Morphology:
The study of how words form and word structure.

Morpheme:
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in language. 
Free Morphemes: 
Some are freestanding words.
-small
-unit
-language


:
Bound Morphemes: 
Some are not words but still have meaning.  Suffixes are an example of this.
 
-est
-ing
-ful

Ways of Forming English Words: 

Compunding:
The process of forming compound words by combining free morphemes. 

Prefixing and Suffixing:
Attaching a bound morpheme at the head or foot of a word.  

Blends: 
Blends are created by joining two or more words, at least one of which must be clipped. 

The Morphological Development of Words


Words are constructed hierarchically.  The word inconceivability is broken down using a Morpholgy Tree to the left

Practical Application in the Classroom
This button acces a link to a website operated by William & Mary University focused towards the uses of morphology in the classroom as it pertains to the teaching of vocabulary.  It is a very helpful website. 

Suggestions for the Classroom:

1.  Preview the language that you are teaching and see if you can find any way to infuse the study of morphology into your lessons.  A common understanding of roots, prefixes, suffixes, compound words, blends, ect. will help your students comprehend the language dramatically. 

2. Increase the use of Academic Conversations with your ELL students.  Force them to converse with the academic and content language that they are being introduced to.  Make them manipulate words using a varity of different strategies.  The link below will  direct you to the website of Jeff Zwiers of Stanford University, a prominent supporter of the use of Academic Conversations in the classroom.