I. Teaching Content (Chapter / Unit, or Theme)
Chapter II Morphological Structure of English Words
II. Time Allotment
2 periods
III. Teaching Objectives and Requirements
After these two periods, students should be able to analyze the morphological structure of words.
IV. Key Points and Difficult Points in Teaching
Definition and classification of morphemes.
V. Teaching Methods and Means
Teacher’s explanation and students’ group discussion
VI. Teaching Process
1. Lead-in (5 mins)
Review what have been discussed last time.
2. Morphemes (20 mins)
2.1 Some basic information about morphemes
The morpheme is the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language, not divisible or analyzable into smaller forms. The term morpheme is derived from Greek “morph” +”-eme”, which denotes the smallest unit or the minimum distinctive feature of some class of things. A word may be analyzable into one or more morphemes. Present some examples.
A morpheme is also a two-facet language unit which possesses both sound and meaning.
A morpheme is not identical with a syllable since the latter has nothing to do with meaning. Use examples to illustrate this.
2.2 Allomorphs
A morpheme may take various shapes or forms. An allomorph is any of the variant forms of a morpheme as conditioned by position or adjoining sounds. Use examples to illustrate this.
3. Classification of morphemes
In general, there are two main types of classification of morphemes: free morphemes and bound morpheme, roots and affixes
3.1 Free morphemes and bound morphemes (15 mins)
A free morpheme is one that can be uttered alone with meaning. It can exist on its own without a bound morpheme.
A bound morpheme cannot stand by itself as a complete utterance; it must appear with at least one other morpheme, free or bound.
Illustrate with examples.
3.2 Roots and affixes
3.2.1 Roots (10 mins)
A root is the basic unchangeable part of a word, and it conveys the main lexical meaning of the word. Roots are either free or bound: (a) free roots refer to those that are free morphemes; (b) bound roots refer to those that are bound morphemes.
3.2.2 Affixes
Affixes are bound morphemes. They can be divided into inflectional and derivational types.
3.2.2.1 Inflectional affixes (15 mins)
Inflectional affixes: an inflect affix serves to express such meanings as plurality, tense, and the comparative or superlative degree. It does not form a new word with new lexical meaning when it is added to another word. Nor does it change the word-class of the word to which it is affixed.
Illustrate with examples.
3.2.2.2 Derivational affixes (25 mins)
Derivational affixes can derive a new word when they are added to another morpheme.
Many derivational affixes have a specific lexical meaning, for instance: -ism means “doctrine or point of view”.
Quite a number of derivational affixes have more than one meaning. For instance, the affix de-.
Derivational affixes have not only independent lexical meaning but also affective meaning. For instance, mis- is pejorative.
There are also derivational affixes which can be attached to words of different word.
The number of derivational affixes, although limited, is much larger than that of inflection affixes. New one are coined from time to time while old ones have dropped out of use, although they many have a fossilized existence in a number of words in the language.
Derivational morphemes or derivational affixes are commonly subdivided into prefix and suffix. Both prefixes and suffixes may be grouped according to (1) their linguistic origin or (2) their productivity.
VII. Reflection Questions and Assignment
Questions on Page 29 and Page 30.
VIII. Major Reference
[1] 张韵斐.《现代英语词汇学概论》. 北京：北京师范大学出版社，2004.
[2] 何张维友《英语词汇学》. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1999.
IX. Teaching Journal
