What type of skills supports vocabulary building and aids in spelling?

The correct choice focuses on morphological skills, which are crucial for vocabulary building and spelling because they involve the understanding of the structure of words. Morphological skills include the ability to recognize and manipulate the smallest units of meaning within a word, known as morphemes. This understanding enables learners to break down complex words into their base forms and affixes (prefixes and suffixes), helping them deduce the meanings of unfamiliar words and apply the proper spelling conventions.

For instance, knowing that the word "unhappiness" contains the prefix "un-" (indicating negation) and the root "happy" along with the suffix "-ness" (indicating a state of being) allows students to construct the meaning and spelling of this word more effectively. This morphological awareness enhances their ability to comprehend new vocabulary and improves their spelling accuracy, as they can apply these principles to other words that share the same morphemes.

Phonological skills primarily deal with sounds and may aid in pronunciation, while orthographic skills relate specifically to the visual representation of words and spelling rules. Syntactic skills focus on sentence structure and grammar, which, while important for overall language development, do not directly support vocabulary building in the same way that morphological skills do. Thus,