Morphological Awareness, Vocabulary Knowledge, Lexical Inference, and Text Comprehension in Chinese in Grade 3

2019 ◽  
pp. 167-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Lü
Keyword(s):  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Grade 3

The Effect of Vocabulary Intervention on Text Comprehension: Who Benefits?

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawna Duff
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Text Comprehension ◽  
Classroom Instruction ◽  
Vocabulary Instruction ◽  
Clinical Intervention ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Vocabulary Intervention ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Difference

Purpose Vocabulary intervention can improve comprehension of texts containing taught words, but it is unclear if all middle school readers get this benefit. This study tests 2 hypotheses about variables that predict response to vocabulary treatment on text comprehension: gains in vocabulary knowledge due to treatment and pretreatment reading comprehension scores. Method Students in Grade 6 ( N = 23) completed a 5-session intervention based on robust vocabulary instruction (RVI). Knowledge of the semantics of taught words was measured pre- and posttreatment. Participants then read 2 matched texts, 1 containing taught words (treated) and 1 not (untreated). Treated texts and taught word lists were counterbalanced across participants. The difference between text comprehension scores in treated and untreated conditions was taken as a measure of the effect of RVI on text comprehension. Results RVI resulted in significant gains in knowledge of taught words ( d RM = 2.26) and text comprehension ( d RM = 0.31). The extent of gains in vocabulary knowledge after vocabulary treatment did not predict the effect of RVI on comprehension of texts. However, untreated reading comprehension scores moderated the effect of the vocabulary treatment on text comprehension: Lower reading comprehension was associated with greater gains in text comprehension. Readers with comprehension scores below the mean experienced large gains in comprehension, but those with average/above average reading comprehension scores did not. Conclusion Vocabulary instruction had a larger effect on text comprehension for readers in Grade 6 who had lower untreated reading comprehension scores. In contrast, the amount that children learned about taught vocabulary did not predict the effect of vocabulary instruction on text comprehension. This has implications for the identification of 6th-grade students who would benefit from classroom instruction or clinical intervention targeting vocabulary knowledge.

scholarly journals Examining the underlying dimensions of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 959-988 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Spencer ◽  
Andrea Muse ◽  
Richard K. Wagner ◽  
Barbara Foorman ◽  
Yaacov Petscher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge

scholarly journals The Relationship between Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Knowledge of Thai EFL Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
Sarunya Tarat
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Identification Test ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Unknown Words ◽  
The Relationship

This study focuses on the relationship between morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge of English among Thai EFL university students. All participants are taking English language as their major field in the universities situated at the lower northern region of Thailand. The morphological awareness identification test was employed to identify the linkage between morphological awareness and vocabulary gain Thai EFL learners. The test was divided into 2 parts: self-checking and morpheme identification. Fifty English vocabularies in intermediate and upper-intermediate level were used in the test in which the participants were requested to check whether they have seen the vocabularies in the test and also asked to break those vocabularies into morphemic units. The results showed that the participants possessed an adequate level of morphological awareness to break words into morphemes correctly even though they were unknown words of the participants. Additionally, the findings also revealed that there is no significant difference between male and female in acquiring morphological awareness of English and gaining English vocabularies.

On the nature of morphological awareness in Japanese–English bilingual children: A cross-linguistic perspective

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUKO HAYASHI ◽  
VICTORIA A. MURPHY
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Morphological Development ◽  
Morphological Knowledge ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
Reciprocal Transfer ◽  
Japanese English

While morphological awareness has received much attention to date, little is understood about how morphological awareness develops within bilingual children learning typologically different languages. Therefore, we investigated children's knowledge of inflections and derivations in Japanese and English, and also asked whether morphological awareness in one language predicted morphological awareness in the other. To that end, 24 Japanese learners of L2 English (ESL) and 21 English learners of Japanese as a heritage language (JHL) were recruited and participated in a range of tasks assessing both vocabulary and morphological knowledge. Cross-linguistic contributions of morphological awareness were identified in both directions (Japanese ↔ English), after controlling for age, IQ, and vocabulary knowledge. This bidirectional transfer was, however, identified only in the ESL group. The group-specific and reciprocal transfer observed is discussed in terms of morphological complexities and relative competence in each language. The potential role of different types of L2 instruction in morphological development is also discussed.

Development of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in Spanish-speaking language minority learners: A parallel process latent growth curve model

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL J. KIEFFER ◽  
NONIE K. LESAUX
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Language Minority ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Latent Growth ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Vocabulary Growth ◽  
Concurrent Development ◽  
Complex Words

ABSTRACTDespite acknowledgement of the limited English vocabularies demonstrated by many language minority (LM) learners, few studies have identified skills that relate to variation in vocabulary growth in this population. This study investigated the concurrent development of morphological awareness (i.e., students’ understanding of complex words as combinations of meaningful smaller units) and vocabulary for LM learners in early adolescence. A cohort of Spanish-speaking LM learners (n = 90) was followed from fourth through seventh grade and assessed annually. Latent growth modeling results indicated a strong relationship between rates of growth in the two skills, such that learners with rapid growth in derivational morphological awareness also demonstrated rapid growth in vocabulary. Despite positive vocabulary growth during this period, the learners remained far below national norms. Findings highlight the need for language-focused instructional intervention for this population and suggest that morphological awareness may be a promising point of leverage for such instruction.

Multi-Faceted Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Knowledge in English as a Second Language Learners: A Multivariate Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Haomin ◽  
Zhuang Bilü
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Chinese College Students ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Vocabulary Depth

AbstractThis study investigates the role of morphological awareness in ESL vocabulary acquisition. Participants were 198 Chinese college students enrolled in a joint program which required them to study in China for the first two years and then study in the U.K. to complete their degrees. They completed a total of four paper-and-pencil tests: morpheme discrimination, morpheme recognition, vocabulary size test (VST) and word associates test (WAT) tests. We drew upon path analysis to explore the interconnected relationships among multiple explanatory variables (facets of morphological awareness) and outcome variables (facets of vocabulary knowledge). The results demonstrated that English derivational awareness was strongly predictive of both ESL vocabulary breadth and ESL vocabulary depth, and that preexisting ESL vocabulary breadth could enhance the relation between derivational awareness and ESL vocabulary depth. To summarize, these results indicate that an improved English derivational awareness not only helps to expand ESL vocabulary size but can also consolidate learners’ deep understanding of word properties, which will in turn assist them to establish connections with other associative words and phrases.

scholarly journals How is their word knowledge growing? Exploring Grade 3 vocabulary in South African township schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Pretorius ◽  
Lieke Stoffelsma
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
School Year ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Grade 3 ◽  
South African Township

In this article, we report on a study that examined the active and receptive English vocabulary of two different groups of Grade 3 learners in South African township schools. The groups consisted of English Home Language (HL) learners in the Western Cape and Xhosa HL and English First Additional Language (FAL) learners in the Eastern Cape. The purpose was to document their different vocabulary trajectories during Grade 3. The Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey was used to measure the active vocabulary levels of 118 learners at the beginning and the end of the school year. Another 284 learners from the same eight Grade 3 classes participated in a receptive vocabulary test at the end of the year. This test assessed their knowledge of the 60 most frequent words that occur in South Africa Grade 4 English textbooks. Results showed that although the HL learners knew almost double the number of words their English FAL peers did, both groups of learners increased their active word knowledge through the year by about 9%. Regarding their receptive vocabulary, the English FAL learners on average only knew 27% of the most frequent words at the end of their Grade 3. No significant gender differences were found. Learners in both language groups who were above their grade age had significantly lower scores than their younger peers. This confirms findings that children who start school with weak language skills tend to stay weak. Finally, initial active vocabulary knowledge was found to be a strong predictor of vocabulary development during the school year.

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