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English Words from Latin & Greek Increase spelling, vocabulary, and reading comprehension Susan Ebbers 2005 1 How many words are there in the English Language? • The Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries. • Over half of these words are nouns, about a quarter adjectives, and about a seventh verbs; the rest is made up of interjections, conjunctions, prepositions, suffixes, etc. Susan Ebbers 2005 2 Yea, yea, so get to the point… • This suggests that there are, at the very least, a quarter of a million distinct English words, excluding inflections, and words from technical and regional vocabulary. • If distinct senses were counted, the total would probably approach…. Susan Ebbers 2005 3 Are you ready for this? • three quarters of a million 750,000 Susan Ebbers 2005 4 Real world demands…. • Only 30% of 4th graders are proficient readers National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP 2007) • 42 million adults in the US are "functionally illiterate," meaning that can't read the front page of the newspaper. (NAEP 2007) • Lack of vocabulary can be a crucial factor underlying the school failure of disadvantage students (Becker, 1977; Bielmiller, 1999). Susan Ebbers 2005 5 Shrinking personal vocabularies The average sixth grade student knows approximately 25,000 words. The average high school graduate knows approximately 50,000 words. This means that average students learn roughly 2000-3,000 words a year (Graves, 2007). This translates to 8 words a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year - including weekends or summers. Susan Ebbers 2005 6 Some specifics on the importance of vocabulary… • Growing up in poverty can seriously restrict the vocabulary children learn before beginning school and make attaining an adequate vocabulary a very challenging task (Coyne, Simmons, & Kame'enui, 2004; Hart & Risley, 1995). • Less advantaged students are likely to have substantially smaller vocabularies than their more advantaged classmates (Templin, 1957; White, Graves, & Slater, 1990). Susan Ebbers 2005 7 It is estimated that by age 3, some less advantaged students have heard 30 million fewer words than their more advantaged peers. It is also estimated these students’ vocabularies may be half the size of those of their more advantaged counterparts (Hart and Risely 2003 & Graves, 2007 ). Susan Ebbers 2005 8 Bet cha’ didn’t know… • In California they determine how many jail cells they will build to house future inmates by calculating how many children are not reading on grade level by third grade. Susan Ebbers 2005 9 Here is a short cut! • Half of all “high-frequency words” every day words, • and two-thirds of all academic and technical words are derived from Latin or Greek. • So learn the meanings of roots, prefixes, and suffixes and these basic elements make it easier to learn new words. Susan Ebbers 2005 10 Basic Terms root form: a word with no prefix or suffix added; may also be referred to as a base word inspector, thermal affix: meaningful part of a word attached before or after a root or base word to modify its meaning prefix: an affix which is placed before the stem of a word re-, un-, dissuffix: an affix which is placed after the stem of a word able, -ive, -ly derivation-a word formed from an existing word, root, or affix: electric, electricity Susan Ebbers 2005 11 20 Most Frequent Prefixes in School Texts 1. unable 2. review inedible (impotent, illegal, irresponsible) distrust enlighten (empower) nonsense inside, implant overcome misguided submarine prefix interrupt forewarn derail transfer supersonic semicircle antitrust midterm underfed Analysis: White, Sowell, Susan Ebbers 2005 and Yanagihara 1989 12 Prefixes: Meaning and Connotation Often Negative Somewhat Positive dis-, de- non- sub- pro- co- bene- in- un- mis- super- com- be- mal- anti, contra a- en-, em- ad- Susan Ebbers 2005 13 Derivational Suffixes Derivational suffixes change the part of speech • • • • words ending with –tion are often nouns words ending with –ive are often adjectives words ending with –ish are often adjectives words ending with –ity are often nouns What about -ment, -ous, -ness? Susan Ebbers 2005 14 Greek Combining Forms hydro graph geo pyro polis neuro ortho scope photo therm crat psych chron phobe pseud onym crypt helio logy sphere the, theo Susan Ebbers 2005 15 Counting in Greek and Latin mono uni di bi du, duo tri tetra quadri penta hexa sept oct nove deca deci cent milli poly multi semi hemi Susan Ebbers 2005 16 Developing content-specific, academic vocabulary depends on a basic understanding of Greek and Latin Sixty percent of the words in English texts are of Latin and Greek origin Bear et al., 1996; Henry, 1997 Susan Ebbers 2005 17 Content-Specific Greek Terms Anatomy and Medical Terms esophagus, thyroid, diagnosis, psoriasis, dyslexia Studies and Sciences biology, seismology, morphology, geochronometry Animals and Plants arachnid, amphibian, chlorophyll, dinosaur, nectar Theatre and the Arts charisma, drama, chorus, muse, symphony, acoustics Susan Ebbers 2005 18 Look Inside—Look Outside pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis 1. Look inside the word for known word parts: prefixes, roots or combining forms, suffixes. 2. Use the analogy strategy—“I don’t know this word, but I know pneumonia and I know volcano, so by analogy, this word might have something to do with lungs and heat.” 3. Look outside the word at context clues, visuals The coal miners, coughing and wheezing, suffered from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Susan Ebbers 2005 19 So what exactly are we going to do? • Learn to use context clues effectively • Study and practice most common root words • Study and practice most frequently used prefixes and suffixes • Learn to use THEIVES as a reading strategy to use all the clues in the text to uncover word meaning. Susan Ebbers 2005 20 So…what do you need? • A fat stack of notecards • 15 minutes each day to work on Greek & Latin roots and SAT vocabulary words • 15 minutes for AP terms and examples Susan Ebbers 2005 21