ALTA Great lakes presents

The Morphological Matrix: A Tool for Building, Spelling, Word Reading, Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

$40 Members | $50 Non-Members | 2 CEs

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ABSTRACT

In the last couple of years, the matrix and word sum have gained much attention in the reading research. In a literacy podcast, Linnea Ehri (2025), commented that the work of PeteBowers and Sue Hegland had motivated her to revise her theory of orthographic mapping(1998) to recognize morphology as providing an equal role in binding words into sight words. Bowers and Kirby (2010) was the first intervention to use the matrix and word sum in their vocabulary intervention. That study introduced the instructional approach called“Structured Word Inquiry” and the“morphology as a binding agent” theory and found generative vocabulary students for the SWI condition with Gr 4/5students.Devon shire et al. (2013) used these tools in an SWI frame with 5-7 year old students and found significant gains for reading and spelling over a phonics condition. This 90-minute talk will help teachers, tutors, and parents understand how these tools are not just a tool for teaching “morphology.” Rather, they provide tools to help us understand grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Matrice scan be leveraged for building vocabulary with large groups of words. But a tiny matrix with a base and an<-es> and <-ing> suffix is enough to turn “does” from an “exception” to memorize into an opportunity to explain how spelling works to represent the interrelation of pronunciation and meaning. This talk will provide many practical examples of how to integrate these tools (along with etymology, grapheme-phoneme diagrams) to support literacy learning for students of all ages and abilities

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Peter Bowers, Ph.D.

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Can't make the live event? A recording will be emailed to you 2 weeks post-event.

• Event registration is non-refundable upon purchase.
• Recordings will be made available on or around October 20, 2026