Kyle Levesque|Michael J. Kieffer|S. Hélène Deacon
Inferring Meaning From Meaningful Parts: The Contributions of Morphological Skills to the Development of Children's Reading Comprehension
Dalhousie University|New York University|Dalhousie University
abstract skilled reading comprehension important goal educational instruction models reading development study authors investigated core skills surrounding morphemes minimal units meaning language support development reading comprehension authors specifically contrast roles morphological awareness morphological analysis first refers awareness ability manipulate morphemes language second refers use morphemes inferring meaning unfamiliar morphologically complex multimorphemic words authors evaluated morphological skills 197 englishspeaking students followed grade 3 grade 4 analyses used stringent autoregressor controls home predictors gains time addition morphological awareness morphological analysis authors assessed students reading comprehension controls word reading vocabulary phonological awareness nonverbal ability age multivariate autoregressive path analysis revealed morphological analysis morphological awareness predicted gains reading comprehension morphological awareness part predicted gains morphological analysis taken together findings allude developmental trajectory whereby students use morphemes infer meanings unfamiliar complex words supports development reading comprehension time development skill turn appears supported general awareness morphemes language findings contribute theory reading instruction clarifying ways morphological skills support development students reading comprehension