No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
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.
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.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Learning, cognition and dyslexia This chapter: i) discusses a number of hypothesis on learning and how learning can go wrong for some; ii) refers to the nature of learning in infancy; iii) discusses declarative and procedural learning; iv) provides a neural systems framework for developmental disorders; v) suggests that it is not only the language related processes that are important but also components of motor skills; vi) discusses how this gives rise to investigating the nature and role of the cerebellum; and vii) reflects on how theoretical positions on developmental dyslexia can impact on practice. What a wonderful skill it is to be able to read! This is the centenary of Huey's seminal book (Huey, 1908) that provided the first scientific analysis of the skill. Huey's studies revealed that many processes combine seamlessly and without conscious monitoring. When reading aloud, the articulatory tract is speaking each word in sequence; the ...
Lexical-decision studies with experienced English and French readers have shown that visual-word identification is not only affected by pronunciation inconsistency of a word (i.e., multiple ways to pronounce a spelling body), but also by spelling inconsistency (i.e., multiple ways to spell a pronunciation rime). The aim of this study was to compare the reading behavior of young Dutch readers with dyslexia to the behavior of readers without dyslexia. All students participated in a lexical-decision task in which we presented pronunciation-consistent words and pseudowords. Half of the pronunciation-consistent stimuli were spelling consistent and the other half were spelling inconsistent. All three reader groups, that is, students with dyslexia, age-match students, and reading-match students, read spelling-consistent words faster than spelling-inconsistent words. Overall reading speed of students with dyslexia was similar to that of reading-match students, and was substantially slower than that of age-match students. The results suggest that reading in students with or without dyslexia is similarly affected by spelling inconsistency. Subtle qualitative differences emerged, however, with respect to pseudoword identification. The conclusion was that the findings were best interpreted in terms of a recurrent-feedback model.
The lexical quality hypothesis (LQH) claims that variation in the quality of word representations has consequences for reading skill, including comprehension. High lexical quality includes well-specified and partly redundant representations of form (orthography and phonology) and flexible representations of meaning, allowing for rapid and reliable meaning retrieval. Low-quality representations lead to specific word-related problems in comprehension. Six lines of research on adult readers demonstrate some of the implications of the LQH. First, large-scale correlational results show the general interdependence of comprehension and lexical skill while identifying disassociations that allow focus on comprehension-specific skill. Second, word-level semantic processing studies show comprehension skill differences in the time course of form-meaning confusions. Studies of rare vocabulary learning using event-related potentials (ERPs) show that, third, skilled comprehenders learn new words more effectively and show stronger ERP indicators for memory of the word learning event and, fourth, suggest skill differences in the stability of orthographic representations. Fifth, ERP markers show comprehension skill differences in meaning processing of ordinary words. Finally, in text reading, ERP results demonstrate momentary difficulties for low-skill comprehenders in integrating a word with the prior text. The studies provide evidence that word-level knowledge has consequences for word meaning processes in comprehension.
ABSTRACTS
This study explored the effects of instruction in morphemic analysis (select prefixes) and contextual analysis (select context clue types). Four classes of fifth‐grade students were assigned to a morphemiconly, context‐only, or combined morphemic‐context experimental group or to an instructed control group. Following twelve 50‐minute lessons, students were tested on their ability to recall the meanings of words used to teach the morphemic and contextual analysis skills (lesson words), to infer the meanings of uninstructed words that contained taught morphemic elements or words that were embedded in text that included taught context clues (transfer words), and to comprehend text containing transfer words. The results indicated that (a) there was an immediate and delayed effect of morphemic and contextual analysis instruction for lesson words; (b) there was an immediate effect of morphemic and contextual analysis instruction for transfer words; (c) there was no evidence that instruction in morphemic or contextual analysis, either in isolation or combination, enhanced students' text comprehension; and, (d) students were generally just as effective at inferring word meanings when the morphemic and contextual analysis instruction was provided in combination as when the instruction was provided separately.
Este estudio exploró los efectos de la enseñanza de análisis morfológico (seleccionar prefijos) yanálisis contextual (seleccionar pistas contextuales). Cuatro cursos de estudiantes de quinto grado fueron asignados a tres grupos experimentales: morfológico, contextual o morfológico‐contextualcombinado, o a un grupo de control. Luego de 12 clases de 20 minutos, se evaluó a los estudiantes en la capacidad para recordar los significados de las palabras usadas para enseñar habilidadesde análisis morfológico y contextual (palabras de la lección), para inferir los significados de palabras no enseñadas que contenían elementos morfológicos ya vistoso palabras contenidas en textos que incluían pistas contextuales enseñadas (palabras de transferencia) y por último, comprender textos que contenían palabras de transferencia. Los resultados indicaron que (a) hubo un efecto inmediato y diferido de la enseñanza de análisis morfológico y contextual para las palabras de la lección, (b) hubo un efectoinmediato de la enseñanza de análisis morfológico y contextual para las palabras de transferencia, (c) no se obtuvo evidencia de que la enseñanza de análisis morfológicoo contextual, ya sea en forma aislada o combinada, mejorara la comprensión de textos y (d) los estudiantes fueron igualmente eficaces para inferir los significados de las palabras cuando la enseñanzade análisis morfológico y contextual se impartió en forma aislada, que cuando se realizó en forma combinada.
Diese Studie untersuchte die Unterrichtsauswirkungen in morphemischerAnalyse (Vorwort‐Auswahl) und kontextualer Analyse (Kontexthinweis‐Auswahl). Vier Klassen der fünften Stufe wurden entweder nur morphemischen, nur kontextualen, oder einer kombiniert morphemisch‐kontextualenExperimentier‐Gruppe oder einer Anweisungen befolgenden Kontrollgruppe zugeteilt. Nach 12 jeweils 50‐Minuten dauernden Unterrichtsstunden wurden die Schüler auf ihre Fähigkeit überprüft, sich an Bedeutung und Sinn der zuvor im Unterricht benutzten morphemischen und kontextualen Analysekenntnisse (Unterrichtswörter) zu erinnern, auf die Bedeutung nicht erklärter Wörter zuschließen, welche die unterrichteten morphemischen Elemente enthielten, oder die im Text verankerten Wörter, die unterrichtete Zusammenhangshinweise (Transferwörter) enthielten, zu erkennenund Text mit Transferwörter inhaltlich zu verstehen. Die Ergebnisse ließen darauf schließen, daß (a) es einen sofortigen und verzögerten Effekt der morphemischen und kontextualenAnalyseanweisung für Unterrichtswörter gab; (b) es einen Sofort‐Effekt der morphemischen und kontextualen Analyseanweisung für Transferwörter gab; (c) es keinen Beweis gab, daßdie Anweisung in morphemischer oder kontextualer Analyse entweder in der Isolation oder als Kombination das Textverständnis der Schüler verbesserte; und, (d) die Schüler allgemein ebensoerfolgreich beim Einfügen von Wortbedeutungen waren, wenn die morphemische und kontextuale Analyseanweisung als Kombination vorgegeben wurde, genau wie bei der separaten Vorgabe der Anweisung.
Cette étude explore les effets de l'enseignement de l'analyse morphémique (sélection de préfixes) et de l'analyse contextuelle (sélection de types d'indices de contexte). Ona assigné quatre classes de d'élèves de 5° année à un groupe expérimental, soit morphémique uniquement, soit contextuel uniquement, soit présentantune combinaison de morphémique et de contextuel, soit à un groupe contrôle avec enseignement. Après 12 leçons de 50 minutes, les élèves ont ététestés sur leur capacité à rappeler la signification des mots utilisés pour enseigner les compétences d'analyse morphémique et contextuelle (mots des leçons),à inférer la signification de mots non enseignés mais contenant des éléments morphémiques ou de mots insérés dans un texte comportant les indicescontextuels en seignés (mots transfert), et de comprendre un texte contenant les mots transfert. Les résultats montrent a) un effet immédiat et différé de l'enseignementde l'analyse morphémique et contextuelle pour les mots des leçons; b) un effet immédiat de l'enseignement de l'analyse morphémique et contextuelle pour les mots transfert; c)qu'il n'y a pas de preuve que l'enseignement de l'analyse morphémique et contextuelle, isolée ou combinée, facilite la compréhension de texte par les élèves; et, d) que les élèves sont en général aussi efficaces pour inférer la signification de mots après un enseignement de l'analyse morphémique et contextuelle conduitde façon isolément qu'en combinaison.
TWO STUDIES were designed to investigate the role of morphemic structure on students' word reading. The first study asked whether familiar morphemes in words facilitate word reading for elementary students. Results showed that lower and upper elementary students read words with two morphemes (derived words with a base word and one suffix, such as shady) faster than words with one morpheme (e.g., lady). The second study was designed to investigate the effects of phonological transparency on middle and high school students' reading of derived words. Results showed that phonologically transparent words, words in which a base form is intact in the pronunciation of the derived word (e.g., classic in classical), were recognized and read faster than derived words that are less phonologically transparent (e.g., colonial), pinpointing an aspect of morphemic structure that affects reading derived words. The results indicate that reading derived words is not accomplished solely by familiarity with letter-sound associations or syllables; morphemes also play a role. Results also suggest value in emphasizing morphemic structure in models of word-reading acquisition.
It is difficult to transform research evidence into teacher practice; indeed it has been argued that educational research is not very useful to teachers. In this paper, we explore teacher knowledge about a relatively new area of research concerning the role morphemes play in spelling, and seek to transform their practice. We find that although reference to morphology is beginning to be made in English policy documents, teachers make limited use of morphology in their practice. After attending a course on the role of morphemes in spelling, teachers' own awareness of morphology increased and this was reflected in their practice. This in turn caused their pupils to make significant gains in spelling, compared to a control group. This reinforces the proposition that explicit instruction about morphemes is helpful to children's learning. It demonstrates the fact that research can be transformed into teacher practice, but it also illustrates the difficulties. Policy documentation alone is insufficient. Professional development can effect change but this may be hard to sustain. Children's gains are contingent on teachers continuing to dedicate class time to focused intervention.
This article reports data from a training study of morphological awareness involving 33 dyslexic students in grades 4 - 5. The dyslexic students received 36 lessons of morphological awareness training each of about a quarter of an hour. The training was oral and focused on semantic aspects of morphemes. During the training period, the experimental group gained significantly more than a similar group of untrained controls (n = 27) on one of three measures of morphological awareness. Both groups, however, made equal gains on measures of phonological awareness, phoneme discimination and picture naming. The experimental group progressed significantly more than the controls in reading comprehension and in spelling of morphologically complex words. The results of the study suggest that it is possible to develop dyslexic students' morphological awareness. Furthermore, awareness of morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of language, may support the development of meaning - oriented decoding strategies in reading and spelling.
We looked at the effects of teaching 7- and 8-year-old children morphological and phonological distinctions. Some of those given morphological training and some of those given phonological training were also taught how to represent these distinctions in writing. All 4 intervention groups did better than the control group in a standardized test of reading after the intervention. There were gains in children's use of morphological spelling rules but not in their use of conditional phonologically based spelling rules. The improvement in the use of morphological rules in spelling was confined to groups trained in morphology. Training in phonology also had a beneficial effect on the use of morphology in reading. The results are interpreted within the framework of a dual-route model of learning to read and spell.
Teaching vocabulary to primary grade children is essential. Previous studies of teaching vocabulary (word meanings) using story books in the primary grades reported gains of 20%–25% of word meanings taught. The present studies concern possible influences on word meaning acquisition during instruction (Study 1) and increasing the percentage and number of word meanings acquired (Study 2). Both studies were conducted in a working-class school with approximately 50% English-language learners. The regular classroom teachers worked with their whole classes in these studies. In Study 1, average gains of 12% of word meanings were obtained using repeated reading. Adding word explanations added a 10% gain for a total gain of 22%. Pretesting had no effect on gains. In Study 2, results showed learning of 41% of word meanings taught. At this rate of learning word meanings taught, it would be possible for children to learn 400 word meanings a year if 1,000 word meanings were taught. The feasibility of teaching vocabulary to primary grade children is discussed.
Meta-analysis is arguably the most important methodological innovation in the social and behavioral sciences in the last 25 years. Developed to offer researchers an informative account of which methods are most useful in integrating research findings across studies, this book will enable the reader to apply, as well as understand, meta-analytic methods. Rather than taking an encyclopedic approach, the authors have focused on carefully developing those techniques that are most applicable to social science research, and have given a general conceptual description of more complex and rarely-used techniques. Fully revised and updated, Methods of Meta-Analysis, Second Edition is the most comprehensive text on meta-analysis available today. New to the Second Edition: * An evaluation of fixed versus random effects models for meta-analysis* New methods for correcting for indirect range restriction in meta-analysis* New developments in corrections for measurement error* A discussion of a new Windows-based program package for applying the meta-analysis methods presented in the book* A presentation of the theories of data underlying different approaches to meta-analysis
Alphabetic orthographies show more or less ambiguous relations between spelling and sound patterns. In transparent orthographies, like Italian, the pronunciation can be predicted from the spelling and vice versa. Opaque orthographies, like English, often display unpredictable spelling-sound correspondences. In this paper we present a computational analysis of word-initial bi-directional spelling-sound correspondences for Dutch, English, French, German, and Hungarian, stated in entropy values for various grain sizes. This allows us to position the five languages on the continuum from opaque to transparent orthographies, both in spelling-to-sound and sound-to-spelling directions. The analysis is based on metrics derived from information theory, and therefore independent of any specific theory of visual word recognition as well as of any specific theoretical approach of orthography.
This paper provides a review of current research on the relevance of morphological awareness to reading and reading instruction. On the assumption that many educators are relatively unfamiliar with morphology, children’s development of awareness of the morphemic structure of words is discussed, as is the need for children to learn strategies that will help them read, spell, and understand morphologically complex words. Educational practices and implications, based on theory and research findings, are presented. Results suggest that educators and educational researchers need to incorporate more word study into reading and spelling programs, focusing attention to both form and meaning. In addition, the value of instructional goals and programs in morphological awareness for children in the early elementary years needs to be explored.
Lexical memory exists for the purpose of mapping meaning onto word form. It interfaces with the world via a level of representation that corresponds to the presented form of the word (either orthographic or auditory), and access to this representation makes available the semantic information associated with it. Such a form-to-meaning association has been built up over repeated occurrences of the same form referring to the same thing. That is, the lexical system captures the correlation that can be found between a form and the context in which it occurs. For example, the word form cat is consistently found in a context that refers to a furry, whiskered pet that says “miaow”, even though this context might vary markedly in other ways (e.g., when referring to a cat stuck up a tree, a cat owned in one’s childhood, or a cat chasing a mouse).
This study explores the role of morphology in vocabulary knowledge of 3rd and 6th grade Finnish elementary school children. In a word definition task, children from both grades performed overall better on derived words than on monomorphemic words. However, the results were modified by the factors Frequency and Productivity. Most strikingly, performance on monomorphemic words was disproportionately weaker than on derived words at the low frequency range. At the high-frequency range, derived words with low-productive suffixes yielded poorest performance. We partly make an appeal to the lexical-statistical properties of the Finnish language to explain the interaction of Frequency and Word Structure. At any rate, the results suggest that Finnish elementary school children benefit significantly from utilizing morphology in determining word meanings.
The purpose of this study is to examine factors that influence students’ reading of derived words. Recent research suggests that the lexical quality of a derived word depends on the familiarity of the word, its morphemic constituents (i.e., base word and affixes), and the frequency with which the base word appears in other words (i.e., members of the same word family or family frequency). On the premise that better and more experienced readers have higher quality lexical representations, we explore the extent to which accuracy of reading derived words by 4th and 6th graders is related to measures of familiarity, including derived and base word frequencies, family size, average family frequency, and word length. The results of an exploratory factor analysis indicated that these measures formed two factors, one representing morphemic constitution and the second representing exposure to the word family; both factors accounted for significant variance in the students’ derived word reading. Comparisons of sets of derived words contrasted on familiarity properties showed that performance on derived words, overall, is better for 6th than 4th graders and for good than poor readers. On the measures of family frequency and family size, there were significant discrepancies between grade level and reading ability and frequency characteristics. These add support to the view that morphemic analysis and wide reading experience contribute to derived word reading.
Alphabetic orthographies vary in the (in)consistency of the relations between spelling and sound patterns. In transparent orthographies, like Italian, the pronunciation can be predicted from the spelling, in contrast to opaque orthographies such as English, where spelling–sound correspondences are often inconsistent. The pronunciation of English vowel letters is in particular very ambiguous. In this paper, we provide a cross-linguistic investigation of orthographic transparency at the word-initial letter–phoneme level, resulting in ranked metrics for the seven languages investigated- Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Portuguese, expressed as entropy values. We focus on the contributions of vowels and consonants towards the overall orthographic transparency and provide evidence that deviations from consistent word-initial 1:1 mappings between letters and phonemes influence reaction times in naming tasks. Implications for theories of visual word recognition and speech production will be discussed.
With reports from several studies showing the benefits of teaching young children about morphemes, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned with helping children to read and write. By breaking words down into chunks of meaning that can be analyzed as complete units rather than as strings of individual letters, children are better able to make sense of the often contradictory spelling and reading rules of English. As a result, their enjoyment of learning about words increases, and their literacy skills improve. Written by leading researchers for trainee teachers, practising teachers and interested parents, this highly accessible and innovative book provides sound, evidence-based advice and materials that can be used to help teach children about morphemes, and highlights the beneficial effects of this approach. © 2006 editorial matter and selection, Terezinha Nunes and Peter Bryant. All rights reserved.
Given the morphophonemic nature of the English orthography, surprisingly few studies have examined the roles of morphological and phonological awareness in reading. This 4-year longitudinal study (Grades 2-5) compared these two factors in three aspects of reading development: pseudoword reading, reading comprehension. and single word reading. Morphological awareness contributed significantly to pseudoword reading and reading comprehension, after controlling prior measures of reading ability. verbal and nonverbal intelligence, and phonological awareness. This contribution was comparable to that of phonological awareness and remained 3 years after morphological awareness was assessed. In contrast, morphological awareness rarely contributed significantly to single word reading. We argue that these results provide evidence that morphological awareness hits a wide-ranging role in reading development, one that extends beyond phonological awareness.
The effects of a morphemically based spelling program, Corrective Spelling Through Morphographs, were ascertained for students of low, average and high spelling achievement levels. Seventh grade students who completed 140 lessons over an 8-month period acquired skills the program purported to teach and displayed significant gains in general spelling achievement. Average- and low-achieving students’ proportionate gains were greater than high achieving students’ gains. Though the experimental groups’ spelling performance on a secondary measure of spelling achievement was not significantly different from the performance of a control group, the experimental group in comparison to the control group, did significantly improve its spelling performance on the primary measure of general spelling achievement.
The question addressed in this study is whether the speed with which a word is recognized depends upon the frequency of related words, and which types of related words have such an influence. For example, does the speed of recognition of the word stair depend at all on the frequency of stairs (an inflectional relative)? Is the speed with which people recognize govern influenced by their knowledge of the word government (a derivational relative)? Is the recognition of fee influenced by the simple fact that the letters overlap with the letters in familiar words such as feet, feed, and feel (nonmorphological relatives)? The authors asked 95 U. S. college students to distinguish stem words from nonwords in a lexical decision task. The stem words were matched for length and individual frequency, but differed substantially in the frequency of their inflectional, derivational, or nonmorphological relatives. The researchers found that the frequency of inflectionally and derivationally related words significantly affected speed and accuracy of recognition of stems; however, these effects were conditioned by the likely age of acquisition for each word, and by the part of speech. Extensive analyses showed that simple letter overlap did not have a significant effect on word recognition. Taken as a whole, the results support the concept of morphologically based word families, that is, the hypothesis that morphological relations between words, derivational as well as inflectional, are represented in the lexicon. /// [French] La présente recherche vise à vérifier dans quelle mesure la vitesse de reconnaissance des mots est influencée par la fréquence des mots associés et dans quelle mesure elle varie en fonction de la nature des relations entre les mots. Par exemple, est-ce que la vitesse de reconnaissance du mot escalier est influencée par la fréquence du mot escaliers (mot associé par une relation inflexionnelle)? Est-ce que la vitesse de reconnaissance du mot gouverner est fonction de la fréquence du mot gouvernement (mot associé par une relation dérivative)? Est-ce que la reconnaissance du mot amertume est lié à la fréquence du mot amerrissage (mot associé seulement par une relation graphique)? La recherche impliquait 95 étudiants de niveau collégial. La tâche de décision lexicale consistait à distinguer entre des mots racines et des non-mots. Les mots racines étaient pairés en fonction de leur longueur et de leur fréquence, mais différaient de façon substantielle quant à la fréquence des mots associés soit par des relations inflexionnelles, dérivatives ou graphiques. Les résultats confirmèrent l'influence de la fréquence des mots associés inflexionnellement ou dérivativement sur la vitesse de reconnaissance des mots racines. Cependant, ces effets sont fonction de l'âge probable d'acquisition des mots et de la catégorie de mots. Le simple recouvrement de lettres (relation graphique) n'a aucun effet. Dans l'ensemble ces résultats confirment le concept de familles de mots constituées autour de relations morphologiques, soit inflexionnelles ou dérivatives, et la conception selon laquelle le lexique mental est ainsi constitué. /// [Spanish] El problema en cuestión en este estudio es averiguar si la velocidad a la que una palabra es reconocida depende de la frecuencia de palabras relacionadas, y qué tipos de las palabras relacionadas tienen esa influencia. Por ejemplo, ¿la velocidad de reconocimiento de la palabra escalera depende de alguna manera de la frecuencia de escaleras (relacionada de forma infleccional)? ¿La velocidad a la que la gente reconoce la palabra gobernar está influída por su conocimiento de la palabra gobierno (relacionada por derivación)? ¿Está el reconocimiento de paje influído por el simple hecho que las letras son las mismas que en otras palabras familiares tales como paja y pájara (relacionadas de forma no morfológica)? Los autores pidieron a 95 estudiantes universitarios estadounidenses que distinguieran palabras raíz de palabras sin sentido en una tarea que implicaba decisión léxica. Las palabras raíz fueron apareadas tanto en longitud como en frecuencia individual, pero difiriendo substancialmente en la frecuencia de las palabras relacionadas de forma infleccional, derivacional y no morfológica. 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.
In this study the extent to which morphological generalization can account for increases in vocabulary size was investigated. Focusing specifically on morphological generalization with derivational suffixes, the study tested students' ability to use morphological and contextual information to determine the meaning of unknown words. Students in the fourth, sixth, and eighth grades were randomly assigned to receive training in one of two word sets. Later they were posttested, in weak and strong contexts, on words that were morphologically related to both sets of training words. Subjects' success in deriving the meaning of unfamiliar words was affected by prior experience with related words and by the strength of the surrounding sentence contexts; sixth- and eighth-grade students were more skilled than fourth-grade students in using context clues as well as morphological clues. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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)
: 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.
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.
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.
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
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.