What is Morphological Awareness?

Morphological awareness is one of many skills that help students learn how to read and write. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in language. The words “like” and “a” are both single-syllable morphemes as they both have meaning. Longer words, like ‘between’ and ‘crocodile’ are morphemes, too. That’s because there are no parts of these words that contain meaning on their own.

Morphemes aren’t always whole words. A morpheme can also be an affix, as affixes by themselves still have meaning. For example, the suffix ‘ish’ is a morpheme because it carries the same meaning regardless of where it appears. The word ‘child’ is made up of one morpheme, while the word ‘childish’ is made up of two. Once students can identify the smallest units of meaning in words they read, they can decode and define larger words. They have morphological awareness when they are aware of the fact that words are composed of smaller units of meaning.

Why is morphological awareness so important?

Students who have weak morphological awareness don’t realize that they can often make sense of words formulaically, and by noticing patterns. As students learn about multisyllabic words, they must also learn that individual syllables often have the same meaning across contexts.

For example, a student may read the word ‘dependable’ and already know what it says and what it means. He won’t need to put forth much effort in order to read and make sense of it in context. However, let’s say that this same student comes across a word with the same suffix but is not familiar with the word as a whole. They need morphological awareness in order to make sense of the word. They can only piece together the definition if they know that the suffix ‘able’ always carries the same meaning.

When do students begin developing it?

Students begin to develop foundational morphological awareness as early as preschool.  Once students understand that printed and spoken words carry meaning, it isn’t a very big leap to morphological awareness. Students begin to develop a more sophisticated understanding of morphological awareness between first and fourth grade. This is when they begin to fluently use morphological awareness to both read complex texts and accurately encode multisyllabic words. However, we continue honing our morphological awareness skills well into adulthood by reading complex texts and increasing our vocabulary. One does not stop developing morphological awareness. It is a skill that can constantly evolve and become stronger the more one practices using it. 

How can I support development of morphological awareness?

There are ways to help students develop their morphological awareness both at home and in the classroom. The best way to do this at the upper elementary level is explicit and frequent practice with trying to determine the meaning of unknown multisyllabic words. For example, when a student comes across a word they do not recognize, like indistinguishable, the first thing they should do is analyze the word for morphemes that they recognize. If the student knows the prefix in-, the suffix -able, and the root word ‘distinguish,’ then they can reasonably determine the meaning of the word. This is morphology in action. The goal is for students to be able to apply this skill to any word they do not know.

Children who are working with multi-syllable words also greatly benefit from analyzing similarities between words that have the same affix, or the same root word. For example, pairing the words re-evaluate, re-write, re-read, etc., can help students see that the prefix ‘re’ has the same meaning in any context, or that the root word ‘ship,’ can become ‘hardship,” “or ‘friendship’ and the ‘ship’ affix stays the same.

I’ve never heard of morphological awareness before. Where can I learn more?

If you’re interested in learning more about what morphological awareness is and how our tutors and expert educators can help your child, reach out to the Braintrust team online!

Morphological Awareness FAQ

What is the difference between morphology and phonology?

Morphology is the study of word parts and how they relate to meaning. Phonology is the study of sound patterns in language.

What is the difference between a morpheme and a phoneme?

A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language.

What are some ways to support students in developing their morphological awareness?

There are a few ways that you can support students in developing their morphological awareness. One way is to provide explicit and frequent practice with determining the meaning of unknown multisyllabic words. Another way is to analyze similarities between words that have the same affix or the same root word. Finally, you can also encourage students to look for multiple definitions of words in the dictionary or in context.

What is the difference between a root word and an affix?

A root word is a word that can stand alone and carry meaning. An affix is a word part that cannot stand alone and must be attached to a root word in order to create meaning.

What is the difference between an inflectional affix and a derivational affix?

An inflectional affix does not change the meaning of a word. A derivational affix changes the meaning of a word.

What is the difference between a prefix and a suffix?

A prefix is an affix that is added to the beginning of a word. A suffix is an affix that is added to the end of a word.

How can I tell if a word has more than one meaning?

One way to tell if a word has more than one meaning is to look for multiple definitions in the dictionary. Another way to tell is to look for words with multiple meanings in context. For example, the word “bat” can mean a winged mammal or a tool used to hit a ball. The meaning of the word depends on the context in which it is used.