Three experienced teachers show how to get even your most resistant students to become fascinated by words and sentences. They explain how to turn memory-draining spelling homework into an activity that enriches vocabulary, sight word mapping and provides a deep understanding of how words are constructed. If morphology and the English spelling system doesn't make sense to you and your students, they will by the end of the podcast. 

Mary Beth, Lisa and Skot explain how structured word inquiry, a method developed  by Peter Bowers, gets students deeply involved in investigations of a word's spelling, meaning and history. They describe how students with reading and behavior problems become fascinated by word investigations that significantly boosts their reading, spelling and comprehension abilities. 

Too many reading methods don't emphasize the importance of sentence writing and comprehension, which limits their students literacy abilities. Mary Beth, Lisa and Skot explain how sentence investigations excite students as much as word inquiry. Understanding how sentences are composed of phrases reveals its meaning. Drawing students' attention to the relationships between words and phrases significantly boost comprehension--and interest, too.

Skot Caldwell has worked for more than 25 years in “high needs” public schools in Kingston, Ontario. After annually reinventing his “spelling” program and having found nothing really effective, he met Pete Bowers and joined him on a learning journey through Real Spelling and the development of Structured Word Inquiry. For the next twenty years, his classroom was a kind of laboratory, in which he and his students were “Word Scientists” together. Since retiring, Skot has taught teachers at Queen’s University and now works as a literacy consultant and climate action facilitator. 

https://smallhumansthinkbig.wordpress.com/category/word-inquiry/ [email protected]

 Lisa Barnett is a literacy-focused educator with over 30 years of experience in general and special education, where she dramatically changed the trajectory of her students by altering her instructional approach to literacy.  She is the founder and director of Empower Learning Center where she tutors privately, consults, and trains educators worldwide in English orthography. She is the author of Vocabulary & Morphology using Structured Word Inquiry. There is a wonderful For the love of Literacy Podcast about this very practical book. 

Links to Lisa & Katie’s book, SWI resources, dyslexia resources, blog about SWI & more. Lisa offers a few workshops, Morphology & More, Intro to SWI, and Unpacking Etymology – registration links are on the website. 

           LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/empowerlc 

           Website:  https://www.seethebeautyindyslexia.com/elc.html

           Blog:        https://barnettsbuzzingblog.edublogs.org/

           Email:      [email protected] 

 Mary Beth Steven is a retired public school teacher whose teaching took a dramatic turn once she discovered Structured Word Inquiry. In the beginning, she didn’t dwell on what she didn’t know or which student questions she wouldn’t be able to answer, but rather on what she and her students would learn together! As it turned out, the consistent process for word investigations with SWI complime

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 Sense

Beneath the Surface of Words - The Book

 Amazon (US)

Kendore Learning (U.S.)

Amazon (Canada)

Select Educational Supplies  (Australia)

Silver Eye (Australia)

 Liisa Freure – Fundamental Learning

Sue 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 Consultancy

Caught 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/swievent

Investigating English Spelling: Order at Amazon https://a.co/d/hCvMPw7

Literacy Dr website:  theliteracydr.com

Literacy 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-in

Literacy Dr curricular modules: https://www.theliteracydr.com/sies

Literacy 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/hPuUuJl

The High Frequency Word Project YouTube: www.youtube.com/@thehfwproject

Fiona 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.com

https://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/703558627526950

www.mariefoleyreading.com

Sara Lee:
www.theliteracydr.com

[email protected]

Writing 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)

Learn how educators can enrich lessons and develop a deep appreciation for written and spoken language for students in all grades. Learn that spelling, morphology, vocabulary development and sentence writing can be taught, not as separate subjects, but in a time-saving integrated manner. If you are looking to connect word meaning and sentence comprehension to decoding instruction then this is the podcast for you. 

Dr. Marcia Henry brings six decades of experience working in the fields of literacy and dyslexia.  She writes for a variety of professional journals and serves on the editorial boards of Dyslexia and Annals of Dyslexia, the journals of the British Dyslexia Association, and the International Dyslexia Association.  She has been a distinguished professor, researcher, and interventionist. Her books for teachers include: Unlocking literacy: Effective decoding and spelling instruction, Morphemes matter: A framework for instruction, WORDS: Integrated decoding and spelling instruction based on word origin and word structure and Patterns for success in reading and spelling (2nd Ed.).

Dr. Deb Glaser is an educational consultant, author, and professional development provider with expertise in reading assessment and proven instructional methods.  She was a classroom and learning disability instructor and a director of a non-profit dyslexia learning center where she developed programs to teach both teachers and students. Her books include Morpheme magic: Lessons to build morphological awareness for grades 4-12 and Morphemes for little ones: Bringing the magic of language into K-3 classrooms. 

Hanna, P. R., Hodges, R.E, Hanna, J. S. (1971. Spelling: Structure and strategies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Henry, M.K. (1986). Understanding word origin and structure: An alternative to
traditional decoding instruction. In B. Prescott (Ed.), Proceedings of the Forum for
Research on Language Issues (pp. 9-28). Stanford, CA: Stanford University.

Henry, M.K. (1988). Beyond phonics: Integrated decoding and spelling instruction
based on word origin and structure. Annals of Dyslexia, 38, 259-275.

Henry, M.K. (2011). A short history of the English language (4th Ed.). In J. Birsh & S. Carreker (Eds.), Multisensory structured language instruction: Theory and practice (pp. 93-112). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

Anglin, J. M. (1993). Vocabulary development: A morphological analysis. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 58(10)[238], v–165. 

Apel, K., & Dieham, E. (2014). Morphological awareness intervention for
kindergarteners and first and second grade students from low SES homes: A small
efficacy study. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 47, 65-75.

Apel, K., Wilson-Fowler, E.B., Brimo, D., & Perrin, N.A. (2012). Metalinguistic
Contributions to reading and spelling in second and third grade students. Reading and Writing, 25, 1283-1305.

Bowers, P.N., Kirby, J.R., Deacon, S.H. (2010). The effects of morphological
instruction on literacy skills: A synthesis of the literature. Review of Educational
Research, 80, 144-179.

Ehri, L.C. & Snowling, M. (2004). Developmental variation in word recognition. In A.C.
Stone, E.R. Silliman, B.J. Ehren, & K.Apel (Eds.) Handbook of language and literacy:
Development and disorders, 443-460. New York: Guilford Press.

Berninger, V.W., Abbott, R.D., Nagy, W., &; Carlisle, J. (2010). Growth in phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness in grades 1 to 6. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 39, 141-163.

Carlisle, J.F. (2004). Morphological processes that influence learning to read. In A.C. Stone, E.R. Silliman, B.J. Ehren, & K.Apel (Eds.) Handbook of language and literacy:

Listen to three of the most important voices in literacy, Linnea Ehri, Peter Bowers and Kenn Apel, talk about the important role of morphology in reading, vocabulary, spelling and sight word development. 

Linnea Ehri updates her theory of orthographic mapping to emphasize the role that morphology plays not just in the four initial phases but when words are stored in sight word memory directly - without needing to be sounded out. The spelling of morphemes is critical to developing sight words and becomes the predominate way that words enter sight word memory. She points out that morphemes - the meaningful core of every word - have consistent spelling patterns that help readers resolve sound-symbol conflicts and is critical for learning so-called irregular words like go, goes, gone, do, does, done and say, says and said.

Ehri credits Peter Bowers and Sue Hegland, author of Beneath the Surface of Words, for helping her understand the role of morphology in orthographic mapping. Pete and Kenn Apel then enter the discussion, clarifying what morphology is and how it influences spelling, word meaning and vocabulary growth. 

Links:

Article on inquiry vs. direct instruction Pete Bowers mentioned:

de Jong et. al (2023) Let's talk evidence – The case for combining inquiry-based and direct instruction,

Educational Research Review, 39, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2023.100536.

Click HERE for a video The Nested Combinatorial Structure of English Spelling: Binding the pronunciations, spelling and meanings of words (Bowers & Foley, 2025) (approx 15 min)

Click HERE for a video of Pete’s presentation “Morphology Instruction and Language Comprehension” for the Reading League Summit 2025.  (approx 15 min)

Click HERE Pete’s video “The Matrix Matters Because Language is Combinatorial” for the Dyslexia Training Institute” for the 9th Annual Dyslexia Virtual Conference of the Dyslexic Training Institute. (approx 60 min)

Bowers, P.N. & Kirby, J.R. (2010) Effects of Morphological instruction on Vocabulary Acquisition, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 23, 515–537.

Kirby, J. R. & Bowers, P. N. (2017). Morphological instruction and literacy:  Binding phonological, orthographic, and semantic features of words. In K. Cain, D. Compton, & R. Parrila, (Eds.), Theories of reading development. Amsterdam, NL: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

See Sue Hegland’s website “Learning About Spelling” to find a link for her book, “Beneath the Surface of Words” and many free resources including multiple blog posts and videos of presentations that are very clarifying.

The Science of Spelling and Why It Matters for Literacy—March 2025

• Morphological Awareness and Written Language—January 2023

Vocabulary & Morphology using Structured Word Inquiry by Lisa Barnett and Katie Squires is designed to help you implement lessons guided by the four essential questions of structured word inquiry. The book contains a teacher guide, lesson template, and student work packet. The comprehensive Teacher Resource Guide leads you through the four guiding questions of SWI to help the teacher present lessons to their students that will uncover key concepts of the structure of our spelling system and connect vocabulary words within and beyond the subject area you are studying. 

These connections are discovered through studying the interrelationships of morphology, etymology, and phonology, all while increasing and strengthening curricular area vocabulary, spelling, and critical thinking skills.

 The Student Worksheet Booklet allows students to complete short, meaningful activities with answer keys within the Teacher Guide. There are additional activities throughout the lessons and student work packet including a puzzle-piece note-taking sheet that can be made into a booklet of all the words and connections studied!

Purchase Vocabulary and Morphology using Structured Word Inquiry

Lisa Barnett’s Buzzing Classroom Blog

Link tree - https://linktr.ee/EmpowerLC