We’ve all come across older students who are spelling phonetically, but not even close to accurately. They often represent each sound, demonstrating some ability in phoneme segmentation and phonics, but don’t apply English orthography patterns logically.
So, why does this happen?
Students with dyslexia have persistent difficulty with orthographic mapping. This causes difficulty in identifying and retaining common English patterns, meaning they tend to rely on visual memory. A common indicator your student is relying on visual memory is when they use some of the correct letters in the wrong order, without considering the logic in English spelling.
One of the most powerful tools we have to help them succeed is teaching them morphology — the study of the smallest units of meaning in language.
When we teach students about morphemes — the building blocks of words, such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots — we’re not just helping them decode words. We’re helping them understand how words are put together and how these parts give the word meaning. And when students understand this, they can make better sense of the unfamiliar words they encounter, whether they're reading or writing.
For older students, especially those with dyslexia, this approach is crucial. Dyslexic students often struggle with phonemic awareness (the sounds in words), so focusing on phonics alone doesn’t always result in functional reading and spelling. For instance, the word ‘electricity’ might be difficult for them to decode if they only rely on sounds. But once they understand that ‘electric’ is the root word and ‘-ity’ is a common suffix meaning “the state of,” they have a clearer picture of both how to pronounce it and how to spell it.
The same may be true for students who only know ‘sh’ as a way to spell the /sh/ sound. Teaching them ‘sh’ is mostly used in short, simple words, like ‘shop’, ‘fish’, ‘shouted’ etc., but in multisyllabic words, it’s most often ‘ti’ or ‘ci’ can help them see the links and generalise their understanding. These combinations occur when we add suffixes like ‘ion’ to ‘act’, making ‘action’, or ‘ian’ to ‘electric’, to make ‘electrician’.
By using meaning as a clue for spelling, e.g., ‘what does a magician do?’ – magic, we can prompt students to think of the base as a starting point, and then consider which affixes might be added to spell more accurately. We can then use this as a prompt for other words – ‘what do you think the base might be? Can you spell that?’
That’s the beauty of morphology — it connects spelling with meaning in a way phonics doesn’t. While phonics focuses on how letters correspond to sounds, morphology teaches students how to look at the parts of a word and what those parts do to the word’s meaning and structure. For older students who are often spelling phonetically but without much consideration for rules (especially when spelling larger words or subject-specific vocabulary), learning about morphemes helps them apply the rules they need to spell more accurately. They start to see that words follow patterns and rules beyond just how they sound.
The fact is, many older students who struggle with literacy still spell phonetically because they haven’t been explicitly taught the morphology rules that govern how words are constructed. Morphology gives them the key to understanding why words are spelled a certain way and what happens when you add or remove a part of the word.
Many educational systems around the world are now mandating the use of evidence-backed strategies, and teaching morphology is a key part of that. This isn’t just a trend — it’s a movement toward providing students with the most effective ways to learn to read and write.
Simple changes to how you teach literacy can have a big impact. For example, instead of just teaching students phonics rules, introduce them to common prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Start with words they see often in academic texts, and teach them how to break those words apart. Help them recognize patterns. Show them how the same morphemes appear in different words — for instance, “un-” meaning “not” in words like “unhappy,” “unusual,” and “undo.” This type of instruction doesn’t just help with spelling; it helps with comprehension.
If you’re looking for resources to help you teach morphology to your students, check out MorphologyHub.com. It’s practical tools and resources will have you teaching morphemes in a way that’s accessible and effective, and the intuitive platform means there’s no learning to get your head around it. Just click and play. Whether you’re just starting with morphology or looking for more advanced resources, MorphologyHub.com has everything you need to take your teaching to the next level.
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