Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 2024
Abstract
The purpose of this action research project was to determine what impact a four-week class-wide morphology intervention would have on students' literacy. Specifically, the researcher hypothesized that teaching morphology would improve students’ morphological awareness, their ability to spell words that include the morphemes taught, their knowledge of the meaning of words that include the taught morphemes, and their accuracy in reading words that include the taught morphemes. The research was conducted by a fifth grade teacher in her tenth year of teaching. The researcher was interested in research-based practices that improve students' spelling while also improving other reading skills. The fifth grade students were assessed in the four areas of literacy before and after the instruction period. The 10 minutes of daily morphology instruction included direct instruction, discussion, and activities to practice reading and spelling words with eight of the most common English morphemes including suffixes, prefixes, and root words. Data analysis revealed a statistically significant increase in participants' spelling scores, morphological awareness, and reading following the four weeks of instruction. Students' knowledge of word meanings did not improve. These research findings may be beneficial for elementary and middle school educators who are considering ways to help improve their students' spelling while also improving their students' overall understanding of the English language.