English Language Arts and Reading.6.2.C

The student is expected to

determine the meaning and usage of grade-level academic English words derived from Greek and Latin roots such as mis/mit, bene, man, vac, scrib/script, and jur/jus.

vocabulary strand teks talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary. The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.

words used in the learning of academic subject matter in a formal educational context that are associated with literacy and academic achievement, including specific academic terms, technical language, and speech registers related to each field of study
Students are expected to determine the meaning of a word if it is derived from a Latin or Greek root. The root, or base, of the word cannot function alone but can suggest the meaning of the whole word. For example, the word benefit in the sentence “The school could benefit from new books for the library” contains the root bene, which means good. Students who know the meaning of bene will be able to determine that benefit means a good result.
roots originating from Greek or Latin that are common in the English language and understanding their meaning can improve vocabulary acquisition (e.g., mis/mit, bene, man, vac, scrib/script, jur/jus)

Research

Pacheco, M. B., & Goodwin, A. P. (2013). Putting two and two together: Middle school students' morphological problem-solving strategies for unknown words. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 56(7), 541–553. doi:10.1002/JAAL.181

Summary: Researchers Pacheo and Goodwin discuss strategies that assist students in determining word meaning. One such strategy includes figuring out words by breaking down in their smallest parts, such as affix, root word, and suffix. The recommendations suggests this approach as a means to learn unknown words.