Transforming research on morphology into teacher practice

Abstract

It is difficult to transform research evidence into teacher practice; indeed it has been argued that educational research is not very useful to teachers. In this paper, we explore teacher knowledge about a relatively new area of research concerning the role morphemes play in spelling, and seek to transform their practice. We find that although reference to morphology is beginning to be made in English policy documents, teachers make limited use of morphology in their practice. After attending a course on the role of morphemes in spelling, teachers' own awareness of morphology increased and this was reflected in their practice. This in turn caused their pupils to make significant gains in spelling, compared to a control group. This reinforces the proposition that explicit instruction about morphemes is helpful to children's learning. It demonstrates the fact that research can be transformed into teacher practice, but it also illustrates the difficulties. Policy documentation alone is insufficient. Professional development can effect change but this may be hard to sustain. Children's gains are contingent on teachers continuing to dedicate class time to focused intervention.

Keywords:

• Morphology
• Professional development
• Spelling
• Teacher practice

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Economic and Social Research Council who funded this research (reference: L139 25 1015) as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. We would like to thank all the teachers who participated in our research. They were tremendously generous with their time and endlessly patient as we interviewed and videoed them and tested their children. In particular, the teachers who attended the morphology course were truly our partners in this research, testing their children, marking and entering data, teaching the interventions, nagging us about the rigour of our research and the management of the intervention sessions. Thank you all.

Our participant teachers and schools were: Maggie Bacon, Nick Bonell, Kay Croft, Karen Henry—Kingswood Primary; Louisa Lochner—Gateway; Kathy Thornton—Kingsgate Primary; Stephen Buzzard—New End Primary; Lucinda Midgely—Linton Mead Primary; Rachel Webber—Waterside SEBD Primary; Sameena Bashir—Fullwood Primary School; Karen Bloomfield—Coppice Primary School; Caroline Havers—Mayespark Primary School; Carina Mcleod—Cleveland Junior School; Sophia Shaikh, Barbara Turner—Woodlands Junior School; Deborah Walters—Christchurch Primary School; Nathalie Allexant—Gallions Primary School; Bryony Roberts—Edith Neville School.