Getting a Fix on Vocabulary, Using Words in the News: The System of Affixation and Compounding in English

Getting a Fix on Vocabulary The System of Affixation in English, using words in the News by: Raymond C. Clark and Janie L. Duncan Levels: Intermediate to Advanced. Secondary to Adult

The objective of Getting a Fix on Vocabulary is to expose students to the prefixes and suffixes, the affixes, and many of the more common bases used in English. These are explained in a simple and methodical way; each lesson presents a group of up to eight affixes with similar meanings. Common bases are introduced throughout the lessons and then summarized in a glossary for easy reference.

Awareness of the system of compounding and affixation and how it works and familiarity rather than mastery of this information are the students' goals. First they are given a brief explanation of the affixes, and then they do four or five exercises of increasing difficulty, checking their own answers.

Why use words in the News? The last of the exercises in each lesson is a brief, fictitious, but realistic newspaper article. These short readings are used for two reasons. The topics chosen allow the authors to introduce in context a vocabulary rich in compounds and affixation and useful to students who want to read news from around the world. These topics vary from energy issues to politics, from crime to the international development of peace. The second reason for using made-up "news"articles is because they are generally fun to read and students enjoy them. And when students are enjoying what they are doing, they are more apt to learn.