The authors reviewed all peer-reviewed studies with participants from preschool 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, nonmorphological sublexical, lexical, and supralexical) and comparison group (experimental group vs. control or experimental group vs. alternative training). 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 students, and (d) in combination with instruction of other literacy skills or in isolation. Results indicate that (a) morphological instruction benefits learners, (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 instruc...

The Effects of Morphological Instruction on Literacy Skills A Systematic Review of the Literature

A description is given of the main experiments that have been taken as support for the view that, in reading, a prefixed word is stripped of its prefix and lexically accessed on the basis of its stem. Since one of the most important of those experiments had been poorly executed, a new version of the same study is presented with results that are entirely consistent with the previous one. However, logical problems exist with the view that says that stems act as access codes used to gain access to the lexicon, the main ones having to do with the fact that a prefix store is required. As a result, an alternative model is favoured, namely, an interactive-activation model. Prefixed words are represented in decomposed form in this model, but no prelexical prefix-stripping is required. A detailed examination is made of the manner in which this framework is able to incorporate the previous empirical results, as well as other aspects of morphological processing.

/pdf/interactive-activation-as-a-framework-for-understanding-3q3g1llbqv.pdf

Interactive-activation as a framework for understanding morphological processing

The development of morphological awareness in Chinese and English was investigated in the current study involving 412 Taiwanese and 256 American students in second, fourth, and sixth grades. The results from both Chinese-speaking and English-speaking students indicate that the morphological awareness develops with grade level and is strongly related to reading ability. More proficient readers outperformed less proficient readers when asked to (1) recognize morphological relationships between words, (2) discriminate word parts having the same or different meanings, (3) select the best interpretations of low-frequency derivatives and compounds composed of high-frequency parts, and (4) judge the well-formedness of novel derivatives and compounds. Chinese students' acquisition of derivational morphology seems to lag behind that of compounding rules, which might reflect the nature of Chinese word formation in that there are far fewer derivatives than compounds in Chinese.

Development of morphological awareness in Chinese and English

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.

Se disenaron dos estudios para investigar el papel de la estructura morfemica en la lectura de palabras. En el primer estudio se exploro si la presencia de morfemas familiares en las palabras facilitaba la lectura en estudiantes de escuela primaria. Los resultados mostraron que tanto los estudiantes del primer ciclo, como los del segundo ciclo de primaria leyeron con mayor rapidez palabras de dos morfemas (palabras derivadas con una base y un sufijo, e.g. shady) que palabras de un morfema (e.g. lady). El segundo estudio se diseno para investigar el efecto de la transparencia fonologica durante la lectura de palabras derivadas en estudiantes de escuela media y superior. Los resultados mostraron que las palabras fonologicamente transparentes, palabras en las que la forma base permanece intacta en la pronunciacion de la palabra derivada (e.g. classic en classical), se reconocieron y leyeron mas rapido que palabras derivadas con menor transparencia fonologica (e.g. colonial). Ello apunta al hecho de que la estructura morfemica afecta la lectura de las palabras derivadas. Los resultados indican que en la lectura de palabras derivadas no interviene solo la familiaridad con las asociaciones letra-sonido o silabas; tambien los morfemas juegan un papel. Asimismo los resultados sugieren el valor de dar importancia a la estructura morfemica en los modelos de adquisicion de la lectura.

Zwei Studien wurden entworfen, um die Rolle morphemischer Strukturen beim Worterlesen der Schuler zu untersuchen. Die erste Untersuchung befragte, ob die in Worten bereits bekannten Morpheme das Lesen von Wortern fur Schuler der Grundstufen erleichtern. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, das die Unterstufen- und hoherstufigen Grundschuler die Worter mit zwei Morphemen (abgeleitete Worter mit einem Basiswort und einer Endung, wie shady bzw.schattig) schneller lesen als Worter mit nur einem Morphem (z.B. lady bzw. Dame). Die zweite Studie war darauf ausgerichtet, die Auswirkungen phonologischer Transparenz bei Mittel- und Oberschulern im Lesen von abgeleiteten Wortern zu untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, das phonologisch transparente Worter, Worte in denen die Basisform innerhalb der Aussprache des abgeleiteten Wortes intakt bleibt (z.B. classic in classical), schneller erkannt und gelesen wurden als abgeleitete Worter mit geringerer phonologischer Transparenz (z.B. colonial), unter Hinweis auf einen Aspekt morphemischer Struktur, welcher das Lesen von abgeleiteten Wortern beeinflust. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, das das Lesen von abgeleiteten Wortern nicht ausschlieslich aufgrund deren Vertrautheit von Buchstaben-Lautassoziationen oder Silben erreicht wird; Morpheme spielen ebenfalls eine Rolle. Die Resultate schliesen auf die Bedeutung der Hervorhebung morphemischer Strukturen in Anwendungsmodellen des Lesens von Wortern.

On a realise deux etudes pour etudier le role de la structure morphemique sur la lecture de mots des eleves. La premiere etude s'est demandee si la presence de morphemes familiers dans des mots facilite la lecture de ces mots par des eleves d'ecole primaire. Les resultats montrent que les eleves des grandes et des petites classes d'ecole primaire lisent les mots comportant deux morphemes (mots derives comportant un mot de base et un suffixe, tel que shady) plus vite que des mots n'ayant qu'un seul morpheme (par exemple, lady). La seconde etude a ete realisee pour etudier les effets de la transparence phonologique sur la lecture de mots derives par des eleves de college et de lycee. Les resultats ont montre que les mots transparents phonologiquement, mots dans lesquels la forme de base est la meme lors de la prononciation du mot derive (par exemple, classic dans classical) sont reconnus et lus plus vite que des mots derives qui sont moins transparents phonologiquement (par exemple, colonial), ce qui met en evidence un aspect de la structure morphologique qui affecte la lecture de mots derives. Les resultats indiquent que la lecture de mots derives ne depend pas seulement de la familiarite des associations grapho-phonetiques ou des syllabes mais que les morphemes aussi jouent un role. Les resultats soulignent aussi l'interet de mettre l'accent sur la structure morphemique dans les modeles d'acquisition de la lecture des mots.

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/88078/RRQ.40.4.3.pdf?sequence=1

Exploring the Role of Morphemes in Word Reading.

https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/pdf/S1364-6613(00)01515-1.pdf

Zhu Xiaoping

Papers

The representation of bound morphemes in the lexicon: A Chinese study.