Do you teach a Cambridge exam class or simply want to give learners the tools to boost their vocabulary? English teacher and Learn English with Cambridge presenter Angela Piédrola is back to highlight the importance of word formation. Furthermore, she offers engaging exercises to help learners practise prefixes and suffixes.
Why is it important to teach word formation?
When it comes to mastering a language, vocabulary is one of the most important aspects, but why? To begin with, it can be a stepping stone to high level language use and what is more, it helps learners to achieve fluency. Apart from this, books and classrooms both emphasize the learning of new words. As teachers, we should bear in mind the relevance that this has in language teaching. In order to learn new words faster it is of paramount importance to teach prefixes and suffixes. Now you may be asking why is knowing word formation absolutely essential? To put it briefly, word formation is an effective strategy for learners to quickly expand on their vocabulary.
Having knowledge of word formation facilitates vocabulary learning as learners acquire skills to decode and encode new words, therefore becoming more autonomous and independent learners. With this in mind, it’s important to dedicate a significant amount of time to work on this core language skill.
Learn more about prefixes and suffixes in my YouTube videos:
Word formation exercises and Cambridge exams
In Cambridge exams, part 3 of the B2 First, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency Reading and Use of English is called ‘word formation’. In these word formation exercises, the learner is given a word. Then, they need to change the prefix or suffix to put the word into the correct form so that it makes sense.
Firstly, it is helpful to examine the sentence to identify the part of speech – what type of word is it? Is it a noun, verb, adjective or adverb? Knowing this will help learners to decode the text and decide if the missing word is positive or negative.
Taking this further, learners can think about how to practise this daily, even when not doing exam preparation. When practicing with other English speakers, learners can quickly add new words, such as negative adjectives, to their vocabulary bank. Or perhaps they may come across a noun form of a verb they know when scrolling through social media. Tuning in to language around them will allow learners to see it in context and add it to their toolbox.
Exercises to teach word formation in the English language classroom
Here are some different ways to play with words while learning to help your students.
1. The hidden word
| Aim: to practise noun suffixes and negative prefixes to complete sentences |
| Exam link: B2 First Reading and Use of English part 3: word formation |
| Activity type: in this speaking activity students must complete sentences using noun suffixes and negative prefixes |
| Classroom dynamics: pairwork |
| Time taken: approximately 15 minutes |
| Preparation: prepare a list of sentence pairs for Student A and Student B with words of the same family (see examples below) |
| Procedure: Form pairs, with learners as Student A or Student B and give out the worksheets.Tell students that for this activity, they need to complete their sentences with a word that is hidden in their partner’s sentences. Student A reads the first sentence to Student B. Student B listens carefully to find the word that they need to fill the gap and complete their first sentence. Student B transforms the word by adding the correct suffix or prefix. They should make sure their sentence has the same meaning as Student A’s sentence.Student B then reads the next sentence to Student A who completes his/her sentence number 2 so that it has the same meaning as Student B’s sentence.Once pairs have completed all the sentences, they can check with their partners. |
| Adaptation/extension: Fast finishers can write their own sentences and give them to other groups to try.Leave the keywords underlined for students to prompt their partners, if you think they may need some help. To make it more challenging, remove the underlines on the worksheet and students need to identify which word they need to transform.A different approach to this activity could be to cut up the sentences and place them around the room. Each pair is then given a list of gapped sentences. They have to look around the room in order to find a sentence which has the same meaning as their gapped sentences. Once a sentence is found, they need to think about the missing word. |
Exercise Examples:
Here are some examples of sentences for the worksheets. We used the Cambridge Dictionary to create these sentences.
| Student A I find reading the book very amusing.I ____________ of all the violence that is shown on television.We expected a lot of applicants for the job.This was a very impressive ________ by the young player, who scored 14 points within the first ten minutes. Student B answers: 1 amusement, 3 expectations |
| Student B I play the piano for my own _________I don’t approve of your plan. It is very risky.The holidays lived up to my ________. We really had fun.Rafa Nadal performed really well yesterday. He is one of the best players in the world. Student A answers: 2 disapprove, 4 performance. |
2. Correct the suffixes
| Aim: to review suffix and irregular endings for adjectives, nouns and adverbs |
| Exam link: B2 First Reading and Use of English part 3: word formation |
| Activity type: an error correction activity where students identify and correct word formation errors |
| Classroom dynamics: individuals / pairwork |
| Time taken: approximately 10 minutes |
| Preparation: make a copy of the activity for each student |
| Procedure: Give out a copy of the activity to each student.Tell students that they are going to individually read different sentences about food. In each sentence there is one word which is in bold. They have to decide if the form of the word is correct or incorrect and if the sentence is true or false.When they are finished, they can compare answers with a partner. |
| Adaptation/extension:Ask students to do an internet search for other interesting facts about other topics: animals, politics, sports, countries ….They can also write their own sentences using the adjective, noun and adverbs suffixes. |
| One of the world’s most poisoning mushrooms is called the Autumn Skullcap.There has been a slow increase in food prices and shortisms of food supplies around the world.Becoming food confident doesn’t happen overnight. Eating mindfully and choosing food that nourishes your body takes practice.In order to cope with this rising demand, factory farming methods were introduced along with the developing of genetic engineering.Spanish food can be characteristic as hot and spicy. Answers: 1. poisonous – (true), 2. shortages (false, rapid increase), 3. correct (true), 4. development (true), 5. characterised (false, not Spanish food but Indian/Mexican etc). |
Looking for more word formation activities? Check out this word formation game from Mike Astbury. Morphemes and their use in colloquial speech may also interest higher level learners.
Do you have any other go-to word formation activities or games? Share them in the comments below!