Contribution Of Morphological Awareness Research Articles

Morphological awareness and bilingual word learning: a longitudinal structural equation modeling study

This longitudinal study examined the contribution of morphological awareness to bilingual word learning of Malay–English bilingual children in Singapore where English is the medium of instruction. Participants took morphological awareness and lexical inference tasks in both English and Malay twice with an interval of about half a year, the first time at the end of Grade 3 (Time 1) and the second time at the end of the first semester of Grade 4 (Time 2). Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that within both languages, morphological awareness significantly predicted lexical inference at Time 1 as well as Time 2, and the contribution also became strengthened over time. Cross-linguistic SEM analyses showed that concurrently at both Time 1 and Time 2, English morphological awareness only had a significant indirect effect on Malay lexical inference. The exact indirect relationships, however, varied between Time 1 and Time 2. In addition, an indirect effect of Time 1 English morphological awareness on Time 2 Malay lexical inference also surfaced. These findings suggest concurrent as well as longitudinal cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness from English to Malay.

The contribution of morphological awareness to the spelling of morphemes and morphologically complex words in French

The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between morphological awareness and the spelling of morphemes and morphologically complex words among 75 third- and fourth-grade Francophone students of low socio-economic status. To reach this objective, we administered a dictation comprised of morphologically complex words with prefixes, bases, morphogrammes and suffixes. The target items had inconsistent or infrequent spellings, so their spelling required children to apply morphological knowledge. The children also completed three tests that measured morphological awareness. Correlational analyses indicated that a higher level of morphological awareness was significantly associated with the spelling of each type of morpheme. Regression analyses showed that it made a unique contribution only to the spelling of morphogrammes (4 %), suffixes (9 %), and morphologically complex words (5 %) after grade level, word identification, non-verbal intelligence and phonological awareness were partialled out. However, morphological awareness no longer predicted the spelling of morphologically complex words when the spelling of morphemes was entered in the regression model. These findings extending those of previous studies with respect to the role of morphological awareness in the production of morphologically complex written words and contribute to the discussion on the nature of the link between morphological awareness and word spelling.

A Quantile Regression Approach to Understanding the Relations Among Morphological Awareness, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension in Adult Basic Education Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the joint and unique contributions of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge at five reading comprehension levels in adult basic education (ABE) students. We introduce the statistical technique of multiple quantile regression, which enabled us to assess the predictive utility of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge at multiple points (quantiles) along the continuous distribution of reading comprehension. To demonstrate the efficacy of our multiple quantile regression analysis, we compared and contrasted our results with a traditional multiple regression analytic approach. Our results indicated that morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge accounted for a large portion of the variance (82%–95%) in reading comprehension skills across all quantiles. Morphological awareness exhibited the greatest unique predictive ability at lower levels of reading comprehension whereas vocabulary knowledge exhibited the greatest unique predictive ability at higher levels of reading comprehension. These results indicate the utility of using multiple quantile regression to assess trajectories of component skills across multiple levels of reading comprehension. The implications of our findings for ABE programs are discussed.

Morphological Awareness in Literacy Acquisition of Chinese Second Graders: A Path Analysis.

The present study tested a path diagram regarding the contribution of morphological awareness (MA) to early literacy acquisition among Chinese-speaking second graders ([Formula: see text]). Three facets of MA were addressed, namely derivational awareness, compound awareness and compound structure awareness. The model aimed to test a theory of causal order among measures of MA and literacy outcomes. Drawing upon multivariate path analysis, direct and indirect effects of MA were analyzed to identify their role in literacy performance among young children. Results revealed that all three facets of MA made significant contributions to lexical inference ability. In addition, compound awareness showed a unique and significant contribution to vocabulary knowledge. It was also observed that lexical inference ability had a mediating effect predictive of both vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Moreover, vocabulary knowledge mediated the effect of MA on reading comprehension. However, no significant contribution of MA to reading comprehension was found after controlling for lexical inference ability and vocabulary knowledge.

Investigating morphological awareness and the processing of transparent and opaque words in adults with low literacy skills and in skilled readers.

For adults with low literacy skills, the role of phonology in reading has been fairly well researched, but less is known about the role of morphology in reading. We investigated the contribution of morphological awareness to word reading and reading comprehension and found that for adults with low literacy skills and skilled readers, morphological awareness explained unique variance in word reading and reading comprehension. In addition, we investigated the effects of orthographic and phonological opacity in morphological processing. Results indicated that adults with low literacy skills were more impaired than skilled readers on items containing phonological changes but were spared on items involving orthographic changes. These results are consistent with previous findings of adults with low literacy skills reliance on orthographic codes. Educational implications are discussed.

Developmental changes in the role of different metalinguistic awareness skills in Chinese reading acquisition from preschool to third grade.

The present study investigated the relationship between Chinese reading skills and metalinguistic awareness skills such as phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness for 101 Preschool, 94 Grade-1, 98 Grade-2, and 98 Grade-3 children from two primary schools in Mainland China. The aim of the study was to examine how each of these metalinguistic awareness skills would exert their influence on the success of reading in Chinese with age. The results showed that all three metalinguistic awareness skills significantly predicted reading success. It further revealed that orthographic awareness played a dominant role in the early stages of reading acquisition, and its influence decreased with age, while the opposite was true for the contribution of morphological awareness. The results were in stark contrast with studies in English, where phonological awareness is typically shown as the single most potent metalinguistic awareness factor in literacy acquisition. In order to account for the current data, a three-stage model of reading acquisition in Chinese is discussed.

The relation between morphological awareness and reading and spelling in Greek: a longitudinal study

The aim of this longitudinal study is to examine the contribution of morphological awareness to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The target group (N = 404) consisted of children, aged 6–9 years at the start of the project, who learn literacy in Cyprus. Because there are no standardized measures of morphological awareness for Greek Cypriot children, morphological awareness measures were developed and validated. A concurrent analysis of the first wave of data collection showed that morphological awareness made a unique contribution to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The longitudinal analyses showed that morphological awareness predicted performance in reading eight months later, even after partialling out grade level, verbal intelligence, phonological awareness and initial scores in reading and spelling. This study makes theoretical, empirical and practical educational contributions. It shows the long term and specific relation of morphological awareness with reading in Greek and establishes the plausibility of a causal link between morphological awareness and reading, which must be tested in further research using intervention methods. In practice, this study contributes valid measures for assessing morphological awareness in Greek as well as a new measure of spelling skill.

Overheard: Know Your Morphemes

Julie Wolter, an expert in early language development, recently led an online chat about the contribution of morphological awareness to semantic understanding and literacy development. Here's what the Leader overheard ...

Morphological awareness in biliteracy acquisition: A study of young Chinese EFL readers

This study examined contribution of morphological awareness to reading comprehension in two typologically diverse languages, focusing on young Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) readers in China. It was particularly interested in how cross-linguistic similarities and variations in morphological awareness affected its transfer in Chinese–English biliteracy acquisition. Grades 5 and 6 children were measured in compound awareness and reading comprehension in English, and compound awareness, radical awareness, and reading comprehension in Chinese. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that compound awareness contributed to reading comprehension within both Chinese and English. In addition, over and above English compound awareness and Chinese reading comprehension, Chinese compound awareness, but not radical awareness, explained a unique amount of variance in English reading comprehension. After Chinese compound awareness was controlled for, English compound awareness, however, did not make a significant contribution to Chinese reading comprehension. These findings were discussed in light of the common and language/script-dependent aspects of morphological awareness in Chinese and English and the context of biliteracy acquisition.

On the nature of morphological awareness in Japanese–English bilingual children: A cross-linguistic perspective

While morphological awareness has received much attention to date, little is understood about how morphological awareness develops within bilingual children learning typologically different languages. Therefore, we investigated children's knowledge of inflections and derivations in Japanese and English, and also asked whether morphological awareness in one language predicted morphological awareness in the other. To that end, 24 Japanese learners of L2 English (ESL) and 21 English learners of Japanese as a heritage language (JHL) were recruited and participated in a range of tasks assessing both vocabulary and morphological knowledge. Cross-linguistic contributions of morphological awareness were identified in both directions (Japanese ↔ English), after controlling for age, IQ, and vocabulary knowledge. This bidirectional transfer was, however, identified only in the ESL group. The group-specific and reciprocal transfer observed is discussed in terms of morphological complexities and relative competence in each language. The potential role of different types of L2 instruction in morphological development is also discussed.

Roles of morphological awareness in the reading comprehension of Spanish-speaking language minority learners: Exploring partial mediation by vocabulary and reading fluency

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the direct and indirect roles of morphological awareness reading comprehension for Spanish-speaking language minority learners reading in English. Multivariate path analysis was used to investigate the unique contribution of derivational morphological awareness to reading comprehension as well as its indirect contributions via three hypothesized mediators for students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade (N= 101). Results indicated a significant unique contribution of morphological awareness, controlling for phonemic decoding, listening comprehension, reading vocabulary, word reading fluency, and passage reading fluency. Results further indicated significant indirect contributions of morphological awareness via reading vocabulary and passage fluency, but not via word reading fluency. Findings suggest that morphological awareness may play multiple important roles in second-language reading comprehension.

Morphological awareness and word reading in English language learners: Evidence from Spanish- and Chinese-speaking children

ABSTRACTThis study examined the effects of first language characteristics on the development of two aspects of English morphological awareness: derivational and compound awareness in English language learners (ELLs) with Chinese or Spanish as their first language. It also assessed the contribution of derivational and compound awareness to word reading in the two groups of ELLs as well as in monolingual English-speaking children. Participants included 89 Spanish-speaking ELLs, 77 Chinese-speaking ELLs, and 78 monolingual English-speaking children from Grade 4 and Grade 7. Results showed that Chinese-speaking ELLs performed similarly to monolingual English speakers on English compound awareness, and monolingual English speakers outperformed Spanish-speaking ELLs. Spanish-speaking ELLs and monolingual children, in contrast, both outperformed Chinese-speaking ELLs on derivational awareness. Another key finding was that in all three groups of children, morphological awareness made a unique contribution to word reading after controlling for nonverbal ability, maternal education, and other reading related variables. These results underscore the influence of first language structure on the development of second language morphological awareness, and the similar contribution of morphological awareness to word reading across monolinguals and ELLs.

Contribution of Morphological Awareness to Second-Language Reading Comprehension

This study investigates the contribution of second-language (L2) morphological awareness to foreign language reading comprehension. Tenth graders (n = 188) at a South Korean high school were assessed on 6 reading- and language-related variables: phonological decoding, listening comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, passage-level reading comprehension, metacognitive reading awareness, and morphological awareness. A series of 10 sequential regression analyses were conducted to determine the unique reading variance accounted for by each of the 2 morphological awareness tests included in this study (i.e., the Test of Morphological Structure–Revised [TMS–R], the Verbal Suffix Knowledge Test–Revised [VSKT–R]). The result revealed that morphological awareness was a significant predictor of L2 reading comprehension when other variables were controlled. Of the 2 tests, the TMS–R—a measure that primarily tested derivational morphological knowledge—showed stronger predictability. This provides evidence that morphological awareness, especially derivational morphological knowledge, is an important variable to be considered in explaining L2 reading comprehension among older readers.

Contribution of morphological awareness and lexical inferencing ability to L2 vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension among advanced EFL learners: testing direct and indirect effects

Within the Structural Equation Modeling framework, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of morphological awareness and lexical inferencing ability on L2 vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension among advanced Chinese EFL readers in a university in China. Using both regular z-test and the bootstrapping (data-based resampling) methods, the study found that morphological awareness contributed to L2 vocabulary knowledge directly and indirectly through the mediation of learners’ lexical inferencing ability. It was also observed that morphological awareness made no significant unique or direct contribution to reading comprehension after adjusting for vocabulary knowledge; its indirect effects on reading comprehension, however, were significant, both through the mediation of vocabulary knowledge alone, and the multiple mediations of lexical inferencing ability and vocabulary knowledge.

How Robust is the Contribution of Morphological Awareness to General Spelling Outcomes?

We present analyses of the impact of morphological awareness on spelling. Initial measures of morphological awareness and a number of control measures were taken at age 7 and spelling was assessed two years later (n = 115). Results indicated that the appreciation of morphology in oral language makes a contribution to spelling that is impervious to multiple control variables; it withstands controls for verbal and nonverbal intelligence, rapid automatized naming, verbal short-term memory, and phonological awareness, far more variables than included in prior studies. These results suggest that morphological awareness is a robust variable in determining spelling outcomes.

Contribution of morphological awareness to Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition.

This study is an investigation of the contribution of morphological awareness in Chinese-English biliteracy acquisition. Comparable tasks in Chinese and English were administered to test children's skills in morphological awareness, phonological awareness, oral vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension. The results showed that after the effect of Chinese-based predictors had been accounted for, English morphological awareness of compound structure still contributed to variance in both character reading and reading comprehension in Chinese. This finding indicates a cross-language morphological transfer in acquisition of two distinct writing systems. The transfer from English L2 to Chinese L1 is due to the bilingual children's rapidly increasing English L2 skills in their primary school years.

Contributions of morphology beyond phonology to literacy outcomes of upper elementary and middle-school students.

Using structural equation modeling the authors evaluated the contribution of morphological awareness, phonological memory, and phonological decoding to reading comprehension, reading vocabulary, spelling, and accuracy and rate of decoding morphologically complex words for 182 4th- and 5th-grade students, 218 6th- and 7th-grade students, and 207 8th- and 9th-grade students in a suburban school district. Morphological awareness made a significant unique contribution to reading comprehension, reading vocabulary, and spelling for all 3 groups, to all measures of decoding rate for the 8th/9th-grade students, and to some measures of decoding accuracy for the 4th/5th-grade and 8th/9th-grade students. Morphological awareness also made a significant contribution to reading comprehension above and beyond that of reading vocabulary for all 3 groups.