Effects of Embedded Morphological Instruction on Children's Reading and Writing in Grades 4 and 5

• In Event: 41.024 - Interventions to Support Literacy Development

Abstract

The effects of morphological instruction on reading and writing outcomes was investigated with 4th and 5th grade classrooms. Growing research supports the incorporation of morphologically-based instruction for vocabulary, reading, and spelling outcomes. However, little work has investigated writing outcomes. Classrooms were assigned to implement morphologically-based vocabulary instruction that was embedded in academic reading and writing activities or to a business-as-usual control. Preliminary analyses suggest that students in the treatment group improved more on a variety of measures—including sentence writing—even when items targeted non-instructed words. There was also evidence of improvement on a norm-referenced spelling test, but not norm-referenced comprehension or general vocabulary, which is consistent with prior research.

Authors

• Deborah E. Mccutchen, University of Washington

• Becky Logan Herrera, University of Washington

• Teixeira Clark, University of Washington

• Mary Northey, University of Washington

• Emma Huey, University of Washington - Seattle