Morphology and How it Operates Within PLD.

Morphemes, such as prefixes, suffixes and base words are the smallest meaningful units of meaning in a word. Morphemes are important for phonics in: reading, spelling, vocabulary and comprehension.

• Initially, there is an emphasis on phonic concepts in Stages 1, 2 & 3, however there are suffixes taught in these stages too.
• The picture below shows the Stage 1, 2 & 3 suffixes. Detailed instructions on teaching these can be found in the Phonic and Sight Word Sequence and the Structured Synthetic Phonic Time Savers resources.

• From Stage 4, the focus moves from a phonic concept, to a more morhpeme-based focus.
• The image below shows the prefixes and suffixes typically taught throughout PLD’s Stages of instruction. Detailed instructions on teaching these can be found in The Phonic and Sight Word Sequence and the Structured Synthetic Phonic Time Savers resources.

• Words tend to have fewer morphemes than syllables, so in the upper primary years as words become more complex, focusing on morphemes rather than just syllables can not only make decoding easier, but allow for a greater understanding of meaning and therefore aid comprehension.
• For example, the word encouragement (below) has 4 syllables en-cour-age-ment, however there are only 3 morphemes. In this example students would underline any known affixes. Then find the base word.

• On the reverse of The Word Study Lists found in the Structured Synthetic Phonic Time Savers resources, there are word study activities. It is recommended that these are added to the weekly routines to enhance consolidation of concepts taught.

Updated on: 30/03/2023