Daily word study involves dissecting prefixes, suffixes, and roots to hypothesize meaning. This activity primarily develops which skill?

• A. Decoding
• B. Blending
• C. Phonemic awareness
• D. Syllable awareness

Answer: (A)

Decoding is the best fit here. When students dissect prefixes, suffixes, and roots, they’re using knowledge of word parts to unlock both pronunciation and meaning of unfamiliar words. This morphemic analysis helps them decode by recognizing how parts signal meaning and guide pronunciation, enabling reading of words they haven’t memorized.

Blending focuses on joining individual sounds to form a word, which is a different skill. Phonemic awareness is about identifying and manipulating the smallest sound units, and syllable awareness is about breaking words into syllables. While important, those skills aren’t the primary goal of analyzing morphemes in daily word study.