Effects of morphological instruction on vocabulary acquisition

Bowers, P.N., & Kerby, J.R. (2010). Effects of morphological instruction on vocabulary acquisition. Reading & Writing 23(5), 515-537. doi:10.1007/s11145-009-9172-z

Background

Morphology is widely held to be part of the explanation for how students learn so many words that were never explicitly taught.

Aims

This study investigated the effects of a 20-session intervention targeting morphological word structure on students’ learning of both taught and untaught words.

Sample

Eighty-one students in two Grade 4 classes and two Grade 5 classes from two public Catholic schools in Canada participated in this study.

Method

Participants underwent a receptive vocabulary knowledge pre-test prior to being assigned to the control or experimental classes. While the control group received typical vocabulary instruction, the experimental group received 20 lessons focusing on key terms and concepts about morphology and orthography. A guided problem-solving approach was used to investigate how word structure provided cues to meaning. Instructional activities were of three types: (a) exploratory problem-solving (hypothesis development), (b) focused problem-solving (hypothesis testing/confirmation), and (c) structured practice. Post-tests were administered to assess the participants’ ability to identify the base in multi-morphemic words (Base Identification) and their ability to explain the meaning of the words used for the Base Identification task (Morphological Vocabulary).

Findings

The 20-lesson classroom intervention can teach students the morphological analysis knowledge and skills to enable them to develop vocabulary beyond the words they are taught, but not beyond the morphological families that they are taught. Teaching students how morphology works improves their ability to peel affixes off complex words. However, because the base carries the core meaning of a word, unless students are already familiar with the meaning of the base of a word, morphological analysis cannot provide the learner with access to the meaning of that word.

Implications

The study has shown that instruction about the details of written morphology helps students to recognise meaning cues in complex words and build vocabulary. The findings suggest that morphological instruction should be organised to facilitate students’ ability to identify the bases of words. Teaching many base words with attention to the application of morphological principles should improve vocabulary significantly, and potentially affect reading comprehension.

Original article retrieved from EBSCOHost.