Original to Originality: Morphological Accuracy and Rates of Word Recognition in Low Literate Adults
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2011-02-16
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Abstract
Morphological awareness an understanding of how words can be broken down into smaller units of meaning such as prefixes and suffixes has emerged as an important contributor to literacy acquisition. The purpose of the current study was to look at the contribution of morphological awareness independent of phonological awareness to the reading comprehension abilities of adults in ABE programs. Accuracy and reaction times were measured on different types of morphologically complex words as compared with control words matched on frequency in an oral reading passage and in a single word recognition task. Results revealed that adults were sensitive to morphological complexity: performing more accurately and faster on control versus morphologically complex word types. Additionally, morphological awareness was found to be a significant unique predictor of reading comprehension. The educational implications for ABE programs are discussed.