English Language Arts and Word treatment (Latin)

Speech to Print (Moats, 2020) is an excellent resource that not only aligns with the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th edition but is also a guidebook that helps practitioners apply theory to classroom practice. As Moats described, the “structure of the English writing system includes word treatment, phoneme-grapheme correspondences, spelling, pattens and conventions of letter sequence, and morphology” (Moats, 2020; pg. 94), and in the last blog I used those guiding points to explore the word eukaryote, which is of Greek origin. Using the same ideology as Moats explains, I will take the word recalcitrant found on page 1037, study it’s internal structure, and apply the content covered in Speech to Print. 

Phonetic transcription: ri-ˈkal-sə-trənt

phoneme-grapheme correspondences: 

phoneme

 

 

 

 

 

/ĭ/ 

 

 

 

 

/k/

 

 

 

 

/˘/

 

 

 

 

 

/s/

 

 

 

 

/ə/

 

 

 

 

 

 

/ə/

 

 

grapheme

 

r

 

e

 

c

 

a

 

l

 

c

 

i

 

t

 

r

 

a

 

n

 

t

In analyzing the word there are a few points to discuss: 

 

·      The first sound is /r/ 

·      The second sound is /ĭ/ and the sixth most common way to spell that sound is with the letter e as in enjoy. 

·      The third sound is /k/ and the first most common way to spell that sound is with the letter c.

o   Moats (2020) explains on page 113 that “the letter c spells /k/ when it is followed by vowels: a, o, and u. 

·      The fourth sound is /ă/. 

·      The fifth sound is /l/.

·      The sixth sound is /s/ and the second most common way to spell that sound is with the letter c.

o   Moats (2020) explains on page 109 that “the phoneme /s/ is often spell with letter c followed by the letters e, i, and y…and these consonant sounds are described as soft…”

·      The seventh sound is /ə/ and the fourth common way to spell that sound is the letter i. 

o   According to Moats (2020) vowels that represent the schwa sound occur in unaccented syllables. Further, “vowel reduction (to schwa) presents a problem for children learning to spell because schwa can be spelled with any of the vowel letters in standard orthography, so students must learn to spelling of vowels on the basis of other, related words or by memorization” (pg. 45). In fact, there are 28 ways to spell the /ə/ sound.   

·      The eight sound is /t/

·      The ninth sound is /r/

·      The tenth sound is /ə/ and the second most common way to spell that sound is with the letter a. 

o   This schwa follows the same explanation as above. It is also important to note that “schwa has no special letter in spelling although the letters, a, i, and o are used most often for the sound…” (Moats, 2020; pg. 74).  

·      The eleventh sound is /n/ 

·      The twelfth and final sound is /t/. 

After analyzing the word, we can determine that there are twelve distinctive phonemes, and the accented syllable is in ·cal​·​  In the word itself, we notice the prefix -re- which has four entries on page 1034 in the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th ed. The meaning of this prefix is described as ‘back’ in the word recalcitrant. The Latin root is calcitrare which means to kick. This root comes from cal that is defined by Merriam-Webster’s online as heel. For example, one could picture a recalcitrant horse kicking back at the rider and refusing to move. 

123RF 2020

Further, trant comes from tranter and where the dictionary defines as “one that does odd jobs of transporting or peddling usually with a horse and cart.” Providing access to this type of linguistic knowledge aids students with the fundamental knowledge of decoding and encoding words and building from morphological units. Then students can see and hear other words with similar sounds and spelling patterns in the beginning (i.e., requital or refractory), middle (i.e., calcitonin) and end (i.e., latrant). We could continue breaking the word apart and discuss how -ant is a suffix meaning performs or performing.

Therefore, when we critically reflect on the word’s definition “obstinately defiant of authority or restraint” and consider all the elements learned, we can put the word into perspective. 

As practitioners, we need to make the best choices that align with the Science of Reading which provide our students the best access to linguistic knowledge and continue to expose them to practices above.  

Until next time, 

Independence through Literacy Coaching Starts now!

Shawn Anthony Robinson PhD

Moats, L. C. (2020). Speech to Print. Language Essentials for Teachers . Paul H.

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