Morphing into adolescents: Active word learning for English-Language Learners and their classmates in middle school

Keiffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2010). Morphing into adolescents: Active word learning for English-Language Learners and their classmates in middle school. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54(1), 47-56.


This is one of those rare "keeper" articles. The authors provide a clear, concise summary of research on the teaching of morphology and its uses to build academic vocabulary. They detail an approach they devised and tested with urban sixth graders. The approach is designed to be effective with English Language Learners, but is meant to be used with all students. The authors describe how they used their approach to teach sixth graders about suffixes, but other types of morphemes could also be targeted.

Several portions are especially interesting and helpful. The best part is the segment entitled "What Does Good Morphology Teaching Look Like?" (pp. 50-55) This segment is organized around four basic principles that are theory based, and practical as well.

The two tables are also helpful. One gives examples of various levels of difficulty in "decomposing" words (". . .not all morphemes are created equal" p. 52); the other presents a concise scope and sequence for suffix instruction.