Adolescent Learners’ Use of Latin Roots as Clues to Infer Meanings of Unfamiliar Words

• In Event: Innovative Approaches to Integrating Morphology Within Adolescent Literacy Instruction

Abstract

Background

There is emerging evidence that knowing the meaning of a word’s morphological constituents may enable students to infer meanings of other words that carry the shared constituent (Anglin, 1993; Goodwin & Ahn, 2010; McCutchen, Logan, & Biangardi-Orpe, 2009; Verhoeven & Perfetti, 2011). This may be especially important for students in secondary school whose content-area texts comprise a large proportion of morphologically complex words (Hiebert & Bravo, 2010; Nagy & Anderson, 1984). Existing evidence for morphological analysis as a self-teaching device is mainly for prefixes and suffixes (Baumann et al., 2002; 2003; Graves, 1987, 2004; White, Sowell & Yanagihara, 1989; Wysocki & Jenkins, 1987). Whether learners can apply morphological analysis of roots to infer new word meanings has garnered scant research attention.

Purpose

This exploratory study investigated whether adolescent learners use information about Latin roots as clues to infer meanings of unfamiliar words. The study was conducted in the context of the two-year Robust Academic Vocabulary Encounters intervention. Participants were 30 (n= 12 control, 24 intervention) native English-speaking 7th graders. Intervention students received eleven lessons (seven in 6th grade; four in 7th grade) about analyzing the meaning relations between words containing shared roots.

Methods and Data Sources

A dynamic assessment task was administered to investigate students’ use of Latin roots to infer the meanings of unfamiliar words. The target words contained roots taught in 7th grade. In the task, the administrator provides feedback that allows students to proceed with all steps of the task; as such they provide students with all morphological information needed. Nine target words judged unfamiliar to seventh graders per ranking on the Living Word Vocabulary were used in the task. Target words were presented in straightforward contexts, for example, “The man always tried to circumvent the rules” containing the root, circum (around). (Intervention students had learned the root, circum, and the word, circumstances).

All testing sessions were transcribed and coded to categorize participants’ use of morphological information. Exact agreement for 20% of transcripts coded by two raters was 85.71%.

Results

Descriptive results and examples of students’ attempts to use Latin roots to infer word meanings will be presented. Overall, students arrived at an accurate understanding of the target word by using morphological information 39.42% of the time, suggesting that even under highly supportive conditions, utility of Latin roots may be limited.

Examination of a subsample (n=12 intervention; 12 control) matched for overall reading achievement revealed differences between intervention and control students. Both groups arrived at an accurate inference about target word meanings about a third of the time (intervention=38%; control=33%). However, intervention students used morphological information to arrive at a word meaning that was related to the root-- albeit inaccurate—more often (intervention=40%; control= 27%). Finally, 23% of the time, control students did not make any attempt to use of morphological information to infer meaning of the target word, as compared to only 8% for intervention students.

Significance

The analyses revealed limitations of morphological analysis using Latin roots but also indicated some promise for morphology instruction.

Authors

• Amy C. Crosson, University of Pittsburgh

• Margaret G. McKeown, University of Pittsburgh