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Bowers, P. N., Kirby, J. R., & Deacon, S. H. (2010). The effects of morphological instruction on literacy skills: A systematic review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 80, 144-179.

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Abstract

The authors reviewed all peer-reviewed studies with participants from pre- school to Grade 8 for this meta-analysis of morphological interventions. They identified 22 applicable studies. Instructional effects (Cohen’s d) were averaged by linguistic outcome categories (morphological sublexical, non- morphological sublexical, lexical, and supralexical) and comparison group (experimental group vs. control or experimental group vs. alternative train- ing). The authors investigated the effects of morphological instruction (a) on reading, spelling, vocabulary, and morphological skills, (b) for less able readers versus undifferentiated samples, (c) for younger versus older stu- dents, and (d) in combination with instruction of other literacy skills or in isolation. Results indicate that (a) morphological instruction benefits learn- ers, (b) it brings particular benefits for less able readers, (c) it is no less effective for younger students, and (d) it is more effective when combined with other aspects of literacy instruction. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of current educational practice and theory.

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Se encontró que la frecuencia de palabras relacionadas de manera infleccional y derivacional afectó significativamente la velocidad y exactitud en el reconocimiento de las palabras raíz; sin embargo, estos efectos fueron condicionados por la probable edad de adquisición de cada palabra y por su posición gramatical. La similitud en la escritura (relación de forma no morfológica) no tuvo efecto alguno. Considerados en su totalidad, los resultados apoyan el concepto de familias de palabras con base morfológica, esto es, la hipótesis que las relaciones morfológicas entre las palabras, tanto de tipo derivacional como infleccional, están representadas en el lexicón. /// [German] In dieser studie werden die Fragen untersucht, ob die Geschwindigkeit, mit der ein Wort erkannt wird, von der Häufigkeit verwandter Wörter abhängt, und welche Arten verwandter Wörter einen solchen Einfluß ausüben. Hängt z.B. die Geschwindigkeit, mit der das Wort Treppe erkannt wird, prinzipiell von der Häufigkeit des Wortes Treppen ab (eine Flexionsverwandtschaft)? Ist die Geschwindigkeit, mit der Menschen das Wort regieren erkennen, davon abhängig, daß sie das Wort Regierung kennen (eine Derivationsverwandtschaft)? Wird das Erkennen von Bau durch die einfache Tatsache beeinflußt, daß die Buchstaben sich mit denen in bekannten Wörten wie z.B. Baum, Bauch und Bausch decken (nicht-morphologische Verwandtschaft)? Die Verfasser forderten 95 Studenten in einem Experiment auf, Stammwörter von Nicht-Wörten in lexikalischer Hinsicht zu unterscheiden. Die Stammwörter wurden in ihrer Länge und jeweiligen Häufigkeit zueinander geordnet, sie untershieden sich jedoch erheblich in der Häufigkeit ihrer Flexions-, Derivations- und nicht-morphologischen Verwandtschaft. Die Resultate zeigten, daß die Häufigkeit der flexions- und derivationsverwandten Wörter die Geschwindigkeit und Genauigkeit, mit der die Stämme erkannt wurden, beträchtlich beeinflußte; diese Auswirkungen waren jedoch bedingt durch den Zeitpunkt, zu dem jedes einzelne Wort gelernt wurde, und durch die Art des Satzgliedes, die sie darstellten. Das einfache Uebereinstimmen von Buchstaben hatte keinerlei Effekt. Insgesamt unterstützen die Resultate das Konzept morphologisch-verwandter Wortfamilien, d.h. die Hypothese, daß morphologische Beziehungen zwischen Wörten, ob nun derivativer oder flektierender Art, im Lexikon dargestellt sind.
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However, subjects did not combine these two information sources to yield higher vocabulary scores than obtained with either source by itself. Estimates of the amount of morphological generalization varied widely, depending upon which of two scoring procedures was used. /// [French] Le degré d'importance à accorder à la généralisation morphologique dans l'augmentation du volume du vocabulaire était étudié dans ce travail. Axée particulièrement sur la généralisation morphologique à partir de suffixes dérivatifs, cette recherche a évalué la capacité des élèves à utiliser l'information morphologique et contextuelle dans la définition de mots inconnus. On a enseigné, au hasard, l'une de deux séries de mots à des élèves de quatrième, sixième et huitième année. Ensuite, ceux-ci ont été évalués, en contextes dits "forts" et "faibles", avec des mots morphologiquement apparentés à ces deux séries de mots. La capacité des sujets à attribuer un sens aux mots inconnus était influencée par une expérience antérieure avec les mots de même famille et par les indices fournis par le contexte. Les élèves de sixième et huitième année utilisaient plus habilement que les élèves de quatrième année tant les indices fournis par le contexte que les indices morphologiques. Toutefois, les sujets n'ont pas combiné ces deux sources d'information en vue d'obtenir un meilleur rendement qu'en utilisant qu'une seule des deux sources. Selon la mesure d'évaluation utilisée, on remarque une grande variation entre les deux estimations du degré de généralisation morphologique. /// [Spanish] En este estudio se investigó hasta donde la generalización morfológica puede explicar los incrementos en la extensión del vocabulario. El estudio midió la habilidad de los estudiantes para usar información morfológica y de contexto para determinar el significado de palabras desconocidas, enfocándose específicamente en una generalización morfológica con sufijos derivacionales. Estudiantes de cuarto, sexto y octavo grados fueron asignados al azar para recibir entrenamiento en uno de dos conjuntos de palabras. Más tarde fueron reexaminados, en contextos fuertes y débiles, sobre palabras relacionadas morfológicamente a ambos conjuntos de las palabras de entrenamiento. El éxito de los sujetos para derivar el sentido de las palabras no familiares fue afectado por la experiencia previa con palabras relacionadas y por la fuerza del contexto de las oraciones vecinas; los estudiantes de sexto y octavo grado demostraron más habilidad que los de cuarto grado para usar tanto claves de contexto como morfológicas. Sin embargo los sujetos no combinaron estas dos fuentes de información para rendir resultados más altos en vocabulario que los obtenidos con cada fuente por sí misma. Los estimados de la cantidad de generalización morfológica variaron ampliamente dependiendo de cual de dos procedimientos de calificación fue usado. /// [German] In dieser studie wurde untersucht, in welchem Ausmaß sich die morphologische Verallgemeinerung auswirkt auf Vokabular-Erweiterung. Indem man sich speziell auf die morphologische Verallgemeinerung mit ableitenden Nachsilben einstellte, prüfte die Studie die Fähigkeit der Schüler, morphologische und zusammenhängende Informationen zu nutzen, um den Sinn unbekannter Worte zu bestimmen. Schüler im vierten, sechsten und achten Schuljahr wurden wahllos dazu angehalten, sich in einem von den beiden Wort-Sets zu üben. Nach dem Test wurden sie geprüft, in schwachen und starken Zusammenhängen, auf Worte hin, die sich morphologisch auf beide Uebungswörter-Sets bezogen. Der Erfolg der Prüflinge, den Sinn unvertrauter Worte zu erraten, hatte damit zu tun, daß sie sich besser auskannten mit miteinder-verwandten Wörtern und auch mit dem Einfluß und der Kraft des Satzes, von dem sie ein Teil waren; Sechs- und Acht-Klässler waren geschichter als Schüler der vierten Klasse im Gebrauch von Zusammenhangs-Hinweisen wie auch von morphologischen Hinweisen. Jedoch verbanden diese Schüler die beiden Informationsquellen nicht, um sich ein besseres Vokabular anzueignen, als es mit nur einer davon möglich wäre. Schätzungen betreffend die Anzahl von morphologischen Verallgemeinerungen waren sehr unterschiedlich, je nachdem welche von den Punkte-Prozeduren benutzt wurde.
Article
This paper begins by presenting theoretical arguments and empirical evidence to support the idea that morpheme analysis strategies play a part in word recognition in reading, and in dyslexia in particular. The results of two studies are presented which indicate that dyslexic adolescents use recognition of root morphemes as a compensatory strategy in reading of both single words and coherent text. Furthermore, the evidence is reviewed that the use of morpheme recognition as a strategy in reading to some extent depends on the linguistic awareness of morphemes in spoken language. Finally, results from a pilot study of the effects of morphological awareness training of dyslexic students are presented which suggest that it may be possible to improve the awareness of morphology independently of phoneme awareness, and that such a training may have positive effects on reading of coherent text and on the accurate spelling of morphologically complex words.
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This quasi-experimental study compared the effects of morphemic and contextual analysis instruction (MC) with the effects of textbook vocabulary instruction (TV) that was integrated into social studies textbook lessons. The participants were 157 students in eight fifth-grade classrooms. The results indicated that (a) TV students were more successful at learning textbook vocabulary; (b) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of novel affixed words; (c) MC students were more successful at inferring the meanings of morphologically and contextually decipherable words on a delayed test but not on an immediate test; and (d) the groups did not differ on a comprehension measure or a social studies learning measure. The results were interpreted as support for teaching specific vocabulary and morphemic analysis, with some evidence for the efficacy of teaching contextual analysis.
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Two studies—one quasi-experimental and one randomized experiment—were designed to evaluate the effectiveness of supplemental instruction in structural analysis and oral reading practice for second- and third-grade students with below-average word reading skills. Individual instruction was provided by trained paraeducators in single- and multiletter phoneme—grapheme correspondences; structural analysis of inflected, affixed, and multi-syllable words; exception word reading; and scaffolded oral reading practice. Both studies revealed short-term word level and fluency effects.
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The effects of an instructional programme for deriving word meanings from the context and through morphological analysis for grade 4 primary‐school pupils with poor versus average reading comprehension were examined. The programme is based on the principles of direct instruction and reciprocal teaching. A pre‐test‐post‐test control group design was used to measure the effects of the programme. The results showed the programme to have a significant positive effect on the ability of the pupils to derive word meanings. Transfer of this ability to more general reading comprehension was not, however, found to occur. Finally, the readers for whom the programme is primarily intended, namely poor reading comprehenders, were found to benefit more from the training than average reading comprehenders. This article is a modified version of ‘Effecten van een instructie programma voor het afleiden van woordbetehenissen’ which will appear in Pedagogische studiën, Vol. 75, No. 1, 1998.
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This study examines the longitudinal effects of both pre-school phonological and morphological awareness training on subsequent reading development. Children who have received pre-school training in phonological skills or morphological skills perform better in some reading measures in grades 2 and 3 than students who have not received this training. Mothers' educational level predicts some aspects of reading development, especially the ability to identify orthographic structures. There was also a tendency for children of highly educated mothers, who entered the study with relatively well developed linguistic awareness skills, to profit most from morphological awareness training in terms of reading development. In contrast, children of less well educated mothers tended to profit most from phonological awareness training. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Article
When students attain reading skill, they learn to read words in several ways. Familiar words are read by sight. Unfamiliar words are read by decoding, by analogy to known words, or by prediction from graphophonic and contextual cues. Five phases of development are identified to distinguish the course of word reading; each phase is characterized by students’ working knowledge of the alphabetic system, which is central for acquiring word reading skill. The phases are: pre‐alphabetic, partial alphabic, full alphabetic, consolidated alphabetic, and automatic alphabetic. The usefulness of this information for teachers of problem readers is explained.
Book
As this publication is a full book, it cannot be freely shared. If you wold like to purchase a copy, you can do so at https://www.guilford.com/books/Bringing-Words-to-Life/Beck-McKeown-Kucan/9781462508167
Article
The influence of phonology on visual word perception tasks is often indexed by the presence or absence ofconsistency effects.Consistency concerns whether there exists more than one way to pronounce a spelling body (e.g., _INT as in HINT and PINT versus _EAP as in HEAP and LEAP). The present study considers a similar factor.Feedbackconsistency concerns whether there is more than one way to spell a pronunciation body (e.g., /_ip/ as in HEAP and DEEP versus /_Ob/ as in PROBE and GLOBE). Two experiments demonstrate a robust feedback consistency effect in visual lexical decision. Words with phonologic bodies that can be spelled more than one way (e.g., _EAP as in HEAP) produce slower correct “yes” responses than words with phonologic bodies that can be spelled only one way (e.g., _OBE as in PROBE). This result constitutes strong support for feedback, top-down models of performance in word perception tasks. Furthermore, the data suggest that previous tests of consistency effects may be misleading because they did not take into account feedback consistency.
Article
Presents and organizes sets of orthographic patterns, based upon an analysis of the spellings and pronunciations of the 20,000 most common English words. Two basic sets of patterns are discussed. The first pertains to the internal structure of the orthography: the classes of letters (graphemes) and the allowable sequences of these letters (graphotactics). The second set contains those patterns which relate spelling to sound. Each functional orthographic unit is classed as a relational unit or a marker, depending upon whether it relates to sound itself or marks the functioning of some other unit. Relational units are mapped first onto an intermediate (morphophonemic) level by one set of rules, and then into sound by another set of rules, thus allowing a clear separation of rules based primarily upon orthographic considerations from those based primarily upon morphemic and phonemic considerations./// [French] Cet article présente et organise des séries de «patterns» orthographiques basés sur une analyse de l'orthographe et de la prononciation des 20,000 mots les plus usités de la langue anglaise. Une discussion suit sur deux séries fondamentales de «patterns». La première série se rapporte à la structure interne de l'orthographe: classes de lettres (graphèmes) et séquences permissibles en Anglais de ces lettres (graphotactique). La seconde série comprend les «patterns» qui rattachent l'orthographe au son. Les unités fonctionnelles sont divisées en deux classes: unités de rapport et signaux, selon qu'elles sont en rapport avec le son lui-même ou qu'elles signalent le fonctionnement d'une autre unité. Les unités de rapport sont schematisées d'abord à un niveau intermédiaire (morphophonémique) selon un groupe de règles, et ensuite au niveau de son selon un autre groupe de règles; ceci permet une nette séparation des règles basées principalement sur des considérations d'ordre orthographique et de celles basées principalement sur des considérations d'ordres morphémique et phonémique./// [Spanish] Presenta y organiza una serie de patrones ortográficos, basados en el análisis de la ortografía y la pronunciación de 20,000 de las palabras inglesas más comunes. Se discuten dos series de patrones básicos. La primera se refiere a la estructura interna de la ortografía: las clases de letras (grafemas) y el orden de sucesión permisible de estas letras (grafotácticas). La segunda serie comprende aquellos patrones que relacionan la ortografía con el sonido. Cada unidad ortográfica funcional se clasifica como una unidad relacional o un marcador, dependiendo de si se relaciona al sonido mismo o si marca el funcionamiento de alguna otra unidad. Las unidades relacionales son organizadas primero en un nivel intermedio (morfofonémico) mediante un conjunto de reglas, y despues en sonidos mediante otro, permitiendo así hacer una separacíon clara de las reglas que se basan principalmente en consideraciones ortográficas de aquellas basadas principalmente en consideraciones morfémicas y fonémicas.
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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.
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Tested the hypothesis that the experiences that a child has with rhyme before he/she goes to school might have an effect on later success in learning to read and write. Two experimental situations were used: a longitudinal study and an intensive training program in sound categorization or other forms of categorization. 368 children's skills at sound categorization were measured before they started to read and then related to their progress in reading, spelling, and mathematics over 4 yrs. At the end of initial testing and during the 4 yrs Ss' IQ, reading, spelling, and mathematical abilities were tested. There were high correlations between initial sound categorization scores and Ss' reading and spelling over 3 yrs. At the onset of study, 65 Ss who could not read and had low sound-categorization skills were divided into 4 groups. Two received 2 yrs of training in categorizing sounds. Group 1 was taught that the same word shared common beginning, middle, and end sounds with other words and could be categorized in different ways. Group 2 was also taught how each common sound was represented by a letter of the alphabet. The other groups served as controls. Group 3 was taught only that the same word could be classified in several ways. At the end of training, Group 1 was ahead of Group 3 and Group 2 was ahead of Group 1 in reading and spelling. This suggests that training in sound categorization is more effective when it also involves an explicit connection with the alphabet. Results support the hypothesis. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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: Learning to read words and learning to spell words are closely related. Both follow a similar course of acquisition. Both rely on the same knowledge sources-knowledge about the alphabetic system, and memory for the spellings of specific words-that develop together and are reciprocally related. Correlations between reading and spelling are high, typically above r =.70. However, the two processes are not quite the same. The amount of information to be drawn from memory is greater for spellers who must produce multiple letters correctly sequenced than for readers who must produce single pronunciations and meanings for written words. (C) 2000 Aspen Publishers, Inc.
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We examined whether Grade 4, 6, and 8 children access the base form when reading morphologically complex words. We asked children to read words varying systematically in the frequency of the surface and base forms and in the transparency of the base form. At all grade levels, children were faster at reading derived words with high rather than low base frequencies when the words were of low surface frequency. Effects of the frequency and transparency of the base form on word reading accuracy occurred only in Grades 4 and 6. The results add to the growing body of evidence that children access the morphological structure of the words that they encounter in print.
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This article synthesized the morphology intervention studies conducted in English with students in kindergarten through 12th grade between 1986 and 2006. Seven studies were identified as focusing primarily on morphology instruction, including roots and affixes, and measuring one or more reading-related outcomes (e.g., word identification, spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension). Of those studies meeting the criteria, three studies were focused on word identification, three were focused on vocabulary acquisition, and one was focused on spelling. Although there was a wide range in effect sizes computed for the various outcome measures (−.93 to 9.13), findings indicated that stronger effects were associated with root word instruction (as opposed to affixes alone) and with morphology instruction that targeted students' reading developmental level in an age of acquisition pattern. In addition, results suggested that morphology could successfully be combined with training in other skills without adding instructional time.
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Article
We report on a study designed to examine children's understanding of (1) the connection between root morphemes and the spelling of inflected words and (2) the role of morphological awareness in this understanding. Seven- to 9-year-old children were given clues (e.g. turn) to the spelling of inflected and control words (e.g. turning and turnip). While the use of the clue was not specific to inflected words, spelling was better of the first segments (e.g. turn) of the inflected than of the control words. This difference suggests that children appreciate the role of root morphemes in spelling of inflected words. Further, it seems that morphological awareness is employed in the spelling of a wide range of words. These results are placed in context of current theories of spelling development.