NOTE: Please read all the comments I have made and rewrite your project by

clicking at SECOND DRAFT. Remember that everybody has to participate.

UNIVERSIDAD TECNICA DE AMBATO

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS HUMANAS Y DE LA EDUCACIÓN

CARRERA DE IDIOMAS

PROJECT PROPOSAL

TITLE: ​Lack of knowledge using prefixes in the English learning process.

Solution:​ Create a pamphlet that contains all the information about prefixes, examples and
exercise.

AUTHORS:
Alicia Caiza
Betty Cajamarca
Eugenia Guananga
Jessica Jimenez
Jairo Luisa

Ambato- Ecuador

July 2013

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 Table of Contents
PROJECT PROPOSAL. 1
PROJECT PROPOSAL. 3
1. Current Conditions or situation on the class observed. 3
2. The problem.. 4
3. Justification. 4
4. Who will benefit. 4
5. Operational Objectives. 5
5.1 General Objective. 5
5.2 Specific Objectives. 5
6. Steps for implementing the project. 5
7. Measurable Criteria to evaluate the project-ongoing monitoring and final evaluation. 5
8. Arguments supported by theoretical literature. 6
Contribution. 11
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 13
ANNEXES. 14

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 PROJECT PROPOSAL
TITLE​:​Lack of knowledge using prefixes in the English learning process.
PLACE: ​English Language Teacher Training Program of the School of Human
Sciences and Education of the Technical University of Ambato.
SUPERVISOR​: ​Dra. Mg. Wilma Suárez
LEVEL: ​4 “A”

GENERAL BASIS:

1.​ Current Conditions or situation on

​

the class observed

Nowadays, many students don’t have a strong knowledge about Phonology and
Morphology, how words are formed and how they are pronounced. Students don’t
develop their skills, they don’t get and practice new vocabulary, because they don’t
understand that using prefixes they could create new words.
For example, from an adjective we can derive new words and transform it as a new
adjective, or a noun, or an adverb. Using Internet we can see how from one word we can
get at least 2.000 new words using prefixes and suffixes. In our Phonology´s classes we
could see how a word changed using affixes and if we would get them, we will improve
our vocabulary.
When students start the English teaching Program, they don’t know about the uses or
how to use prefixes and suffixes. They looked for each word in dictionaries and when they
didn’t find them students got confused. They didn’t know what parts of speech were. This
problem continued until high levels. Be mentioned that many students who are in Fourth
Level in this program don’t know about prefixes and how they help to improve our
vocabulary.

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 2.​ The problem
​

The lack of knowledge of the correct use of prefixes on fourth level students from School of
Human Sciences and Education English Language Teacher Training Program ,according to the
level that they are. It is a problem to fourth level students, because they don't have the capacity
of make new words,also they have problems using prefixes when writing ,we don't know how
the words are composed and we don't know how identify prefixes and suffixes for this reason we
get wrong spelling after that they don't understand the meaning of the words and this affects all
the subjects in the morphological grammar for misconception about prefixes. Another part of the
problem is that students did not learn the use of prefixes in an appropriate moment and place
like in their high school, for this reason , now in a superior level they need to apply this
knowledge , but they don't know how. This is the big problem that a conscious group of student
are experiencing. For this reason our group has a proposal that would be very useful, as well as
for students and for professors.Because students will have a tool to find specific information that
is clear and concrete, and by this way of study all students we would have more knowledge of
the correct use of prefixes and will be able to recognize each.Finally teachers will also benefit
because through this blog they will have access to watch the information that will be published
on this website to give your students.

Provide more information. Why is it a problem?

3. Justification
Prefixes play an important role on the learning process of the English language.Also,they
help to increase the vocabulary and it facilitates the way that students express their opinions
or ideas inside of class or in real situations of communication. For this important reason, we
decided to create an interactive blog, because for fourth level students it is more easy and
practical surf in internet and learn that read a book or a pamphlet. In addition, students will
cultivate an inference and comprehension skills, because depending on how a word is
composed they could infer the meaning and the part of the speech of a new word.

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4.​ Who will benefit
​

We hope our hard work to benefit the following:

● We, the current students of the Fourth semester section A of the English Language
Teaching School of Ambato’s Technical University. We as part of this group have
great interest on the advancement of our knowledge about prefixes.
● Future students of the English Language Teaching School of Ambato’s Technical
University as we expect for this project to have transcendence in order to be helpful
and useful for new generations of students.

5.​ Operational Objectives 

​

5.1 General Objective

To create an interactive blog that contains relevant informations about prefixes and its
correct uses with practical exercises, instructional videos and useful enlightenments. 

5.2 Specific Objectives​(2 or 3)

1. To increase the knowledge of prefixes in students
2. To include the blog as a support material for the teaching and learning process
3. To exchange knowledge between students and teachers using an interactive blog
where all those interested in learning can add information.

6.​ Steps for implementing the project

​

To implement this project its necessary to follow this steps:

● Apply a survey to know what tools students need to improve their knowledge
about prefixes.
● Search the most common prefixes and their proper uses.
● Design an interactive blog with general information about prefixes.
● Present the blog to the students of the English Language Teacher Training
Program of the Universidad Técnica de Ambato.

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 7.​ Measurable Criteria to evaluate the
​

project-ongoing monitoring and

final ​evaluation
7.1 ​Data gathering by the means of a survey in order to assess the situation
described previously in this project.
7.1.2​ ​Surveys’ results.
A total of 20 students were surveyed and their answers were:
7.1.1.1​ ​Where have you been taught about the use of prefixes?
Five answered high school, fifteen at university.
7.1.1.2 Are you able to identify and use prefixes in a correct way?
Twelve answered yes, eight no.
7.1.1.3 As a language learner, do you think it is important to have good
information about the use of prefixes?
Nineteen answered yes, one no.
7.1.1.4 How often do you use prefixes in your writing or when you speak?
Six answered always, ten often, two hardly ever and two never.
7.1.1.5 What would be the most effective way to teach prefixes to all the
students at this program besides the instruction they normally get in
class?
Seven answered to show presentation in the classroom, three to print
pamphlets, seven to create a blog and three to organize a seminar
7.1.1.6 Would you use a pamphlet with information about prefixes to
improve your English knowledge?
Seven answered yes, thirteen no.
7.1.3 Conclusions
We can appreciate a vast majority of students need to learn about prefixes .

We know that it's important to follow the progress of our proposal with the aim to know if it
has good results.
* Make surveys to know the student's opinion about the creation a blog that is our proposal .
* Teacher ´s feedback about the impact or influence that this new complement about prefixes
cause on student´s learning.
* Evaluate the Phonology and Morphology´s quizzes and exams to identify the result in these

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subjects
* Observate how many people access blog as source of research.

8.​ Arguments supported by

​

theoretical literature
All our arguments are supported by theoretical literature from: books, internet,
surveys and an interview. We think that morphology plays an important role in the English
learning process. For this reason we have collected valuable and useful information to
understand the morphology as clear as possible.

An important value information is related with the definition of morphology.

We could define ​Morphology ​as the study of the internal structure of the words, this words is
Greek, where ​morph-​: “shape or form” and -​ology:​ “the study of something”. Another
important definition that we found was that Morphology as the study of ​“forms of words”,
thanks morphology we can understand the origin of words that we included in our vocabulary.
As students that are learning the English language the morphology is the essential pillar to
dominate fluently this universal language. Its important to know the part of the speech that a
word have into a sentence, and we just know it depending of how is composed.
In texts is easy to identify the words, because these are separated of spaces, but in linguisti
the ​words​ are the smallest independent units of the language and ​Morphemes ​are the
smallest units of the language with meaning. Morphemes can be divide in two groups: Bound
and Free morphemes. ​Bound​ means the morphemes that have to attach to another
morpheme to receive a meaning (ful, ness, re, un, etc). ​Free​ morpheme means all the words
that can stand on its own (house, high, us, to,etc).

All the words are divide in parts, each part has a name. We could divide the word at least
in two parts.​ 1)​ The root, and ​2)​ The affix. First at all, we want to give you a clear definition of
these parts. The most precise and concrete contribution to the word´s meaning is called the
“core of a word” ​or the root of the word. This can be free. For example: horse, work, happy,
help, etc. An affix are the morphemes that cannot be stand on its own and it necessarily be
attach to a root for receive a meaning. Affixes are divide in : Prefix, Infix, Suffix, and
Circumfix.

* Prefix:​ it is an affix that precede the root. ​Ex. ​UN​happy

* Infix: ​it is an affix that is inserted in the middle of the word.​Ex.​ abso-BLOODY-lutely
* Suffix:​ it is an affix that is at the end of the word. ​Ex.​ Horse​S
* Circumfix:​ it is an affix that has two parts, one is at the beginning and another at the end.

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 Ex. ​GE​- bouw-d-​BUILT.

​ Many underprepared readers lack basic knowledge of word origins or etymology, such as
Latin and Greek roots, as well as discrete understanding of how a prefix or suffix can alter the
meaning of a word. Learning clusters of words that share a common origin can help students
understand content-area texts and connect new words to those already known. For example,
a secondary teacher (Allen​9​) reported reading about a character who suffered from amnesia.
Teaching students that the prefix ​a–​ derives from Greek and means "not," while the base
mne–​ means "memory" reveals the meaning. After judicious teacher scaffolding, students
were making connections to various words in which the prefix ​a–​ changed the meaning of a
base word (e.g., ​amoral, atypical​). This type of contextualized direct teaching meets the
immediate need of understanding an unknown word while building generative knowledge that
supports students in figuring out difficult words in future reading.

Learning and reviewing high frequency affixes will equip students with some basic tools for
word analysis, which will be especially useful when they are prompted to apply them in rich
and varied learning contexts. The charts below summarize some of the affixes worth
considering depending on your students' prior knowledge and English proficiency.

Prefix Meaning % of All Example

Prefixed Words
un not; reversal of 26 uncover

re again, back, really 14 review

in / im in, into, not 11 insert

dis away, apart, negative 7 discover

en / em in; within; on 4 entail

mis wrong 3 mistaken

pre before 3 prevent

a not; in, on; without 1 atypical

9. Bibliography

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Books.-
* An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure.
Chapter 2: Section 3.3 “Kinds of morpheme: root, affix, combining form.” pg. 20

Internet.-
* ​Morphology and Word Formation
url: ​http://wac.colostate.edu/books/sound/chapter5.pdf
PDF Document pg. 121-124

Survey.-
* ​A survey applied on fourth level students

10.​ Annexes
​

Annexes 1
Technical University of Ambato.
School of Human Sciences and Education
English Language Teacher Training Program

DEAR PARTICIPANT:

Thank you for taking the time to answer the following questionnaire. Your opinion is
very important to develop this investigation project.

The objective of this survey is to find out information regarding the students´
knowledge on the use of prefixes and the best ways to help them learn about them.

Please answer each question honestly. Your answers will be kept anonymous.

INSTRUCTIONS: Mark with an X in the box that you agree with and provide any

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 extra information ​if ​necessary.

1. Where have you been taught about the use of prefixes?

At high school
At university
Nowhere

2. Are you able to identify and use prefixes in a correct way?

Yes No

3. As a language learner, do you think it is important to have good information about the use of
prefixes?
Yes No
4. What kinds of problems do language learners have if they do not know the use of prefixes?
5. How often do you use prefixes in your writing or when you speak?

Always
Often
Hardly ever
Never

6. Please write 5 words that contain ​different prefixes.

7. What would be the most effective way to teach prefixes to all the students at this program
besides the instruction they normally get in class?
* To give short presentations in each of the classrooms.
* To print pamphlets with information about prefixes.
*To create a blog about the use of prefixes.
*To organize a seminar about the use of prefixes.

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8.Would you use a pamphlet with information about prefixes to improve your English
knowledge? If so, why?
Yes No

Thanks.

Annexes 2 (pictures)

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