3951, Resource, Bowers, Structured Word Inquiry: Instruction for Building Literacy and Critical Thinking for Learners of All Ages and Abilities

“Structured word inquiry” Bowers and Kirby (2010) literacy instruction that engages learners of all ages and abilities by making sense of our surprisingly logical spelling system. English spelling can only be understood through scientific investigation of the interrelationship of morphology (bases & affixes), etymology (historical influences) and phonology (grapheme-phoneme correspondences).

The evidence from multiple meta-analyses is that morphological instruction brings literacy benefits to learners in general, but in particular for less able and younger students (see more on research on back).

According to the research morphology should be a feature of instruction from the start. However, we have little research about how best to teach teach morphology. Research on SWI is promising, but has only just begun. The practical work gong on with SWI in classrooms and tutoring around the world offers educators and researches needed models of what such instruction can look like. 

The resource includes an interview with Dr. Bowers and a brief video on his work.