Abstract
The morpho-phonological nature of English orthography is examined in this study of the relation between morphological sensitivity and decoding ability in the latter elementary grades. Children in grades three to six were required to distinguish derivationally-related word pairs (e.g., nature-natural) from foil pairs that are related in spelling but not in morphology (e.g., ear-earth). The materials included both transparently-related (i.e., the second word incorporated the pronunciation of the first, as in person-personal) and complexly-related word pairs (i.e., the second word involved some change in pronunciation, as in atom-atomic). Across two experiments, these items were presented in either oral or written form along with various tests of reading ability, intelligence and phonological awareness. The results indicate that children's recognition of derivational relationships improved with grade-level. As anticipated, there was also a significant association between sensitivity to derivational relatedness and decoding ability which remains significant even when the word pairs were orally presented and even when phonological awareness in taken into account. Both phonological awareness and sensitivity to morphological structure emerge as important factors in decoding skill in the later elementary grades.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.
Bradley, L. & Bryant, P.E. (1983). Categorizing sounds and learning to read: a causal connection, Nature 301: 419–421.
Brady, S.A. & Shankweiler, D.P. (eds.) (1991). Phonological processes in literacy. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Carlisle, J.F. & Nomanbhoy, D.M. (1993). Phonological and morphological awareness in first graders, Applied Psycholinguistics 14: 177–195.
Carroll, J.B., Davies, P. & Richman, B. (1971). Word frequency book. New York: American Heritage.
Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper & Row.
Derwing, B.L. & Baker, W.J. (1979). Recent research on the acquisition of English morphology. In: P. Fletcher & M. Garman (eds.), Language acquisition: Studies in first language development (pp. 209–222). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dunn, L. & Dunn, L. (1981). Peabody picture vocabulary test: revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Freyd, P. & Baron, J. (1982). Individual differences in acquisition of derivational morphology, Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior 21: 282–295.
Liberman, I.Y., Liberman, A.M., Mattingly, I.G. & Shankweiler, D. (1980). Orthography and the beginning reader. In: J. Kavanaugh & R. Venezsky (eds.), Orthography, reading and dyslexia (pp. 137–154). Baltimore: University Park Press.
Mahony, D.L. (1993). The role of sensitivity to word structure in the development of reading skill. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine.
Mahony, D.L. (1994). Using sensitivity to word structure to explain variance in high school and college level reading ability, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 6: 19–44.
Mahony, D.L. & Mann, V.A. (1992). Using children's humor to clarify the relationship between linguistic awareness and early reading ability, Cognition 45: 163–186.
Mahony, D.L. & Mann, V.A. (1998). Children's linguistic humor and reading research: A match made in heaven, Cahiers de Psychologie Cognitive 17: 278–311.
Mann, V.A. (1998). Language problems: a key to early reading problems. In: B. Wong (ed.), Learning about learning disabilities (pp. 163–199). New York: Academic Press.
Myerson, R. (1976). A study of children's knowledge of certain word formation rules and the relationship of this knowledge to various forms of reading achievement.Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. University Micro-films International, 76–30, 205.
Rayner, K. & Pollatsek, A. (1989). The psychology of reading. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Rosner, J. & Simon, D.P. (1971). The auditory analysis test: an initial report, Journal of Learning Disability 4: 384–392.
Shankweiler, D., Crain, S., Katz, L., Fowler, A.E., Liberman, A.E., Brady, S.A., Thornton, R., Lundquist, E., Dreyer, L., Fletcher, J.M., Stuebing, K.K., Shaywitz, S.E. & Shaywitz, B.A. (1995). Cognitive profiles of reading-disabled children: comparisons of language skills in phonology, morphology and syntax, Psychological Science 6: 149–156.
Singson, M., Mahony, D.L. & Mann, V.A. (2000). The relation between reading ability and morphological skills: Evidence from derivational suffixes, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal 12: - (this issue)
Templeteon, S. & Scarborough-Franks, L. (1985). The spelling's the thing: knowledge of derivational morphology in orthography and phonology among older students, Applied Psycholinguistics 6: 371–389.
Tunmer, W.E. & Nesdale, A.R. (1985). Phonemic segmentation skill and beginning reading, Journal of educational Psychology 77: 417–427.
Tyler, A. & Nagy, W. (1989). The acquisition of English derivational morphology, Journal of Memory and Language 28: 649–667.
Wechsler, D. (1974). Wechsler intelligence scale for children-revised manual. NewYork: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Wolf, M. (1984). Naming, reading and the dyslexics: a longitudinal overview, Annals of Dyslexia 34: 87–115.
Wolf, M. & Goodglass, H. (1986). Dyslexia, dysnomia and lexical retrieval: A longitudinal investigation, Brain and Language 28: 159–168.
Woodcock, R.W. (1973). Woodcock reading mastery tests. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Wysocki, K. & Jenkins, J.R. (1987). Deriving word meanings through morphological generalization, Reading Research Quarterly 22: 66–81.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mahony, D., Singson, M. & Mann, V. Reading ability and sensitivity to morphological relations. Reading and Writing 12, 191–218 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008136012492
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008136012492