ESC 757 Fall 2013 Name _Cristina Giansante_______

Topic: Morphology Homework #3: Due Oct. 16th

1. Description of a classroom activity: See Attached.

2. Countable and uncountable nouns
Sentences 1=countable
2=non countable
1. The children are playing in the garden. 1
2. I don't like milk. 2
3. I prefer tea. 2
4. Scientists say that the environment is threatened by pollution. 1
5. My mother uses butter to prepare cakes. 2
6. There are a lot of windows in our classroom. 1
7. We need some glue to fix this vase. 2
8. The waiters in this restaurant are very professional. 1
9. My father drinks two big glasses of water every morning. 1
10. The bread my mother prepares is delicious. 2
11. Drivers must be careful; the road is slippery. 1
12. Some policemen are organizing road traffic to avoid any accidents. 1
13. I bought three bottles of mineral water for our picnic. 1
14. I'd like some juice please! 2
15. Successful candidates will join the camp later this year. 1
16. A rise in oil prices is inevitable since there is more and more world
demand for energy.
2
17. The exercises on this website are interesting. 1
18. Dehydrated babies must drink a lot of water. 2
19. Adult illiterates learn through a special government program. 1
20. I met some nice people when I was walking along the beach. 1

Decide whether you have to use "a little" or "a few".
Circle the correct response:
1. We had _____snow last winter. little few
2. ____people were interested in the
exhibition.
little few
3. I speak ___French. little few
4. There are ____students in the
classroom.
little few
5. She has ____relatives. little few
6. There is ____water in the pond. little few
7. The professor spends ____time
playing tennis on Sundays.
little few
8. We have ____knowledge of this
phenomenon.
little few
9. There are ____mushrooms in my
mushroom soup.
little few
10. ____animals can survive in the desert. little few

3. How can you tell when to use "a little" or "a few"? Write out a rule in your own words.
One uses a little with uncountable (singular) nouns. One uses few
with countable (plural) nouns.


4. Identifying Inflectional errors in ELLs writing.

Read the following writing sample from an 11 Spanish L1 ELL. Underline all of the words where
there is an error of morphological inflection (an error involving one of the inflectional
morphemes). What inflectional morpheme does this writer struggle with most?

Science affect my life by give in me life. When it rains I cant go to the park and playing baseball.
When I go to the doctor (?) they drill my caps in (?). when I go home I play on my computer and
sometimes I go on the internet. Science affect my home by given me heat and light. It also give in
me food. It affects in school by using the computer. It also makes me go to school in a bus
without walking.
Explanation:
This writer appears to struggle with third-person singular present tense -s and present
progressive (-ing) the most. The author adds present progressive ing when describing
that he cannot play baseball when it rains. He seems to misunderstand the word giving
due to potentially his conversational language and interprets it as give in. He also
substitutes the present progressive ing with the past principle en at one point. The
most evident is his lack of including the third-person singular present tense s to the end
of affect.










5. Read the article Breaking down Words to Build Meaning: Morphology, Vocabulary, and
Reading Comprehension in the Urban Classroom by Michael J. Kieffer and Nonie K. Lesaux
(2007). The Reading Teacher 61(2): 134-44. (On Blackboard). Read and summarize the
authors four principles for teaching morphology. Discuss which of the four
principle(s) that you feel you need to focus on the most in your classroom. Please
write up your response in 2 typed pages (double-spaced) and attach it here.

Michael J. Kieffer and Nonie K. Lesaux completed a study and researched how students
confront unknown words and the strategies they use to determine meaning. Kieffer and Lesaux
determined that although many students may know a word, only few truly understand its
entirety. They have also found that students (mainly in Urban settings) lack of comprehension to
grade-level text in upper elementary is a result of the fourth-grade slump. Students are having a
hard time keeping up with complex vocabulary and word length, which then affects their
comprehension level. These two researchers came up with four principles teachers can follow to
help students utilize a skill, attack and dissect, that they often resort to when approached with
unknown words.
Principle one discusses the importance of teaching and incorporating morphology strategies
within comprehension and vocabulary lessons. Students should be receiving multiple exposures to
words and in different settings so they can understand all of the words meanings. One suggestion
that was presented was to gather rich academic words that would be found in the students texts
and explain them in a way in which students would understand. Giving students a way to make
their own connections and understandings of a word and its relationships helps foster word
consciousness within the student. This principle can also benefit ELLs; teachers can provide these
students with a variety of definitions and context, and also access to the words meaning in Spanish.
Principle two stresses that students should not be memorizing rules when it comes to
understanding morphemes, it must be learned cognitively. Kieffer and Lesaux discuss four steps
students must keep in mind when they have to break down a word into morphemes. The first step
is determining if the student truly knows and understands the word completely. If he or she does
not, then they must search the word for recognizable morphemes. The student can then make a
hypothesis of the word, from the recognized morphemes and determine if it makes sense against
the context in which it is found in. It is the teachers responsibility to model these steps explicitly
and allow the students to practice this approach, with support, before allowing them to take
independent action.
In addition to breaking down morphemes cognitively, one must have an understanding of
the knowledge as well. Principle three discusses three types of knowledge students need to know in
order to be successful. First is the understanding of prefixes and suffixes. There are many informal
and formal ways teachers can discuss how these words play a role in speech, what their meanings
are, and when its appropriate to use these; a good reinforcer could be adding these to a word wall
in the classroom. Another type of knowledge is word transformation; students must be taught the
changes in sound and spelling when we encounter derivational morphemes. Teachers can provide
students with an example of a root word and how it takes the form of many other words. Not only
does this expand their understanding of the word, but it also expands their vocabulary. The last
piece of knowledge students must have is the knowledge of roots. If a student can extract a root
word from derivational morphemes, they are on a good track for acquiring new vocabulary.
Teachers can help students better understand root words by using and presenting students with
common roots that are found in their texts, or in meaningful context, not lists.
The last principle is beneficial for ELLs because it discusses ways teachers can teach
morphology in relation to cognate instruction. This allows teachers to use the Spanish language
with native Spanish speakers as a means of instructing morphology. This can only be used and
appropriate if the native Spanish speakers are proficient in Spanish, or else they will be unable to
utilize the tool. English words are often similar to many everyday Spanish words, due to the fact
that some were derived from the Spanish language. This can benefit Spanish speakers English
comprehension because they can look for similar words and try to make their own connections.
After reading this article I found all of these principles to be useful and helpful approaches
when attacking morphemes. I really enjoyed how Kieffer and Lesaux work largely on allowing the
students to make their own connections and how they realize that not all children learn the same. It
is very often that strategies are implemented based on success, but unfortunately, it isnt
successful with everyone and sometimes even further confuses the students. I am all for scaffolding,
modeling, and supporting the students as they determine their own understandings and principle
one and two truly allows that. The students are provided with what they need to make the
connections, and then they are allowed to make it their own way; the teacher is giving the students
the tools and allowing them to build. I also would like to incorporate principle three into my
classroom because I believe without an understanding and knowledge of prefixes, suffixes, roots,
and transformation, students will struggle severely with comprehension and morphology. Lastly, I
found principle four to be a great idea as well, however it would be difficult for me because I am not
a Spanish speaker. I would however encourage it within my class if my students were proficient in
Spanish because again, its another tool on their tool belt that they can use to be successful and at
the end of the day, thats all that matters.









Rubric
1. Classroom Activity on Morphology Exceeds
9-10
Meets
7-8
Approaches
1-6 Indicates complete understanding of morphological
word building; Activity is creative and age-
appropriate.
2. Count and non-count noun exercise
Able to determine the difference between countable and
non-countable nouns and when to use little vs. few. (29-
30 = 5 pts.; 24-28 = 4 pts.; 20-23 = 3 pts.; 10-19 = 2 pts.;
5-9 = 1 pt.)
Exceeds
5
Meets
3-4
Approaches
1-2
3. Count and non-count nouns rules
Able to write a simple rule for ELLs about how to tell the
difference between a count and a non-count noun using
the quantifiers little and few.
Exceeds
5
Meets
3-4
Approaches
1-2
4. Identifying Inflectional errors in ELLs writing.
Able to identify words that contain morphological errors,
analyze the errors, and write a simple analysis of the
learners error pattern.
Exceeds
5
Meets
3-4
Approaches
1-2
5. Essay on morphology
Able to accurately summarize the authors four principles
for teaching morphology and discuss which of the four
principle(s) are most important in own teaching practice.
Length 2 pages; typed, double-spaced, free of typos and
grammatical errors.
Exceeds
9-10
Meets
7-8
Approaches
1-6
TOTAL (35)





















Classroom Activity

The activity I have created is a fun and interactive game intermediate English Language
Learners can play to work on English morphology and word building. This would be appropriate for
students ages ten to twelve years old (or older if need be). Students will be able to identify and
correctly sort prefixes, root words, and suffixes. Students will also be able to create words by using
multiple morphemes. Students will receive a plastic Ziploc baggie full of cut out words. They will
remove the words from the bag and sort them into their proper place on the portion plate. They will
have the option to place them in either the prefix, root word, or suffix section. Students can access
their notes as a cheat sheet if they are having a hard time categorizing. Once the students have
successfully and confidently completed this task a few times, they will begin to take words from the
plate and combine them. They will have to find real words that have at least one prefix or one suffix
attached to the root word. After they find a real word, they will copy the words onto their Match
Maker activity sheet. They will write all prefixes in red colored pencil, root words in green colored
pencil, and suffixes in blue colored pencil to help the students visualize the morphemes. The
students individual goal will be listed on top of their Match Maker activity sheet due to the fact
that not all students will be on the same level of understanding.