Control of Morphological Forms in Writing

Abstract

Morphological awareness has been found to be related to reading skills, including comprehension, vocabulary, and word-reading. However, not much is known about how morphological awareness might contribute to writing skills beyond spelling. This exploratory study looks at how morphological awareness as measured by total morphological changes made in a sentence combining task is related to performance on an essay task (essay quality), as well as on reading comprehension, for fifth and eighth graders (n = 149). Multiple linear regressions with sequential predictor entry were conducted to test the research questions. Total morphological changes were found to be uniquely predictive of both essay quality and passage comprehension, after accounting for other measures of writing. The results suggest that morphological awareness may be an important skill to learn--not only for reading, but perhaps for writing as well.