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English (3^rd Edition), they would find this definition:

“Unequivocal means “leaving no doubt; unambiguous.”

This definition does provide some clues to meaning; however, for most of your students, it doesn’t provide a complete understanding of the word. As is often the case, dictionary authors use difficult vocabulary in their definitions. For many of us, the word unambiguous in this definition is just as tough to understand as Hamilton’s word, unequivocal. Additionally, dictionaries provide multiple definitions for many words, so we’re often stuck with the old conundrum: You have to know the definition to learn the definition. Lastly, dictionaries only provide the denotative meanings of the words, not the connotative meanings. In other words, authors frequently select words which mean one thing, but may suggest something else. Does Hamilton’s word choice suggest the same meanings as modern dictionaries? We simply don’t know for sure.

My point is that learning the dictionary definitions of Greek and Latin-based English words is of some value, but this approach doesn’t completely solve the problem of finding out what a word means in the context in which the author uses it. Plus, memorizing the definitions of the key Greek and Latin words would take an inordinate amount of time.

A much better way to learn challenging English vocabulary is to memorize, practice, and apply the Greek and Latin word parts.

Let me show you how efficient and effective these short-cuts to meaning can be with Hamilton’s  word, unequivocal. Unequivocal has four Latin word parts:

You already know the first word part, un, which means not; equi means equal; voc means call; and al means relating to

Simply rearrange these definitions to make more sense in English.

Unequivocal means “relating to not calling equal.”

Compare the word parts definition: “relating to not calling equal” to the dictionary definition: “Unequivocal means “leaving no doubt; unambiguous.” Both are helpful, but looking up the word unequivocal in the dictionary helped your students learn one word and you probably had to translate that dictionary definition for them. Plus, think of all the wasted class time, looking up all those academic words!

Learning the four word parts in unequivocal not only helps your students learn the one word; think about how many other words include the word parts used in unequivocal. I did the research for you, because I’m sure you’re just dying to know. The un prefix is part of a whopping 3,876 words; equi is used in 196 words, including such useful words as equilibrium, equivalent, and equitable; voc is found in 167 words, such as these word gems: vocalize, evocative, and invocation; and the al suffix is in 3,544. Amazing! Learning the four Latin word parts in unequivocal is powerful. If you knew these word part definitions, you would have short-cut clues to the meaning of many more challenging words‒a total of 7,783 to be exact (morewords.com)!

Of course, beyond our single word example, unequivocal, the reading research overwhelmingly confirms the value of learning Greek and Latin word parts, not just whole words.

In a key vocabulary study, Nagy and Scott found that [Display] “Knowing Greek and Latin word parts helps students recognize and gain clues to understanding of other words that use known affixes and roots” (Nagy & Scott, 2000).

Comprehensive Vocabulary

Now, I don’t want to leave you the false impression that learning a bunch of new Greek and Latin word parts will solve all your students’ vocabulary challenges. And, just as with the whole-word definitions of important Greek and Latin words, it would be impractical to memorize all Greek and Latin word parts. But, some Greek and Latin word parts are used much more often than others. In fact, the 20 highest frequency Greek and Latin prefixes make up 97% of all Greek and Latin prefixes. With suffixes, the top four constitute 97%, as well.

Plus, although we got good clues regarding the meaning of unequivocal, it was not a perfect definition. This will be the case for many Greek and Latin-based English words. However, for other words, their Greek and Latin word parts will form perfect definitions, such as with distract. Dis means away from and tract means draw. To draw away from is a perfect definition for distract. The point I’m making about memorizing Greek and Latin word parts is that knowing some clues to the meaning of a challenging word are much better than having no clues, but when the Greek and Latin word parts form a perfect word definition, that’s a bonus!

*****

For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

Literacy Centers, Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary, Study Skills 25 Greek and Latin Power Words, Common Core Vocabulary, Common Core Vocabulary Toolkit, Dead languages, DUAL Word Parts Worksheet, Greek and Latin, Greek and Latin Morphology, Greek and Latin prefixes, Greek and Latin roots, Greek and Latin suffixes, Greek and Latin vocabulary, Greek and Latin word lists, high frequency word parts, Mark Pennington, memorize vocabulary, morphemes, morphological, morphological awareness, morphology, research-based vocabulary word lists, structural analysis

Greek and Latin “Dead” Languages

Now, some of you might remember hearing that classical Greek and Latin are dead languages. Of corpse they aren’t! Sorry, I should have warned you in advance about my quirky sense of humor. Although it’s true that no one, other than scholars, speaks and writes in classical Greek or Latin today, both of the languages remain very much alive in their impact upon our culture and language.

In fact, these Greek and Latin zombies constitute more and more of our English language as new words in technology and the sciences are most often derivatives of these languages.

Let’s get started by proving to you that it’s the very-much-alive Greek and Latin that keeps you from understanding all the reading content in challenging texts.

You’re at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning with your phone and a cup of coffee. You’re in the middle of an interesting article, and the author quotes something from Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Papers Number 1. The quotation reminds you that you placed the Federalist Papers on your reading bucket list after seeing the musical, Hamilton, last summer.

With caffeine-inspired motivation, you walk into the den to see if the Federalist Papers are in that set of beautifully bound Harvard Classics, collecting dust on your bookshelf. Eureka!

You pull out the book and open to this collection of 85 articles and essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. You take a deep breath and read Hamilton’s first sentence:

After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting Federal Government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America (Hamilton, Federalist Number 1).

Now, most of us would stop right there after the first sentence and carefully place the Harvard Classic back on the bookshelf where it belongs. Why so? It’s not the order of the words that’s confusing; it’s not the phonics and sight words (you could, no doubt, pronounce all the words); it’s not a lack of knowledge about the historical context; it’s not that the words are archaic; and, most importantly, it’s not what the author means that’s hard to grasp. It’s the Greek and Latin that interferes with our understanding. In this sense, Greek and Latin are very much alive!

Read that sentence one more time, and pick out the words that are most challenging for you:

After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting Federal Government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America (Hamilton, Federalist Number 1).

Hamilton was a self-educated man and he loved his Latin! Eight of the words in this single sentence are Latin derivations. I’ve highlighted them in red. And one, Government, derives from classical Greek through the French language.

Comprehensive Vocabulary

After an unequivocal experience of the inefficacy of the subsisting Federal Government, you are called upon to deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America (Hamilton, Federalist Number 1).

Let’s take a look at one more challenging sentence. This one is loaded with classical Greek. See if you can pick out the Greek words as you read. Hint: Pick out the tough words. Again, it’s the Greek and Latin derivations that make up most of the challenging English words.

Thomas Jefferson’s views on democracy were greeted with widespread cynicism, sarcasm, and even panic by European rulers.

Jefferson was fluent in both Classical (scholarly) and Koine (the common tongue) Greek! He even published his own translation of the New Testament (which was largely written in Koine Greek). Five of the words in this single sentence are Latin derivations. I’ve highlighted them in red.

Thomas Jefferson’s views on democracy were greeted with widespread cynicism, sarcasm, and even panic by European rulers.

So now that I’ve proved that Greek and Latin aren’t the “dead” languages they seem to be, what’s the best way to learn the Greek and Latin we need to read challenging English text?

Not by teaching lists of Greek and Latin SAT or ACT words; instead, Teach Morphemes, Not Academic Words, using my 25 Greek and Latin Power Words, and my DUAL Word Parts Worksheet to learn How to Memorize Greek and Latin Word Parts.

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For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

Literacy Centers, Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary, Study Skills 25 Greek and Latin Power Words, Common Core Vocabulary, Common Core Vocabulary Toolkit, Dead languages, DUAL Word Parts Worksheet, Greek and Latin, Greek and Latin Morphology, Greek and Latin prefixes, Greek and Latin roots, Greek and Latin suffixes, Greek and Latin vocabulary, Greek and Latin word lists, high frequency word parts, Mark Pennington, memorize vocabulary, morphological awareness, morphology, morphology walls, research-based vocabulary word lists

How to Memorize Greek and Latin Word Parts

In my related article, “Teach Morphemes, Not Academic Words,” I demonstrated why learning Greek and Latin morphemes (meaning-based word parts) is far more effective and efficient than learning whole words. However, the best way to learn the 60 highest frequency prefixes, roots, and suffixes is in the context of my 25 Greek and Latin Power Words. These 25 Power Words combine the 60 word parts into memorable associations.

To imprint these 60 word parts into our long-term memories, we need to take advantage of the way our brains are hard-wired. Our brains connect new input to previously learned input through a memory process we know as association.

You see, linking one thing to another can provide a memorable association. Once the association has been well-established, knowing one thing prompts the memory of the other.

That’s how we will learn the 60 Greek and Latin word parts‒through association. Each of the 25 Greek and Latin Power Words links two or three word parts to form a memorable association.

Let’s apply a few suggestions from memory research to help us create these associations.

4 Tips from Memory Research

1. Learn it right the first time. The better a word part is originally learned and the better the two or three word parts are associated within the word, the more you will store in your long-term memory.
2. People start forgetting immediately after learning, so make a conscious effort to rehearse the word parts and their definitions immediately after memorization. Information practiced immediately is retained. After the first few hours, the forgetting cycle kicks in.
3. People remember smaller chunks of information that are rehearsed frequently. Short study periods with small amounts of learning each day produces better retention than cramming.
4. People remember information best when that information is organized in a structured manner.

To memorize the 25 Greek and Latin Power Words in a structured manner, I’ve created a helpful FREE resource, titled the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet (at the end of this article), for you to download and print.

The DUAL Word Parts Worksheet

DUAL Word Parts Worksheet

The DUAL Word Parts Worksheet provides a structured approach to learning new vocabulary. Instead of rote memorization, which stores information only in the short-term memory, the worksheet will guide you with in-depth memorization, practice, and application to help you store this new vocabulary in your long-term memory. The DUAL Word Parts Worksheet serves a dual purpose: 1. To learn the 60 high frequency Greek and Latin word parts and 2. To associate these definitions with the 25 Greek and Latin Power Words in which they appear.

DUAL is an acronym, which stands for Define, Use, Apply, and Look.

I’ll teach you how to use the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet as we learn the first of our 25 Greek and Latin Power Words, unsubscribe. If you want the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet, it’s yours for FREE at the end of the article.

Our first step on the worksheet is the D, as in define. We need to define the word parts by memorizing each of their meanings.

Note that on your worksheet, the first column lists the Greek and Latin Power Word, unsubscribe; the second column lists the word parts, un, sub, and scrib(e); and the third column provides the word part definitions as not, under, and write.

By the way, both un and sub are prefixes and scrib(e) is a root. However, for our purposes we don’t need to identify which word parts are prefixes, roots, and suffixes, nor do we need to identify their parts of speech, nor do we need to know from which language each word part derives. Now, at this moment, classical scholars are all shaking their collective heads in dismay. But, as Winnie the Pooh might have said, “So much to remember rather muddles my thinking.”

Please note that the (e) at the end of scrib(e). The parentheses indicate a letter added to the word part to help with English pronunciation. In this case, the silent final e makes the preceding vowel a long /i/ sound. Sometimes a letter is dropped from a Greek and Latin word part to connect to another word part. Also, notice that there is no suffix in unsubscribe.

Take a moment to study the content in the first three columns: unsubscribe… un, sub, scribe… not, under, and write.

Now, let’s use the power of association to link the word parts together.

• Linking un and sub into “unsub” means not under in unsubscribe.”
• Linking sub and scribe into “subscribe means under write in unsubscribe.”
• Linking these paired word parts joins un, sub, and scribe into “unsubscribe,” which means not under write in unsubscribe.”

Now, that’s a memorable chain of word part associations! As our memory tip suggested, “We’ve learned it right the first time.”

Our second step on the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet is the U, as in use. We need to use the word parts and their definitions in memorable contexts.

Use each memorized word part in a simple, memorable, and concrete anchor word, and write this word in the fourth column of your worksheet. A good anchor word for the un word part is untie. It’s simple, memorable, and concrete, not abstract. For un, write the anchor word, untie, in the space provided.

Next, use that anchor word in a brief context clue sentence with surrounding word clues which show the meaning of that anchor word. Use my SALE Context Clues acronym (S for synonym, A for antonym, L for logic, or E for example) to prompt your use of surrounding word clues.

Write the following context clue sentence for the first anchor word, untie, in the fifth column: “I had to untie my shoelaces to slip off my shoes.”

Now provide your own anchor words and context clue sentences for sub and scribe in the fourth and fifth columns.

Comprehensive Vocabulary

Our third step on the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet is the A, as in associate. We need to associate our anchor words to Related Words we already know, which feature our focus word parts.

For my untie anchor word, I might write these Related Words: unworthy and unmarried in the sixth column.

Now write a few Related Words you already known for your sub and scribe anchor words in that sixth column.

Our fourth and last step on the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet is the L, as in look. We need to look for the newly learned word parts in everything we hear and in everything we read. Also, look for ways to use these word parts in your speech and writing. Remember our memory tip: “People remember smaller chunks of information that are rehearsed frequently.”

Dr. Kevin Flanigan, contributing author to Vocabulary Their Way calls this look step, “Turning on your morphological radar.” Dr. Flanigan suggests that the more we look at challenging words, by their structural components, rather than as whole words, the more attuned we will become to identifying the morphemes, which are the meaning-based word parts we are learning.

So, turn on your “morphological radar” and start looking for the word parts: un, sub, and scribe in everything you listen to and read.

Whew! It’s time to pat yourself on the back. You’ve just placed the three word parts: un, sub, and scribe into your long-term memory. You won’t forget these short-cuts which unlock the meanings of challenging words. And what’s more… these three word parts are found in 5,083 words. That’s 5,083 words. Awesome!

Plus, you’ve learned how to use the four steps of the the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet to memorize, practice, and apply the rest of the 25 Greek and Latin Power Words. I suggest you tackle one per day. Teachers may wish to tackle one or two per week with their students. Remember our memory tip: “Short study periods with small amounts of learning each day produces better retention than cramming.” And keep rehearsing the old word parts as you learn the new ones.

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For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

Get the DUAL Word Parts Worksheet FREE Resource:

Literacy Centers, Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary, Study Skills 25 Greek and Latin Power Words, Common Core Vocabulary, Common Core Vocabulary Toolkit, DUAL Word Parts Worksheet, Greek and Latin, Greek and Latin Morphology, Greek and Latin prefixes, Greek and Latin roots, Greek and Latin suffixes, Greek and Latin vocabulary, Greek and Latin word lists, high frequency word parts, Mark Pennington, memorize vocabulary, morphological, morphological awareness, morphology walls, research-based vocabulary word lists

Comprehensive Vocabulary

Teachers know that teaching the most common Greek and Latin prefixes, bases, and suffixes makes sense to help students build academic language, but how to memorize Greek and Latin Word Parts? After all, about 50% of the words in any unabridged dictionary include at least one Greek or Latin affix or root. Tier 2 words have even more!

The question is how can students most efficiently learn these word parts? Rote memorization has a role; however, tapping into the students’ transferable, long-term memories is more effective.

One way to connect to the long-term memory is through association. Associating multiple word parts helps students remember each word part better than through individual memorization. For example, auto means “self,” bio means “life,” graph means “write” and y means “the process or result of.” Learning the whole word, autobiography, is a great way to memorize by association.

Years ago I created a list of 15 Power Words with these types of associations for the most common Greek and Latin affixes and bases. The word parts associated in this list comprise word parts found in over 15,000 words. Well worth teaching your students, I would say.

Get the 15 Power Words FREE Resource:

Here’s a great game that will help students practice their own Greek and Latin word part associations.

Have students create and spread out vocabulary word part cards into prefix, root, and suffix groups on their desks. Business card size works best. The object of the Put-Togethers game is to put together these word parts into real words within a given time period. Students can use connecting vowels. Students are awarded points as follows:

• 1 point for each prefix—base combination
• 1 point for each base—suffix combination
• 2 points for a prefix—base combination that no one else in the group has
• 2 points for a base—suffix combination that no one else in the group has
• 3 points for each prefix—base—suffix combination
• 5 points for a prefix—base—suffix combination that no one else has.

Another great game this time of year is Word Part Monsters. Teach numerical prefixes, some body part bases, and some descriptive suffixes and students use these to name and draw their own monsters. A pyrcapunipod comes to mind… translation? a fire-headed, one-footed monster! Students guess the translations of their classmates’ monsters.

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For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

Spelling/Vocabulary English vocabulary, Greek and Latin Morphology, Greek and Latin word parts, Greek roots, high frequency greek and latin, Latin roots, Mark Pennington, morphological awareness, morphology walls, most common greek and latin, prefixes, roots, roots and affixes, suffixes, vocabulary games, vocabulary worksheets

Comprehensive Vocabulary

How to Teach Vocabulary asks and provides possible answers to the Why Should We Teach Explicit Vocabulary? Won’t Students Learn More from Independent Reading? Which Vocabulary Words Should We Teach? To Whom Should We Teach Academic Vocabulary? How Much Class Time does it take to teach the Common Core Vocabulary Standards? Disclaimer: The author has published several vocabulary resources.

Why Should We Teach Explicit Vocabulary? Isn’t Isolated Vocabulary Instruction a Big “No No?” Won’t Students Learn More from Independent Reading?

Besides the fact that the Common Core authors specifically include Standards which required direct instruction, it just makes sense that some direct instruction will be necessary. We’re not suggesting long lists of isolated words, though some memorization is important.

Independent reading certainly produces the bulk of our Tier I and some Tier II words, but some of the latter require in-depth understanding. See the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessments free download at the end of this article to pinpoint which academic words (Tier II) your students know and do not yet know.

Which Vocabulary Words Should We Teach?

In Appendix A the authors discuss academic language and suggest that students get the most “bang for the buck” out of teaching Tier 2 words. An amazing list developed by academic word frequency can help teachers prioritize non-domain specific words that are truly cross-curricular.

Greek and Latin morphology: connecting the phonology, orthography, and semantics of prefixes, bases, and suffixes is critically important These Greek and Latinates make up at least one syllable of 50% of dictionary words and up to 70% of Tier II academic words. But which should students know and at what grade level. Check out these frequency studies of the most often used word parts and the grades 4-8 instructional scope and sequence for vocabulary instruction. Knowing how to teach these word parts so that students will be able to learn related words is critically important.

To Whom Should We Teach Academic Vocabulary?

The short answer is every student. Teaching only survival vocabulary to English language learners, special education students, and remedial reading students is handicapping the very students who need to power of words most. We have to avoid the “soft bigotry of low expectations” (Michael Gerson).

How Much Class Time does it take to teach the Vocabulary Standards?

Most English-language specialists suggest that short, interactive vocabulary lessons make sense. Adding just 20 minutes per week practice, say 10 minutes twice per week, can make an enormous difference. Check out this sensible weekly instructional plan.

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For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

Grammar/Mechanics, Writing Academic Vocabulary, Common Core Vocabulary, Greek and Latin, Greek and Latin Morphology, homonyms, Mark Pennington, morphology, SAT vocabulary, Teaching the Language Strand, Tier 3 vocabulary, vocabulary word lists, writing mechanics

Comprehensive Vocabulary

Teaching Academic Language Words is essential to improving reading comprehension and writing sophistication.

The principal authors of the Common Core State Standards have rightly criticized the dumbing-down of reading text in Appendix A of the Common Core document. Citing the research detailed in the 2006 ACT, Inc., report titled Reading Between the Lines that high school student scores in reading comprehension have dropped over recent years, the authors pinpoint two primary reasons for this trend. First, the level of K-12 text complexity has decreased. Second, too many teachers are reading novels out loud and explicating line by line such that their students have little practice in independently accessing meaning from text.

Of course, pinpointing text complexity as a problem begs the question of just what constitutes complex text. To their credit, the authors do a nice job evaluating reading level formulas and analyzing the semantic and syntactic features that contribute to reading levels. Although they spend some time discussing the impact of syllable number and word length, the authors fail to adequately bullet-point the chief variable in text complexity: the words themselves. To be fair, the authors certainly do emphasize the importance of vocabulary throughout the rest of the Common Core document.

So, which words make reading text complex? And, if we know what they are, how can we teach them most effectively? I try to answer the latter question in a complementary article, How to Teach the Common Core Vocabulary Standards, but following is part of my answer to the first question.

To teach the types of words that are included in complex reading text, the Common Core document lists its primary Vocabulary Standards in the English Language Arts Language Strand. The Standards focus on these kinds of words: multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), words with Greek and Latin roots and affixes (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0).

So as not to chew on too much for one article, let’s focus on the academic language words (L.6.0).

These Tier 2 (generalizable) and Tier 3 (domain-specific) words (Beck, McKeown, Kucan) require explicit instruction and practice in a variety of reading and writing contexts. These words are not incidental vocabulary that will naturally be acquired through “free choice” independent reading of novels. Indeed, academic language words show up most of the time in complex expository text.

I can hear English language-arts teachers thinking… “Isn’t the Common Core all about sharing the literacy load? Shouldn’t history and science handle this complex expository text?”

Yes, the Common Core authors view literacy development as a mutual responsibility of all educational stakeholders. Yes, history, science, and technology teachers need to teach domain-specific academic vocabulary. However, there is a difference between academic language and academic vocabulary. The latter is subject/content specific; the former is not. For example, tectonic plates will appear frequently in science textbooks, but rarely elsewhere. However, the word analyze will appear frequently in science textbooks and frequently in all other expository text. It’s the academic language that English-language arts teachers need to teach.

So, this is why the Common Core State Standards has begun the “Great Shift” from narrative to expository reading. Reading more challenging expository novels, articles, documents, reports, etc. will certainly help students implicitly learn much academic language; however, academic language word lists coupled with meaningful instruction do have their place. So, which word lists make sense?

Common Core Academic Language Words

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Dr. Averil Coxhead, senior lecturer at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies developed and evaluated The Academic Word List (AWL) for her MA thesis. The list has 570 word families which were selected according to certain criteria:

• The word families must occur in over half of the 28 academic subject areas. “Just over 94% of the words in the AWL occur in 20 or more subject areas. This principle ensures that the words in the AWL are useful for all learners, no matter what their area of study or what combination of subjects they take at tertiary level.”
• “The AWL families had to occur over 100 times in the 3,500,000 word Academic Corpus in order to be considered for inclusion in the list. This principle ensures that the words will be met a reasonable number of times in academic texts.” The academic corpus refers to a computer-generated list of most-frequently occurring academic words.
• “The AWL families had to occur a minimum of 10 times in each faculty of the Academic Corpus to be considered for inclusion in the list. This principle ensures that the vocabulary is useful for all learners.”

Words Excluded From the Academic Word List

• “Words occurring in the first 2,000 words of English.”
• “Narrow range words. Words which occurred in fewer than 4 faculty sections of the Academic Corpus or which occurred in fewer than 15 of the 28 subject areas of the Academic Corpus were excluded because they had narrow range. Technical or specialist words often have narrow range and were excluded on this basis.”
• “Proper nouns. The names of places, people, countries, for example, New Zealand, Jim Bolger and Wellington were excluded from the list.”
• “Latin forms. Some of the most common Latin forms in the Academic Corpus were et al, etc, ie, and ibid.” http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/information

The Academic Word list has been ordered into lists by frequency of use. Why not teach the academic language words that appear most often in academic text?

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For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

eets FREE Resource:

Get the Grade 8 Vocabulary Worksheets FREE Resource:

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Comprehensive Vocabulary

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts divides vocabulary development among a variety of instructional strands across the grade levels. For example, the Reading Strand in both Literature and Informational Text includes the same Standard (8.4): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

and

The Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects Standards include Vocabulary Standard RST 8.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics.

However, most of the specific Vocabulary Standards are placed in the K-12 Language Strand. The CCSS L.4, 5, 6 Vocabulary Standards include the following:

• Multiple Meaning Words and Context Clues (L.4.a.)
• Greek and Latin Word Parts (L.4.a.)
• Language Resources (L.4.c.d.)
• Figures of Speech (L.5.a.)
• Word Relationships (L.5.b.)
• Connotations (L.5.c.)
• Academic Language Words (L.6.0)

What most teachers notice after careful reading of the Common Core Vocabulary Standards is the expected breadth, complexity, and depth of instruction across the grade levels. Obviously, incidental vocabulary acquisition from independent reading won’t “teach” the Standards listed above with any degree of fidelity. Nor will introducing a few “story-specific” or “content-specific” words prior to reading a selection from the literature anthology or social studies chapter. Not that there is anything wrong with these approaches to vocabulary development. The bulk of Tier One (conversational language) are certainly acquired primarily through independent reading.

But Tier Two Academic Vocabulary (Beck, McKeown, Kucan), as discussed in the Common Core Appendix A, is different. These vocabulary words require direct, deep-level instruction and practice in a variety of contexts to transfer to our students’ long-term memories. In the words of the Common Core document:

This normal process of word acquisition occurs up to four times faster for Tier Three words when students have become familiar with the domain of the discourse and encounter the word in different contexts (Landauer & Dumais,1997). Hence, vocabulary development for these words occurs most effectively through a coherent course of study in which subject matters are integrated and coordinated across the curriculum and domains become familiar to the student over several days or weeks.

So which instructional strategies make sense to teach the Common Core Vocabulary Standards? And what is the right amount of direct, deep-level vocabulary instruction that will faithfully teach the Common Core Vocabulary Standards without consuming inordinate amounts of class time? After all, there are more Standards to teach.

How to Teach the Common Core Vocabulary Standards

Weekly Instructional Plan: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use (L.4, 5, and 6)

Day One

1. Introduce two multiple meaning words and read their definitions out loud. Write two sentences with the multiple meaning words on the board/projector and ask students to identify the use of the words. Direct students to compose their own sentences, using context clues to show the meanings of the words. (L.4.a.)
2. Introduce two Greek and Latin word parts that fit together to form one word. Tell students to write down this word. Ask students to brainstorm which words they know that include each of the word parts. Write their example words on the board. Direct students to guess the part of speech and definition of the word formed from the word parts and to write down their guesses next to their vocabulary word. (L.4.a.)
3. Pass out dictionaries, display an online dictionary, or use other language resources. Teach students to use the guide words to find the word entry, if using a print dictionary. Read the primary definition of the word formed from the Greek and Latin word parts and compare to student guesses. Teach students the different between primary and secondary definitions and read the secondary definition to compare. Teach students the symbols used from syllable division, accents, and parts of speech. Direct students to divide their vocabulary word into syllables with slashes (/), mark the primary accent (´), write the abbreviated part of speech, and write the definition that best matches the Greek and Latin word parts. Write the answers on the board and tell students to edit their answers as necessary. (L.4.c.d.)
4. List a grade-appropriate figure of speech on the board/projector and explain the literal image of the expression. Tell students to write down the figure of speech. Ask students for their explanations and interpretations of the figurative meaning of the expression. Validate the correct student responses or provide the correct meaning as necessary. Tell students to paraphrase the figurative meaning next to the figure of speech. (L.5.a.)

Day Two

1. Introduce two grade-level vocabulary words that have special denotative relationships and read their definitions out loud. Direct students to compose a compound sentence with a connecting transition word or phrase to define one word in terms of the other, using context clues. (L.5.b.)
2. Introduce two grade-level words that have special connotative relationships and read their definitions out loud. Explain the difference between denotation (dictionary definition) and connotation (definition in context). Explain that words have different shades of meaning when used in different situations. Explain what a spectrum is, using a rainbow as an example. Direct students to draw a four-word spectrum in which they place the two vocabulary words in connotative relationship with two already-known words with related meanings. (L.5.c.)
3. Introduce two academic language words and read their definitions out loud. Direct students to draw two vocabulary four-squares, one for each academic language word. Quadrants are labeled “Key Words,” “Similar to…,” “Different than…,” and “Example.” Tell students to analyze the meaning of the academic vocabulary words by completing each square. (L.6.0)

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For full-year vocabulary programs which include multiple meaning words (L.4.a.), Greek and Latin morphology with Morphology Walls (L.4.a.), figures of speech (L.5.a.), words with special relationships (L.5.b.), words with connotative meanings (L.5.c.), and academic language words (L.6.0), check out the assessment-based grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Comprehensive Vocabulary.

Get the Grades 4,5,6,7,8 Vocabulary Sequence of Instruction FREE Resource:

Get the Greek and Latin Morphology Walls FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic Academic Language Assessment FREE Resource:

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