For The Love Of Literacy

“Spell what you mean, not just what you hear,” is researcher and speech pathologist Kim Murphy’s advice to students. While spelling instruction often focuses on pronunciation, spelling-meaning instruction makes so much more sense to students and their teachers. Graphemes (letter patterns) and morphemes, the meaningful core of every written word, spell words in predictable and consistent ways, even as their pronunciation shifts.  Joined by Peter Bowers, creator of Structured Word Inquiry, Kim shows that yes, English spelling is complex, but it doesn’t have to be confusing. In fact, students enjoy learning spelling-meaning connections, as they make sense and are easier to memorize and recall accurately when writing. Kim and Pete also explain why spelling lists pale in comparison to morphological word sums and matrices, which organize the spelling of words around a common base. As a bonus, Kim shows how spelling-meaning connections benefit reading comprehension.  Bruce@ReadingShift.com ReadingShift.com Kim Murphy:Contact Kim at The Scottish Rite Childhood Language Center in Richmond, VA. Perfetti, C., & Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18(1), 22-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.827687Free access link https://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/perfettilab/pubpdfs/WordKnowledge.pdfThis article describes the Reading Systems Framework, in which the lexicon, or word knowledge, is a central connection point between word identification with reading comprehension. Aligned with the Lexical Quality Hypothesis (Perfetti, 2007; Perfetti & Hart, 2002), the lexicon is seen as a ‘pressure point’ in the reading system.Murphy, K.A., & Justice, L.M. (2019). Lexical-level predictors of reading comprehension in third grade: Is spelling a unique contributor? American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 28(4), 1597-1610. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_AJSLP-18-0299 Free access link https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=cdse_pubsThis study examines the contributions of lexical-level skills to reading comprehension, and whether spelling adds anything unique to the prediction of reading comprehension. Spelling was scored using binary (correct-incorrect) and non-binary (partially correct) methods. Results showed that spelling uniquely predicted reading comprehension, above and beyond the contribution of word recognition and vocabulary combined when scored using Correct Letter Sequences. This highlights the importance of including assessment of spelling skills when evaluating children for reading comprehension difficulties.Murphy, K.A., & Diehm, E.A. (2020). Collecting words: A clinical example of a morphology-focused orthographic intervention. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51(3), 544-560.  https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_LSHSS-19-00050This paper describes a morphology-focused orthography intervention for children with word-level reading and spelling difficulties, using Structured Word Inquiry. Results comparing pre- and post-test scores showed that children improved in reading and/or spelling, and that their largest gains were in spelling affixes correctly. The study supports the use of interventions that integrate morphology with orthography and phonology to improve children’s literacy skills. 

In this engaging discussion, Kathleen Love, a speech-language pathologist and literacy intervention expert, teams up with Beth Coppock-Gunshor, also a speech-language pathologist specializing in Structured Word Inquiry (SWI). They dive into the nuances of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and its significant impact on literacy skills. Listeners learn practical strategies like morphology instruction, the importance of recognizing DLD signs, and how SWI can transform vocabulary understanding. Their passion for student support shines through as they offer resources to educators and parents alike.

Lisa Barnett, a literacy educator who trains teachers in English orthography; Skot Caldwell, a veteran teacher who turned his classroom into a lab for word investigation; and Mary Beth Steven, a retired teacher who transformed spelling and sentence instruction. They explore Structured Word Inquiry, turning spelling homework into investigative play. They also show how sentence investigations reveal phrase relationships to boost comprehension and engagement.

Would you like to:understand how the English spelling system, or orthography, can be taught in so it makes sense to students and teachers, alike? integrate morphemes, the meaningful core of every word, into your reading, spelling and vocabulary instruction? Alternatives to memory and attention demanding practices like sight word spelling, syllable types, and spelling rules? In this episode, Sue Scibetta Hegland, author of Beneath the Surface of Words, chats with Liisa Freure—founder of Fundamental Learning and an elementary, ESL, and special education teacher—about the fascinating, complex, yet logical system behind English spelling. Both passionate advocates for Structured Literacy, Sue and Liisa talk about why teaching spelling can be even more challenging than teaching reading, and how understanding the spelling system can strengthen literacy for all students. Using engaging examples, they show how exploring the structures and interconnected meanings of words can capture students’ interest, improve comprehension, and help them become confident readers and writers.Sue Hegland:Website: Learning About Spelling -Spelling Always Makes SenseBeneath the Surface of Words - The Book Amazon (US)Kendore Learning (U.S.)Amazon (Canada)Select Educational Supplies  (Australia)Silver Eye (Australia) Liisa Freure – Fundamental LearningSue Scibetta Hegland began her career doing research and instructional design, but that changed in 2003, when she learned that one of her children is dyslexic. Trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach to literacy instruction, she has been studying and teaching about often overlooked aspects of the English orthographic system since 2014. Sue is a former school board member, serves as Editor-in-Chief for IDA’s Fact Sheet publications, and is the founder of the website LearningAboutSpelling.com. Sue is the author of the book Beneath the Surface of Words: What English Spelling Reveals and Why It Matters.Liisa Freure is the founder of Fundamental Learning, an organization dedicated to teaching the structure of the English language clearly and meaningfully. She has taught Kindergarten through Grade 8, ESL, and Special Education. Holding a Master’s in Education, Liisa has extensive experience in professional development, curriculum design, and provincial assessments. She trained with the Orton-Gillingham Academy, where she became an Accredited Training Fellow.  Liisa has held leadership roles with the International Dyslexia Association Ontario Branch, including serving two terms as President, and currently serves on the IDA’s Fact Sheet Editorial Board. Her&a

A wonderful plan for teachers, starting with five-year-old students on up to secondary school, to create a community of students who love exploring language, starting with the written and spoken word.Based on Ann Whiting and Lyn Anderson's beautiful books, A Field Guide to Words and A Year in Words. Children learn how the English spelling system, or orthography, works and how it is the foundation of reading, spelling and writing. Children learn to explore the three components of the spelling system, morphology (meaning), phonology (pronunciation) and etymology (history). They learn to build morphological matrices using word sums (con + struct + ion) as well as how to analyze the graphemes (letter or letters) that write morphemes. Handwriting instruction is woven into writing lessons. Language lessons are integrated into other areas with a strong emphasis on the words and concepts needed to understand science. Hearing how they weave the cycle , for example, across the curriculum will inspire you. Lyn Anderson and Ann Whiting BeyondtheWord International ConsultancyCaught in the Spell of Words

Do you know how English spelling really works? Go beneath the surface of words to find the connections between orthography (spelling system) and morphology, the meaningful core of every word in every language. While sound-symbol relationships in English are variable the spelling-meaning relationships are consistent. Jennifer Petrich and Brad Johnson are dedicated to advancing their students’ language, literacy and cognitive growth.  depth of understanding of words and how they function in sentences and beyond. Their book, Investigating English Spelling: An Interactive Guide to Understanding How English Spelling Works, is a great entry point for diving deeply into words. While the topic of language and literacy is complex Jen and Brad make this world of words immediately accessible for all. Dr. Jennifer Petrich works with students who have learning challenges, including dyslexia, specializing in those with attention issues, sensory-seeking behaviors, phonological working memory issues, deficits in executive functioning, and autism. She also offers training in scientific word study, based on orthographic linguistics, that benefits both neurodivergent and neurotypical learners. Dr. Petrich started teaching children and adults with dyslexia over 30 years ago but has been interested in reading and dyslexia since childhood due to having multiple family members who are dyslexic. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She is currently the co-director of Literacy Dr, LLC.    Bradley K. Johnson works with students with learning challenges and provides professional development for teachers. He has worked in the field of education for almost 25 years. He holds an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and has his administrator's license. While working as a classroom teacher and an instructional coach, Brad found his true passion in developing lessons that helped underserved populations access literacy and math instruction. In his roles as professional development specialist, curriculum director, and adjunct professor, he has coached and provided professional development to hundreds of teachers working with urban and minority populations and students with language-based learning disabilities. Brad's search for "what works" has included executive functioning, metacognition, mathematical reasoning, and social-emotional learning. In addition to currently working with students, he is also the founder of One Step Now Education.Literacy Dr October event: https://www.theliteracydr.com/swieventInvestigating English Spelling: Order at Amazon https://a.co/d/hCvMPw7Literacy Dr website:  theliteracydr.comLiteracy Dr’s Facebook: https://facebook.com/LiteracyDr Brad’s website onestepnoweducation.com Brad’s newsletter: newsletter.onestepnoweducation.com Literacy Dr drop-in: https://www.theliteracydr.com/drop-inLiteracy Dr curricular modules: https://www.theliteracydr.com/siesLiteracy Dr D.O.T.S. class: https://www.theliteracydr.com/pd/dots

The High Frequency Word Project, is an explicit, systematic resource that teaches the 130 high frequency words using strategies that make them stick. Each of these critical words is taught on multiple levels, from sounds and spellings to the morphological meaning, and how they are defined in sentences. Each word is further defined using something new: linguistically-accurate and fascinating stories about high frequency words’ etymologies providing the missing link to explain the mysterious parts of their spellings. The second edition contains a complete program: content background information, a teaching guide, 130-word lessons, along with activities, games, and an assessment. The first edition student Study Booklets can still be found on the website for those who want ready-to-go activities and structured practice pages.The High Frequency Word Project website: https://www.thehfwproject.com/Purchase the book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/hPuUuJlThe High Frequency Word Project YouTube: www.youtube.com/@thehfwprojectFiona Hamilton is the owner and director of Wordtorque. With 38 years of Australian and international educational experience, she has MEd degrees in Educational Administration and Literacy, plus Literacy Coaching certification. She provides educators with accurate information about English orthography and easy-to-implement teaching strategies. Words take fascinating journeys, twisting through history in meaning, pronunciation, spelling, and structure. Wordtorque brings that journey into classrooms, combining explicit teaching with inquiry so students truly understand words. They become word noticers who grow into word knowers - readers and thinkers with skills to explore connections, build vocabulary, and understand language deeply. Fiona collaborates on Engage with the Page and searchENGAGE with Angela Brienza and Lauren Hateley-Crowe. Engagewthepage is a regular free post on wordtorque.com highlighting picture books and showing the different concepts of word inquiry you can teach from each book.https://wordtorque.com/category/engagewthepage/searchENGAGE is the accompanying searchable database that includes over 300 picture books linking them with key orthographic features. It makes finding the perfect read aloud text to support your word study easy. Search by bases, affixes, graphemes, phonemes, word histories, and classroom connections. https://wordtorque.com/searchengage/wordtorque.comhttps://wordtorque.com/Including https://wordtorque.com/workshops-menu/https://wordtorque.com/classroom-visual-resources/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/fiona-hamilton-09222919

If you think you know how dyslexia affects children and adults please listen to this moving and uplifting podcast. Dyslexia causes confusion way beyond decoding. Roadblocks frequently arise during vocabulary, sight word and morphology development, and sentence construction. Often overlooked is how sentence structure and complex grammatical patterns can limit comprehension. . Marie Foley spend decades with undiagnosed dyslexia and ADHD. In this podcast, Marie reveals how she gained clarity and confidence about herself and written English by learning how words are built from morphemes and sentences from phrases. Her life was transformed by learning about spelling-meaning relationships and learning the functional relationships that words have grammatically.  Understanding how words function in sentences greatly improved her comprehension and writing ability. Marie studied Real Spelling and Structured Word Inquiry which brought clarity to written words. In her 50s, Marie began working with our second guest, Sara Lee, to understand how the words in sentences function together to create meaning. Sara turns grammar into a form of comprehension and a foundation for writing in the most gentle and clear way. Sara Lee is co-owner of Literacy Dr, a literacy intervention provider based out of Atlanta, Georgia, where she offers remediation and professional development in reading, writing, and grammar to a neurodiverse population of students. Sara holds a Masters in Applied Linguistics. Her background is in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Structured Word Inquiry, and orthographic study. She also co-hosts Writing in the Trenches, an online support community for those who teach writing. Marie Foley:Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/703558627526950www.mariefoleyreading.comSara Lee:www.theliteracydr.comsara.lee@theliteracydr.comWriting in the Trenches Writers’ Support group: email Sara

Would you like to turn your Read Alouds into a dynamic lesson that improves language comprehension - the upper strands of Scarborough's Rope - as well as reading comprehension and sentence writing? Trina Spencer and Doug Peterson not only have been researching these topics for decades but have made Story Champs, a series of ready-to-use stories and scaffolds. See their videos below and watch a 15 minute lesson were a student goes from describing a story in three words to retelling the story using complex sentences. Story Champs® is a multitiered language program that helps educators and clinicians promote academic language of diverse students. Although the primary focus of Story Champs® is on the development of a strong oral language foundation through storytelling, it also promotes other aspects of academic language that are essential for school success through information retelling, vocabulary, inferencing, and writing.Trina and Doug have also developed DYMOND, a diagnostic assessment for language disorders and dyslexia, and CUBED -3 a series of screening and progress monitoring tools. Today’s guests are Trina Spencer and Douglas Peterson. Trina is a professor at Kansas University, a school psychologist and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Doug is also a speech-language pathologist and a Professor at Baylor University. Trina and Doug have been discussing today’s topic, the connection between language and literacy since they were in graduate school.   They hold differing views on this topic, which I appreciate very much. I highly recommend there talks on YouTube, called Comprehending Comprehension. Language Dynamics Group - LDG - to find out about Story Champs and Trina and Doug's great work:https://languagedynamicsgroup.com/ (LDG website to explore our tools) https://languagedynamicsgroup.com/research/ - research page with Infographics and complete references https://www.youtube.com/@languagedynamics (LDG’s YouTube Channel) https://languagedynamicsgroup.com/video-demonstrations/ (Videos of our tools demonstrated) https://languagedynamicsgroup.com/webinars-recorded/ (Archived and upcoming free webinars) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrr6gJ3Bl-g&t=158s (Sold Half a Story: Comprehending Comprehension Live Audience Show) http://trinastoolbox.com/# (I have a lot of updating to do, but there are a ton of free downloads on this site)

Deb Glaser, educational consultant and author focused on morphological instruction. Marcia Henry, distinguished professor and dyslexia researcher with decades of literacy work. They explore how morphology and etymology spark student interest. They discuss linking word structure to spelling, vocabulary, and sentence meaning. Practical classroom routines and tools for teaching morphemes from K–12 are highlighted.