Morphological Instruction Research Articles

Breaking boundaries: Word analysis strategies that draw on students' full linguistic repertoires

AbstractThis paper examines the need to integrate students' full linguistic repertoires into literacy instruction in middle and high school classrooms. Traditional monoglossic approaches often neglect the linguistic assets multilingual students bring, limiting their academic potential. Drawing on translanguaging theory, this paper explores three strategies—bilingual morpheme mapping, comparative morphological analysis, and multilingual word walls. These strategies seek to enhance vocabulary instruction by utilizing students' home languages and ultimately cultivating a deeper understanding of word formation and meaning. The benefits of such approaches extend beyond multilingual students, offering all students more comprehensive vocabulary knowledge across disciplines. While the advantages of these methods are evident, the paper also identifies limitations and calls for further research to explore the long‐term impacts on literacy development. By advocating for professional learning focused on translanguaging and morphological instruction, this paper highlights the need to incorporate word strategies that enhance literacy for all students.

The Effects of Morphological Instruction on Literacy Outcomes for Children in English-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In this pre-registered meta-analysis, we investigated the effectiveness of morphology instruction on literacy outcomes for primary school children in English-speaking countries. We were interested in overall reading and spelling outcomes, but we also looked separately at results for trained and untrained words in order to determine whether there was evidence of transfer to untrained words. Further, we were interested in whether results transferred beyond the word level to reading comprehension outcomes. Our screening process revealed 28 eligible studies, which contributed 177 effect sizes to the analyses. Robust variance estimation methods were used to account for dependence between effect sizes. Overall, effect sizes on reading and spelling outcomes were small to moderate. Effect sizes were larger for trained words than untrained words. There was evidence of transfer to untrained words for spelling outcomes, but not for reading outcomes. There was also no clear evidence of effects on reading comprehension outcomes. In general, the evidence was characterised by large amounts of heterogeneity and imprecision, which was reflective of the wide variety within and between studies in terms of intervention content, outcome measures, intervention dosage and type of control group. We discuss the limitations of the current literature and make recommendations for future research and practice in the field of morphology instruction. (207 words – max 250).

Transformative impacts of explicit morphological instruction on irregular inflectional acquisition in Saudi EFL learners

The study aimed to investigate the transformative effect of overt instruction on the acquisition of irregular inflectional morphemes by Saudi EFL learners. A mixed-method approach consisting of quantitative data and complemented with a qualitative descriptive analysis was adopted for this study to measure the transformative effect of explicit instruction through pretest and posttest procedures. Input Processing Theory and Processability Theory were used in this study to see the transformative effect of overt instruction between the control and experimental groups. The study employed visual aids and metalinguistic discussion instructional techniques to treat the experimental group with a one-hour session once a week, other than the normal classroom instruction sessions. In total, it continued for seven consecutive weeks. The results demonstrated that a p-value less than 0.001 for all three hypotheses developed in the study posited in favour of the alternative hypothesis and rejected the null hypothesis. Hence, the two groups significantly differed in their vocabulary knowledge: morpheme recognition and morpheme use in writing. The results support the hypotheses developed initially in this study that overt instruction of inflectional irregular morphological knowledge transfers to the EFL learners’ writing skills and facilitates L2 acquisition. The study has significant implications for foreign language learners, L2 teachers, and researchers.

The effects of listening-based lexical focus-on-form on the learning of morphologically complex words

This study explored the effects of listening-based lexical focus-on-form (lexical FonF) on the acquisition and retention of morphologically complex words. One hundred eighty-two adult English learners with two levels of English proficiency (higher and lower proficiency) from a public university in mainland China were assigned to three different conditions: morphological instruction (MI), an experimental condition in which morphological instruction related to target words was provided in addition to a series of audio passages containing the target items; word meaning explanation (WME), an experimental condition in which explanations of the word meaning of target items were offered in addition to the listening activity; and one control condition (CT) in which learners were exposed only to the listening activity. The results indicated that lexical FonF led to more vocabulary gains than purely incidental FonF and that the MI condition significantly outperformed the WME condition in both the acquisition and retention of morphologically complex words. In addition, no interaction was detected between the preintervention proficiency level and word learning conditions.

The Effect Of Teaching Basics Of English Morphology On EFL Students' Vocabulary Mastery

This study investigates the impact of introducing the basics of English morphology to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. Morphology, the study of word formation and structure, is fundamental to understanding and mastering any language. The research focuses on how foundational knowledge of English morphology influences EFL students' language acquisition and proficiency. By incorporating morphological instruction into the curriculum, students can enhance their vocabulary, improve their reading comprehension, and develop a deeper understanding of grammatical structures. The study involved a group of EFL students who received systematic instruction in morphology, including the identification and usage of roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Pre- and post-tests were administered to measure the student's progress. The results indicated a significant improvement in the student's linguistic skills, particularly their ability to decode and construct words and overall language comprehension. The findings suggest that integrating morphology into EFL teaching strategies can provide substantial benefits, facilitating more effective language learning and boosting students' confidence in English. This research underscores the importance of morphological awareness in EFL education and offers practical implications for educators aiming to enhance their teaching methods to support student success in acquiring English.

The impact of morphological density on reading comprehension in Arabic: A comparison between typically developing and children with reading disabilities.

This study examined the influence of morphological density on reading comprehension in Arabic and whether this influence differs between typical and children with reading disabilities. Morphological density in Arabic is a text feature that refers to using bound morphemes, creating dense words with more morphemes. The participants were 182 fifth-graders, both typical and children with reading disabilities. Children were assessed in reading comprehension by reading texts with low- or high-morphological density. Findings revealed that overall morphological density impacted reading comprehension performance. That is, scores were found to be higher while reading low-density text than high-density text. Moreover, an interaction of morphological density condition by reading proficiency showed no density text effect among typical developing readers. However, a difference was obtained in the children with reading disabilities whereas low-morphological density text score was higher than the score of high-morphological density text. The study highlights the importance of morphological awareness in reading comprehension in Arabic, extending that morphological density plays an important role in this process. The results are discussed in light of the lexical quality hypothesis and simple view of reading model. The findings imply the need of explicit morphological instruction for dense morphological forms.

A Literature Review of Morphological Awareness Interventions and the Effects on Literacy Outcomes

Ten morphological awareness intervention studies, conducted in English with students in kindergarten through 12th grade between 2008 and 2020, were synthesized in this article. Research in the studies focused on the effects of morphological awareness intervention on literacy outcomes of students who struggle with reading and writing—including students with disabilities. The 10 studies included a total of 411 participants ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. All 10 studies used an experimental pre/post-test design to determine growth in morphological awareness as well as assessed areas in word identification, spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and written composition. The assessments across the studies varied and included standardized and nonstandardized measures. Effect sizes for standardized measures ranged from 0.0 to 0.97. Effect sizes for nonstandardized measures ranged from −0.03 to 2.96. Results indicate that morphological instruction, including short-term interventions, is beneficial to students at risk of future reading difficulties.

The Impact of English Morphological Awareness on Vocabulary Enrichment: A Causal-Affect Relationship Research

Limited vocabulary is one of the most common difficulties faced by EFL learners in Indonesia. Ignorance of English morphological awareness prevents students from expanding lexical words. However, research on morphological consciousness is relatively rare. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of morphological awareness on EFL learners’ vocabulary. The study used a causal-effect relationship research design. The population consisted exclusively of students of the English and Management Studies program at Universitas Mahasaraswati Denpasar (N=1360). However, in this study, only 10% of the population (N = 136) was sampled using a systematic random sampling technique. There were two types of instruments: Instrument A was ten successful two-layer multiple-choice morphology tests and Instrument B was vocabulary completion tests. The data were then analyzed using statistical mediation regression and a series of independent-sample t-tests. The results indicated that the participants' perception of the derivation morphology was rated as "poor", which impacted their "poor" achievement. Morphological awareness significantly affected participants' vocabulary, with sig 0.000 < alpha (0.05) and tob (21.601) > tcv (1.667). Furthermore, morphological awareness did not differ by gender (t = 1.221, p = 0.224 > 0.05), but by study duration (t = 4.729, p = 0.000 < 0.05) and academic courses (t = 5.306, with sig 0.000 < 0.05). The results underline that explicit morphological instruction has a positive effect on EFL learners in predicting and promoting vocabulary. Therefore, through linguistic pedagogy, knowledge of English word formation rules has a much stronger and more positive effect on language competence and performance in EFL class than a purely non-linguistic approach.

The Effects of Morphological Awareness on L2 Vocabulary Knowledge of Thai EFL Young Learners

Morphological awareness (MA) is the ability to recognize words, identify the association between lexically attached parts of a word and create new lexical forms. Morphological instruction mediates the acquisition of new words and is, therefore, crucial for developing morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. Currently, the receptive-productive continuum of MA remains unclear, especially in an EFL context. This quasi-experimental study investigates how MA instruction affects the acquisition of morphologically complicated words and its impact on vocabulary knowledge among young Thai EFL learners. Six receptive and productive MA measures and four vocabulary knowledge measures were administered to 221 EFL young learners. While participants in the control group did not get this instruction, participants in the experimental group received explicit teaching on morphological awareness. A repeated measures ANOVA (with scores on several aspects of affixes as the dependent variable) with experimental and control cohorts and a repeated measure (time point) was conducted to probe Thai young EFL learners’ morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. The findings demonstrated an encouraging effect of MA teaching in English language classrooms. Specifically, the participants in the experimental group showed improved performance in both receptive and productive MA. This suggests that the explicit instruction of morphologies may benefit English learners in understanding words and ease vocabulary acquisition. Other implications of these findings are debated, considering current pedagogical practice and theory.

A Duoethnography of a Chinese Pre-Service Teacher’s Encounters with Young Learner Spelling Errors in the English Classroom

A large body of research has indicated that young second language (L2) learners often have problems with spelling, such as letter omission and mis-ordering. To give due attention to this issue, a duoethnographic study was undertaken by two researchers from different language education backgrounds. The data were collected by way of 18 conversations (86,213-word transcription). These transcribed conversations were then reconstructed in order to accurately present the dialogue that took place between the two researchers. The conversations centered around four themes related to young Chinese learners’ English spelling issues, namely: the roles of a practicum mentor and supervisor; factors resulting in young learners’ spelling issues; the relationship between spelling and reading; implications for future teaching. The findings of this study suggest that future English teachers of young learners should implement morphological instruction, encourage students to read more, instruct students on how to make and use word cards, and explain how delayed copying should be used for spelling practice. This duoethnograpy also suggests that mentors, supervisors, and pre-service teachers should engage in duoethnographic research in order to better understand mentoring, supervision, and teaching issues, whilst also promoting professional development.

The Effects of Morpheme Instructions on Spelling Proficiency of Students at Primary Level

The ability to modify derived words, recognize linkages between the many morphological forms of a word, and develop new derivations of words is what is meant by the term "teaching spellings through morphologically based instructions" in the field of English language teaching and learning. Teaching spellings through morphologically based instructions also refers to the process of teaching spellings through morphologically based instruction. In the current study, an effort was made to investigate the impact of morphological instruction on spelling improvements in relational, syntactic, and distributional aspects of derivational morphology, and in turn, its effects on English spelling learning for primary-level ESL students who were also learning English as a Foreign Language. The research included a total of 25 primary school pupils who were learning English as a second language. These students were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the experimental group or the control group.

Morphological Knowledge and Self-Efficacy of SLPs and Educators

The current study examines the morphological knowledge (MK) and self-reported MK self-efficacy of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and educators in an effort to inform professional development and preservice training related to MK and skills in implementing morphological instruction. This sample of 850 U.S. participants consisted of SLPs ( n = 406), English language arts teachers ( n = 178), special education teachers ( n = 201), and reading specialists ( n = 65). A survey elicited professional experience, self-efficacy related to the application of MK, and a MK measure. Correlations and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) between the groups that differed by disciplinary backgrounds were conducted to assess differences in MK and MK self-efficacy. The results yielded two key findings: (a) MK differs by profession, with SLPs performing with higher accuracy in morpheme counting and nonword derivation tasks and (b) MK self-efficacy differs by profession with reading specialists rating themselves significantly more confident than all other professions.

Facilitative Effects of Embodied English Instruction in Chinese Children.

Research into the lexical quality of word representations suggests that building a strong sound, form, and meaning association is a crucial first step for vocabulary learning. For children who are learning a second language (L2), explicit instruction on word morphology is generally more focused on whole word, rather than sub-lexical, meaning. Though morphological training is emphasized in first language (L1) vocabulary instruction, it is unknown whether this training facilitates L2 word learning through sub-lexical support. To test this, we designed three experimental learning conditions investigating embodied morphological instruction [i.e., hand writing roots (HR), dragging roots (DR), gesturing roots (GR)] to compare against a control condition. One hundred students were randomly assigned to the four experimental groups. Pre- and post-tests examining knowledge of word meanings, forms, and sounds were administered. Results of mixed linear modeling revealed that three embodied morphological instruction on roots enhanced L2 vocabulary learning. Hand writing roots facilitated sound-meaning integration in all category-tasks for accessibility to word form and one task for word sound-form association. By contrast, GR facilitated meaning-based learning integration in two out of three category tasks for word form-meaning association. Chunking and DR facilitated meaning-based integration in one out of three category tasks for word form-meaning association. These results provide evidence that the underlying embodied morphological training mechanism contributes to L2 vocabulary learning during direct instruction. Future directions and implications are discussed.

Enhancing Chinese Learners of English Vocabulary Growth through Morphological Instruction

Enhancing Chinese Learners of English Vocabulary Growth through Morphological Instruction

Morphology—A Gateway to Advanced Language: Meta-Analysis of Morphological Knowledge in Language-Minority Children

Knowledge about the smallest meaningful units of language, morphemes, is crucial for vocabulary and reading comprehension. This meta-analysis of 43 studies examined differences in morphological knowledge in the societal language between language-minority and language-majority children. There was a moderate to large mean group difference in morphological knowledge in favor of the language-majority children. Studies that examined inflectional knowledge (walk–walked, rose–roses) reported larger differences than studies that examined knowledge of derivations (coexist, serious) and compounds (bluebird, highlight). Studies that used oral tests and tests of expressive language reported larger differences than studies that used written tests and tests of receptive language. These findings show that morphology is an area of weakness in language-minority children. Paired with the evidence that morphological instruction improves general language ability and reading comprehension, the results suggest that morphology could be an essential component in language interventions for language-minority children.

A promising new tool for literacy instruction: The morphological matrix.

There is growing interest in the role that morphological knowledge plays in literacy acquisition, but there is no research directly comparing the efficacy of different forms of morphological instruction. Here we compare two methods of teaching English morphology in the context of a memory experiment when words were organized by affix during study (e.g., a list of words was presented that all share an affix, such as <doing>, <going>, <talking>, <walking>, etc.) or by base during study (e.g., a list of words was presented that all share a base, such as <doing>, <done>, <redo>, <undo>). We show that memory for morphologically complex words is better in both conditions compared to a control condition that does not highlight the morphological composition of words, and most importantly, show that studying words in a base-centric format improves memory further still. We argue that the morphological matrix that organizes words around a common base may provide an important new tool for literacy instruction.

The Effect of Explicit Morphological Instruction on Vocabulary Learning among Yemeni EFL University Students

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of explicit morphological instruction on vocabulary learning among Yemeni EFL students. To achieve the purpose of the study, three empirical research tools were used to collect the data: Nation's Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) Version 1, Morphological Relatedness Test and Morphological Structure Test adapted from Curinga (2014). Experimental design was used in this study. The participants of the study were 40 students randomly selected from the fourth year of the English Department at the College of Education, University of Aden. They were randomly assigned to the experimental group (20) and control group (20). Treatment was given to the experimental group, whereas the control group did not receive such a treatment. At the end, the pre- and post-test scores of the experimental group were compared. Then, the experimental group scores were compared to the control group scores. The results showed that explicit morphological instruction improved students’ morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, the results showed that there is a significant relationship between the students' overall morphological knowledge and their vocabulary knowledge. There was a statistically significant difference between the experimental group scores in the pre- and post-tests. There also was a statistically significant difference exists between the experimental group scores and the scores of the control group on the New Vocabulary level test and the Morphological Awareness test. The results also showed that the intervention (morphological instruction) had a significant impact on the participants' performance.

Morphological instruction and reading development in young L2 readers: A scoping review of causal relationships

This scoping review explores the causal relationship between morphological instruction and reading development in young L2 learners by synthesizing 12 primary studies published between 2004 and 2019 (N = 1,535). These studies focused on reading English as the target language and involved participants between kindergarten and Grade 12 from four countries (China, Egypt, Singapore, and the USA). Findings suggested that (a) morphological instruction led to consistent and positive gains in L2 children’s morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge, and the effect sizes (Cohen’s ds) ranged from small to large; and (b) the relationship between morphological instruction and other outcomes such as phonological awareness, word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension was inconclusive. Notably, transfer effects of L2 English morphological instruction on novel word learning in English or on reading development in an additional language were only examined and observed in four primary studies. Discussion was provided regarding future instructional and research design.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Structured Word Inquiry for Students in Grades 3 and 5 With Reading and Spelling Difficulties: A Randomized Controlled Trial

AbstractResearch syntheses have demonstrated that morphological instruction can improve the literacy skills of poor readers and spellers. However, studies have used a wide variety of training methods. Questions remain about what type of morphological instruction is most effective and under which circumstances. In this study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of Structured Word Inquiry for poor readers and spellers. Structured Word Inquiry teaches students the logic of the English spelling system via instruction in morphology and etymology. Students in grades 3 and 5 with poor reading and spelling skills were randomly assigned to receive either Structured Word Inquiry instruction or a comparison instruction method involving robust vocabulary instruction and reciprocal teaching. Instruction was delivered by teaching assistants over the course of a full school year. After training, there were few differences between the groups in terms of literacy or vocabulary skills. However, teaching assistants found Structured Word Inquiry instruction challenging to deliver, which is likely to have impacted the results. Our findings have implications for the nature and content of morphological instruction for poor readers and spellers, and for future attempts to scale up the delivery of morphological interventions.

Redesigning Approach in Developing Vocabulary Skills among English Language (ESL) Learners: Efficacy of Direct Morphological Instruction

Redesigning Approach in Developing Vocabulary Skills among English Language (ESL) Learners: Efficacy of Direct Morphological Instruction