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The relationship between morphological awareness and morphological decomposition among English language learners

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Abstract

Morphological awareness facilitates many reading processes. For this reason, L1 and L2 learners of English are often directly taught to use their knowledge of English morphology as a useful reading strategy for determining parts of speech and meaning of novel words. Over time, use of morphological awareness skills while reading develops into an automatic process for L1 readers called morphological decomposition. While the practice of explicitly teaching morphological awareness skills is prevalent in ESL classes, more research is needed to establish what is known about gains in L2 morphological awareness, and its relationship to the development of automatic morphological decomposition processes in English language learners. The present study seeks to shed light on the nature of this relationship across growth in L2 proficiency. Two experimental measures were used: a masked priming paradigm with a lexical decision task to explore priming evidence for morphological decomposition and a paper and pencil test of morphological awareness which required subjects to derive the base of a morphologically complex word. These tasks were administered to L1 (N = 43) and L2 groups (intermediate N = 16, advanced N = 16) of university-aged subjects. Results indicated that all subjects show repetition priming effects. However, despite a significant gain in explicit knowledge of English morphology across proficiency levels, L2 learners don’t develop an ability to morphologically decompose words in the unconscious, automatic way that native English speakers do, as evidenced by a lack of morphological priming. Implications for L2 pedagogy and L2 word storage in the mental lexicon are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. Kenneth Forster for all of his assistance and council in the development of the masked priming experiment.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Language Acquisition and Teaching Program, University of Arizona, Modern Languages Bldg. 549, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Rachel Kraut

Authors
  1. Rachel Kraut
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rachel Kraut.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Primes across three conditions for word and non-word targets

Morphological

Repetition

Control

TARGET

contractor

contract

picture

CONTRACT

amazing

amaze

television

AMAZE

equally

equal

sleep

EQUAL

creation

create

eat

CREATE

excited

excite

floor

EXCITE

meaningful

meaning

cup

MEANING

patience

patient

husband

PATIENT

retirer

retire

painting

RETIRE

happiness

happy

window

HAPPY

rider

ride

desk

RIDE

studier

study

dog

STUDY

attraction

attract

game

ATTRACT

surprising

surprise

fruit

SURPRISE

gladly

glad

shop

GLAD

believer

believe

stereo

BELIEVE

sleepily

sleepy

agent

SLEEPY

horrific

horror

update

HORROR

argument

argue

sweater

ARGUE

chemistry

chemist

cabinet

CHEMIST

winner

win

buy

WIN

hiker

hike

chair

HIKE

successful

success

imagine

SUCCESS

separation

separate

inside

SEPARATE

resistance

resist

beautiful

RESIST

freedom

free

wood

FREE

wrongly

wrong

double

WRONG

graduation

graduate

kitchen

GRADUATE

continuity

continue

dinner

CONTINUE

dreamer

dream

forest

DREAM

beautiful

beauty

sky

BEAUTY

privacy

private

tree

PRIVATE

drawing

draw

son

DRAW

relaxer

relax

mouth

RELAX

prettiness

pretty

career

PRETTY

smartness

smart

glasses

SMART

boredom

bored

paste

BORED

assistant

assist

pillow

ASSIST

realism

real

surface

RELAX

director

direct

remote

DIRECT

original

origin

hammer

ORIGIN

toucher

touch

fire

TOUCH

storage

store

kill

STORE

musical

music

grass

MUSIC

approval

approve

river

APPROVE

magical

magic

hill

MAGIC

historian

history

sun

HISTORY

swimmer

swim

peace

SWIM

curiosity

curious

story

CURIOUS

exhaustion

exhaust

count

EXHAUST

medication

medicate

vote

MEDICATE

hopeful

hope

sick

HOPE

engager

engage

original

ENGAGE

wealthy

wealth

paper

WEALTH

frightened

frighten

everyone

FRIGHTEN

removal

remove

secret

REMOVE

endless

end

fish

END

terrify

terror

lotion

TERROR

regional

region

progress

REGION

stressor

stress

drive

STRESS

brightly

bright

search

BRIGHT

cantraptual

cantrapt

donsible

CANTRAPT

abamely

abame

zelchent

ABAME

eheality

eheal

lonplute

EHEAL

greamer

greame

bertrate

GREAME

obcitiful

obcite

gembling

OBCITE

bealing

bealing

trutican

BEAL

katiancy

katiant

documert

KATIANT

gotirical

gotire

embation

GOTIRE

bampy

bamp

biblital

BAMP

cadish

cade

cluthong

CADE

stidest

stide

aoboromy

STIDE

altranty

altrant

athretic

ALTRANT

staprisen

staprise

neribate

STAPRISE

platty

plat

emoterate

PLAT

paliever

palieve

granmit

PALIEVE

sloapiness

sloapy

palisher

SLOAPY

moaroric

moaror

cubardy

MOAROR

platted

plat

nelth

PLAT

nirly

nir

hoest

NIR

tiper

tipe

fruze

TIPE

knoper

knope

fluik

KNOPE

croser

crose

crube

CROSE

anoker

anoke

sreem

ANOKE

filttest

filtt

tunt

FILTT

reackly

reack

zlot

REACK

morgiven

morgave

betrak

MORGAVE

leamt

leam

pruvit

LEAM

sackessful

sackess

progstil

SACKESS

regarater

regarate

sleaprom

REGARATE

repustful

repust

thoraph

REPUST

fleppy

flep

haftange

FLEP

wrinky

wrink

edinmar

WRINK

galkish

galk

rusliz

GALK

tukely

tuke

cublire

TUKE

pimer

pime

strin

PIME

bramly

bram

splondet

BRAM

rolagish

rolag

proctian

ROLAG

pralty

pralt

lespasal

PRALT

skarmy

skarm

tenasive

SKARM

toathed

toath

debolten

TOATH

choocker

choock

sormuten

CHOOCK

blapped

blap

etan

BLAP

leaty

leat

vitropen

LEAT

measer

mease

mertagot

MEASE

continery

continer

wokindy

CONTINER

greemy

greem

mahoufet

GREEM

seartiness

searty

largiard

SEARTY

krimater

krimate

scotfry

KRIMATE

bramful

bram

homdram

BRAM

alked

alk

jelopran

ALK

srammy

sram

crolotan

SRAM

gupiousity

gupious

noritarn

GUPIOUS

echarstful

echarst

mibasior

ECHARST

merigated

merigate

singulat

MERIGATE

rokeish

roke

borriton

ROKE

enraked

enrake

wanifold

ENRAKE

weelchy

weelch

sclupant

WEELCH

strags

strag

urkle

STRAG

klights

klight

spail

KLIGHT

ramival

ramive

chekiny

RAMIVE

Appendix 2: Test of Morphological Awareness

Name:

How many years have you studied English (in the U.S. + in your country)?:

What is your native language?:

Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the word:

  1. 1.

    You should ______________ (continuous) to study hard to enter graduate school.

  2. 2.

    He has a neat and clean _____________________ (appear).

  3. 3.

    There are __________________ (extremely) changes in temperature from morning to night in the desert.

  4. 4.

    My sister is an excellent _____________________ (swim).

  5. 5.

    Americans across the _______________ (national) will vote in the election next year.

  6. 6.

    Because of our love for technology, it would be difficult to live without ____________________ (electric).

  7. 7.

    In my free time, I like to listen to __________________ (musician).

  8. 8.

    The two teachers ___________________ (difference) greatly in their teaching styles.

  9. 9.

    Where would you like to eat dinner? Please make a ____________________ (decide).

  10. 10.

    The company is working to ________________ (reduction) the amount of waste it produces.

  11. 11.

    You should be ______________ (care) when you go to that city; it’s dangerous.

  12. 12.

    Please ______________________ (description) your plan to finish the research project.

  13. 13.

    Iman has never studied English before, he’s a ________________________ (begin).

  14. 14.

    The ________________ (major) of students at the university want to have a longer vacation.

  15. 15.

    She’s a great teacher because she gives very clear _______________________ (explain).

  16. 16.

    Wow! The movie theater is totally ___________________ (emptiness)! We can sit anywhere!

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Kraut, R. The relationship between morphological awareness and morphological decomposition among English language learners. Read Writ 28, 873–890 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-015-9553-4

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