From the Roots Up: Building Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge through Latin and Greek

As students progress through school, they encounter more and more vocabulary--the number of words they need to know expands, as does the complexity of these words. A large portion of English words derive from Latin and Greek, so understanding of Latin and Greek morphemes can aid students' knowledge and skills with English vocabulary. The researcher prepared mini-lessons to teach middle school students twelve morphemes from Latin and Greek that are the base of numerous English works. Students benefited from multiple forms of exposure to these morphemes and many activities to engage with vocabulary in a range of ways.