Parts of Speech & Word Forms (ELL)

Two common questions that WR 111 students ask are “How can I broaden my vocabulary?” and “How can I read faster?” Critical reading, active listening, and rote memorization of words are potential paths to improving in these areas, but very few students consider how a sharpened understanding of the structures behind the vocabulary they already use can facilitate their acquisition of new words and their overall reading comprehension. This phenomenon, called morphological awareness, is believed to be one of the greatest variables separating native English speakers from English language learners in the areas of vocabulary retention (Kraut), overall reading comprehension (Kraut), and written language skills (Apel & Werfel). Evidence indicates that challenging students with tasks related to the discussion and analysis of word families can improve their morphological awareness and, in turn, their rhetorical skills (Apel & Werfel). Some relevant tasks include fostering implicit and explicit analysis of morphology (such as through a Vocabulary Log); segmenting (breaking words down into meaningful units); word building (adding affixes to word roots in order to examine differences in meaning); and word sorting (categorizing words based on their linguistic function and/or root relationship).

The most common error related to parts of speech involves using the correct word in an incorrect form, usually related to the chosen affix. Employing the correct root of a word with a misused or missing affix will either a) make the sentence grammatically confusing, as it will not follow the rules within the surrounding parts of speech, or b) change the intended meaning of the sentence, (e.g. –ed and –ing adjective suffixes). These kinds of errors can occur, for example, when a student’s L1 lexicon has a less context-specific system of morphological cues than English for distinguishing parts of speech. Increasing understanding of the significance of the word’s affix, and how to change it to match the context of a sentence, can help break students of habits related to word form errors.

Suggested follow-ups

• If there is time in class, have student groups write a response to a critical thinking question related to a recent course reading. Unlike a typical response, however, the students should be required to integrate four words from the Word Relatives Chart in their response; each of the four parts of speech columns should be represented using a different word family row. If there is no time for this activity in class, assign it as an individual assignment that should be electronically submitted so responses can be reviewed before class. Take time at the beginning of the following class to discuss any observed errors that emerged during the follow-up activity and/or any relevant insights that deserve attention.
• Re-contextualize the previously used terms into sentences that the students have to fix. The Word Form Editorial Exercise is one such example, but instructors should ideally compose their own with examples from student writing. Take time to discuss the students’ answers as a class; encourage students to explain specific contextual clues, which directed them to the accurate word forms.

Suggested flipped learning modules

• Expanding Your Vocabulary

For students

• Smith, Sheldon. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Foundation, 2013.
  You may want to have students refer to, and analyze, the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Foundation’s Academic Word List; Common Roots List; Common Prefixes List; and Common Suffixes List.

For instructors

• Hacker, Diana, and Nancy Sommers. Rules for Writers. 9th ed., Macmillan, 2019.
  Chapter 46a, “Parts of Speech,” from Hacker and Sommers’s Rules for Writers provides a deeper review of the subject that is still relatively concise.
• Kraut, Rachel. “The relationship between morphological awareness and morphological decomposition among English language learners.” Reading & Writing, vol. 28, no. 6, 2015, pp. 873-890.
  This piece provides some carefully researched insight into how awareness of morphology directly translates into successful semantic deconstruction.
• Apel, Kenn, and Krystal Werfel. “Using morphological awareness instruction to improve written language skills.” Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, vol. 45, no. 4, 2014, pp. 251-260.
  This piece critically reviews key research in the area of morphological awareness instruction, and contains references to many relevant sources highlighting practical tasks that can be implemented to increase these skills in an ELL classroom.
• Nation, Paul. Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  This piece is another useful source for faculty.