Chapter 16 The Development of Morphological Concepts In the Youngest School Children

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the development of morphological concepts in the youngest school children. Two features common to grammatical concepts are meaning and the formal characteristics of words or word combinations. Learning these concepts requires an awareness of the relationship existing between the forms and meaning of language. Students can learn a particular grammatical concept provided that they understand the definite meaning and are then able to associate it with the corresponding verbal material. The distinctive feature of grammatical concepts is that they possess the highest degree of generalization and abstraction in language. The process of becoming aware of this segmentation of speech and correlating the two aspects of the word, the “external” or sound composition aspect and the “internal” or meaning aspect, is the necessary prerequisite for further development of the concept “word.” Making the distinction between these two aspects of the word is essential for comprehending instruction in formal grammar, such as the lexical grammatical grouping of words which is generally begun in grade one.