Spelling, sounds and educational software
by SoftwareGuru
posted Monday 24th November 2008 10:11 GMT
For teachers across the country, choosing the right software can be tricky when it comes to spelling, grammar and phonetics. Now researchers are claiming that children would spell better if they knew about 'morphemes'. Today SAM UK will take a closer look at this idea.
What is a morpheme?
Morpheme: a combination of sounds that have a meaning. A morpheme does not necessarily have to be a word.
Example: the word cats has two morphemes.
Cat is a morpheme, and s is a morpheme. Every morpheme is either a base or an affix. An affix can be either a prefix or a suffix. Cat is the base morpheme, and s is a suffix.
Why would this improve spelling?
The difficulty arises when the spelling of a word, such as laughter, differs from what the pronunciation suggests. If spelling cannot be predicted from the way a word sounds, it is possible that its meaning can help instead.
For instance, the word "tactician" consists of two morphemes: the stem "tactic" and the suffix "ian".
Pupils find the word difficult to spell because the third syllable sounds like "shun". But if they knew it was made up of the two morphemes, they could make more sense of the way it is spelled, researchers suggest.
It was found that the use of morphemes in teaching spelling had not been incorporated into the national literacy strategy used in schools.
Nuance software or Learning Horizons software are just two examples of what SAM UK can offer educational institutions in this respect.
Teachers only have so much time to teach during the day. Therefore intelligent software can play a significant role in enhancing the daily learning curriculum both inside and outside of the classroom.
In this era of text messaging and abbreviations, spelling must not compromised or dumbed down simply because society has grown more impatient and less willing to tackle issues that cannot be solved instantly.
High educational standards and innovative analytical thought must be encouraged where it is in English, Science or any other subject.
And to think I thought a morpheme was something to do with Tony Hart!
For trustworthy advice on spelling, grammar and phonetics software for schools, colleges and universities, why not give one of our friendly SAM UK representatives a call? Phone now on 020 7193 5335.
