Effects of Instruction in Morphological Awareness on Literacy Achievement: An Integrative Review

As many studies have now demonstrated that morphological awareness contributes to students' literacy development, there is growing interest in the educational value of instruction in morphological awareness. This review was undertaken to integrate findings of studies that sought to determine wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reading research quarterly 2010-10, Vol.45 (4), p.464-487
Main Author: Carlisle, Joanne F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
childhood
Control groups
Design
development
early adolescence
Educational Research
Grammar, Comparative and general
instructional
learner
Learning
Learning Processes
Linguistic morphology
Linguistics
Literacy
Literacy programs
Management
Morphemes
Morphological processing
Morphology
oral language
Orthographies
Orthography
Phonological Awareness
R&D
Reading
Reading Comprehension
Reading instruction
Research & development
Review of Research
Spelling
strategies
Students
Studies
Syntax
Teaching
topic
type
United States
vocabulary
Word meaning
Words
Writing instruction
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Summary:As many studies have now demonstrated that morphological awareness contributes to students' literacy development, there is growing interest in the educational value of instruction in morphological awareness. This review was undertaken to integrate findings of studies that sought to determine whether such instruction contributed to improvement in literacy. Analysis of the 16 studies that met selection criteria is organized around researchers' purpose(s) in studying the relation of morphological awareness instruction to key components of literacy development (i.e., phonology, orthography, word meaning). Results indicate that morphological awareness has the potential to contribute to students' literacy development in all three areas—most notably when it deepens students' understanding of the morphemic structure, spelling, and meaning of written words. However, examination of the design and quality of the studies of instruction in morphological awareness suggests that this is an emerging area of research. Much needs to be done to provide a clearer understanding of how, when, and why morphological awareness instruction contributes to students' literacy development.
ISSN:0034-0553
1936-2722
DOI:10.1598/RRQ.45.4.5