Reflection 1

Standard 1.a Reflection: ESC 757

Standard 1.a. Language as a System. Candidates demonstrate understanding of
language as a system, including phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics,
discourse varieties, aspects of social and academic language, rhetorical registers, and
writing conventions. Teachers use their knowledge of these inter-related aspects of
language to help ELLs acquire English language and literacy to achieve in content areas.

During my course in Linguistics (ESC 757) at Lehman College we looked at
language as a system and how the influence of the first language can play a large
role in second language acquisition. For one homework assignment we took an in-
depth look at morphology, the study of the structure and form of words in a
language.
This artifact demonstrates my understanding of Standard 1.a. because I read
Breaking down Words to Build Meaning: Morphology, Vocabulary, and Reading
Comprehension in the Urban Classroom by Michael J. Kieffer and Nonie K. Lesaux
(2007) and summarized the four principles needed for teaching morphology to
students. Along with this article I also demonstrated an understanding of
morphology by locating inflectional errors in sample ELL writings. The standard
requires that teachers educate students on how to tackle unknown words and use
strategies to determine their meaning, and this artifact along with the articles
provided strategies on how to do so.
This assignment taught me the importance of teaching and incorporating
morphology strategies in my lessons, as that was something I never really went out
of my way to consider when designing lesson plans. The article also provided me
with a lot of strategies and ways to implement learning morphology in every day
lessons. Since I am not in a full time classroom yet I do not have much time to teach
my own lessons or design my own lesson plans so incorporating morphology into
my lessons and seeing it through is something I need to work on and grow as an
instructor.