Journal Article

A meta-analysis of morphological interventions: effects on literacy achievement of children with literacy difficulties

Goodwin, Amanda P., Ahn, Soyeon

2010

Overview

This study synthesizes 79 standardized mean-change differences between control and treatment groups from 17 independent studies, investigating the effect of morphological interventions on literacy outcomes for students with literacy difficulties. Average total sample size ranged from 15 to 261 from a wide range of grade levels. Overall, morphological instruction showed a significant improvement on literacy achievement (d̄=0.33). Specifically, its effect was significant on several literacy outcomes such as phonological awareness (d̄=0.49), morphological awareness (d̄=0.40), vocabulary (d̄=0.40), reading comprehension (d̄=0.24), and spelling (d̄=0.20). Morphological instruction was particularly effective for children with reading, learning, or speech and language disabilities, English language learners, and struggling readers, suggesting the possibility that morphological instruction can remediate phonological processing challenges. Other moderators were also explored to explain differences in morphological intervention effects. These findings suggest students with literacy difficulties would benefit from morphological instruction.

• Publisher: Springer,Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Academic achievement / Achievement / Awareness / Child / Children / Comorbidity / Comprehension / Dyslexia / Dyslexia - diagnosis / Dyslexia - therapy / Education / English (Second Language) / English as a second language learning / English language / English Language Learners / Female / Humans / Independent study / Intervention / Language acquisition / Language and Literature / Language Development Disorders - diagnosis / Language Development Disorders - therapy / Language Impairments / Learning Disabilities / Learning Disorders - diagnosis / Learning Disorders - therapy / Learning outcomes / Linguistic morphology / Linguistics / Literacy / Male / Meta-analysis / Moderators / Morphemes / Morphological analysis / Morphological processing / Morphology / Morphology (Languages) / Native language acquisition / Neurology / Phonetics / Phonological Awareness / Phonological processing / Phonology / Psycholinguistics / Reading / Reading Achievement / Reading Acquisition / Reading Comprehension / Reading Deficiencies / Reading Difficulties / Reading instruction / Remedial Reading / Remedial Teaching / Social Sciences / Speech / Speech Impairments / Spelling / Students / Systematic review / Teaching / Teaching Methods / Verbal Learning / Vocabulary