Strategies for Enhancing Decoding, Spelling and Vocabulary Instruction

| Understanding | Essential Questions | Module Themes and Sessions | Knowledge and Skills |

Knowing the layers of language that make up English words prepares teachers to provide strategies for decoding and spelling to those upper grade youth in alternative settings. Because over 90% of English words come from Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Greek origins, it is useful to learn about these layers of language and how they affect written English. The study of the history and origin of a word is known as etymology.

Claiborne, in Our Marvelous Native Tongue, remarked,

The truth is that if borrowing foreign words could destroy a language, English would be dead (borrowed from Old Norse), deceased (from French), defunct (from Latin) and kaput (from German). When it comes to borrowing, English excels (from French) and eclipses (from Greek) any other tongue, past or present. (1983, p. 4)

Phonology (the sounds of a language) and morphology (the meaning units in words), in addition to etymology are the reference points in this module.

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Even good readers often have difficulty interpreting and analyzing text in more than superficial ways (Langer, 2000). In order to comprehend text fully, students must be able to decode accurately and fluently. Yet, because reading instruction is often thought of as an elementary school subject, many secondary teachers are unprepared to teach the more advanced language structures (Berninger, 2000; Moats, 1994).

| Top of Section | Top of Page | Essential Questions |

1. How does knowing the origin and structure of a word influence the ability to read and spell a word?
2. What instructional techniques can teachers use to teach decoding and spelling to at-risk older students?
3. What is the benefit to students of learning the “layers of language?”

| Top of Section | Top of Page | Module Themes and Sessions |

Two themes are included in Layers of Language module, Preparation and Instructional Strategies.

I. Preparation (Sessions 1-3)
1. The Influence of Word Origin on Word Structure
2. A Brief History of Written English
3. Lesson Fundamentals and Instructional Format

II. Instructional Strategies (Sessions 4-12)

4. The Anglo-Saxon Layer of Language (letter-sound correspondences)
5. Anglo-Saxon Syllable Patterns
6. Anglo-Saxon Morpheme Patterns
7. The Latin Layer of Language (letter-sound correspondences and syllable patterns)
8. Latin Morpheme Patterns
9. Chameleon Prefixes
10. The Greek Layer of Language (letter-sound correspondences and syllable patterns)
11. Greek Combining Forms
12. Practice Reading and Spelling Long Content Area Words;
Post-knowledge Survey

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