Background: Vocabulary development is closely associated with morphological knowledge, yet work is needed to understand the mechanisms underpinning this relationship. One possibility is that because morphological relationships entail systematic mappings between word form (phonology and orthography) and word meaning (semantics and grammar),…

This is the appendix for the report, "The Impact of Word Knowledge Instruction on Literacy Outcomes in Grade 5." District leaders in a large urban school district in central Florida wanted to examine the efficacy of a new curriculum designed to enhance the word knowledge of grade 5 students so as to improve reading achievement. The new…

District leaders in a large urban school district in central Florida wanted to examine the efficacy of a new curriculum designed to enhance the word knowledge of grade 5 students so as to improve reading achievement. The new curriculum, called Word Knowledge Instruction (WKI), consists of 15-minute lessons 4 days a week for 20 weeks. The lessons…

Adult Basic Education programs are under pressure to develop and deliver instruction that promotes rapid and sustained literacy development. We describe a novel approach to a literacy intervention that focuses on morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful units contained in words. We argue that if you teach learners that big words are comprised…

Developing the skill to form derivatives is a slow incremental process even for native speakers of English, starting in elementary school and continuing through high school. In fact, it appears to be a universally challenging area of the lexicon. Nevertheless, studies have shown that it is one of the most important skills to possess for a learner…

This article demonstrates how mind-mapping software can be used to help premedical students combine, learn, retain, apply and relate medical terminology sharing the same root/base, the same prefix or suffix, cognates, derivatives, singular and plural forms and relate details which radiate out from the centre. It shows how the mind-mapping software…

This book provides tools to enhance upper-level spelling and vocabulary instruction, and features more than 120 reproducible sorting activities and games. It offers suggestions for helping students build mastery of vowel patterns, syllable structure, syllable stress, consonant and vowel alternations, compound words, prefixes, suffixes, and word…

Infant bilingualism offers a unique opportunity to study the relative effects of language experience and maturation on brain development, with each child serving as his or her own control. Event-related potentials (ERPs) to words were examined in 19- to 22-month-old English-Spanish bilingual toddlers. The children's dominant vs. nondominant…

In an effort to improve student achievement at an urban high school, teachers and administrators developed a five-part, schoolwide vocabulary plan. Over four years, teachers provided students with increased opportunities to read, read to their students, developed content-specific vocabulary instruction, taught students academic words, and focused…

The definition of the suffix "-ard" as giving a negative or pejorative meaning to a word is disputed, and it is proposed that the suffix is simply a particular, socially marked form of expression. (MSE)

Explores the development of students' knowledge of the meanings of 10 common English suffixes. Finds that knowledge of the meanings of the common English suffixes underwent significant development between fourth grade and high school. Notes that the test can be used to identify students who have particular difficulties with English suffixes. (RS)

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) freshman students at the College of Languages and Translation received direct instruction in adjective-forming suffixes, then they took an immediate and a delayed test. Error analysis showed that 36% of the responses were left blank or the subjects duplicated the stimulus word. In 32% they mismatched the word…

Computer technology allows students to experiment with word usage and create their own meaningful words. Traditionally, students have acquired new words through reading them in context, analyzing the structure of new words, or using the dictionary. Drills in any of these techniques can be ineffective unless students are actively engaged in the…

This booklet presents parents with 10 tips for helping their children expand their vocabulary. The 10 tips in the booklet are: read and use context; look for synonyms and antonyms; rhyming and homophones; compound words; look for related words; prefixes and suffixes; word maps; see how words are formed; mine the wealth of other languages; and use…

A study of the extent to which Spanish and French noun cognates in a 15,000-word corpus have the same or different grammatical gender is presented, and a list of about 750 cognates with differing genders is included. (MSE)