Quote: " It's not enough to have students memorize one definition of a word; to develop full word knowledge, they need to learn more about a word."
Comment: As I was reading the chapter about vocabulary I felt my own understanding enlarged. I epecially enjoyed the chart that showed English words vs. Latin words vs. Greek words. Looking at the lists really helped me to make connections and helped it make sense in my brain. I think this is especially useful because English uses lots and lots of borrowed words so our words do not follow the same pattern.
Question: How could the study of roots of word help an ELL student better grasp English?
I think knowing where something comes from in general just gives you a better idea of how to use or treat it. English is a very confusing language with many exceptions to the rules. I think seeing that all of our words come from different places can help them realize why there are so many differences. I also think that learning roots helps in general with reading and comprehension. Learning what certain parts of a word mean helps you relate different, but similar, words together because of their root. More words will open up unto them if they learn the meaning of simple parts of the language as well as different words.
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