If spelling feels confusing, you are not alone. It can feel frustrating when words seem to “change their spelling” when you add endings (suffixes), and rules can seem arbitrary and difficult to learn. But here’s the good news: there just three main rules when it comes to adding suffixes, and they all exist for one simple reason, which is to protect how the word sounds.
Spelling is not a list-learning task, it is a system whose job is literally to make sense. From the very start, children must develop skills as well as knowledge and attend to units of meaning as well as sound. When spelling breaks down, the solution is rarely “more words”. Progress comes when educators focus on skills and meaning as well as knowledge. Find out how in this blog.
Morphology—the study of how roots, prefixes, and suffixes combine to create meaning in words—is vital for all learners, and an integral part of our English curriculum. By focusing on word patterns and meanings, morphology supports learners at all levels and abilities in vocabulary, reading comprehension, and spelling skills. Dyslexic learners in particular benefit from the meaningful study of words.In this blog, I’ll share ten practical ways to use Morph Mastery, a compendium of morphology resources, in different settings.
Do you want to understand morphology better, and how it can transform learning? Here’s a podcast with the wonderful Dale Pickles of SENDCAST, in which I explain morphology and its powerful role in teaching reading, spelling and vocabulary.
If I produced a stick of rock to represent my work (now there’s an idea!), the words inside would be “supporting schools”. I love collaboration, I love enabling, empowering and equipping in all things literacy and dyslexia, and I love schools. In this blog you’ll read about one amazing school I have worked with over almost two years, and you’ll see a video of Morph Mastery in action. Westcourt Primary School in Gravesend have not only talked the Morph Mastery talk, but they walk the walk, through thick and thin.
Our language is morphophonemic; in other words it is based on both morphological and phonological structure (units of sound). Approximately 80% of English words contain more than one morpheme. These morphemes are used across a number of words, and therefore can be generalised. They have been described by Rastle (2018) as “islands of regularity in the mapping between printed words and their meaning”. Morphology is not a whole word approach, nor is it an alternative to phonics. Morphemes literally make sense of language and they are entirely necessary as part of cracking the code of English spelling.
Systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) is recommended in the Department for Education Reading Framework, but not exclusively so for pupils with SEND. For them, the recommended methodology is most crucial: a highly structured, multi-sensory, cumulative approach to intervention which meets individual learners’ needs, and a whole school approach to using assessment to identify different needs. Morph Mastery meets all these methodological criteria and it complements an SSP approach. I’m excited about schools across the country who, having implemented SSP effectively, are now looking for Morph Mastery training to complement their strategy; this reflective practice is what our learners need.
Using multi-purpose games at home and in school to support children with literacy difficulties and dyslexia.
What does the early Reading Framework mean for a child with reading difficulties? Speaking on behalf of learners with reading difficulties and dyslexia, I welcome the synthetic phonics approach for good quality first teaching of reading and reading intervention in the very early stages. It’s research based and works well. I am also pleased that this latest guidance outlines the need for a clear structure and progression in pupils’ reading of books. However, I am really fearful of the wider implications of this guidance.
I have the best memories of working with my old team at The Leys SPLD Base in Stevenage. When you work effectively in a team you’ll always know each other’s idiosyncrasies. It’s what makes you work so well together, but also what keeps you laughing.
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