The Power of Explicit Morphological Instruction in Young Readers
A recent study published within the Scientific Studies of Reading was conducted by researchers to explore the impact of explicit vs. implicit instruction on the acquisition of novel suffixes from 3rd grade and 5th grade students. The aim of this study was to determine whether a direct focus on the morphological structure of words enhanced the acquisition of vocabulary compared to a general exposure to contextual clues.
The experimental study was composed of 83 third graders and 86 fifth graders. They were predominantly English speakers who were divided into two groups. One of the groups received explicit morphological instruction focusing on the meaning of pseudowords. For example, breaking down the word “hillnim” where “nim” means “small”, to allow the students to better understand the composition and structure of the words. The other group was exposed to these structures implicitly, relying on contextual clues to understand the meaning of the words. The researchers evaluated the student’s ability to understand the meaning of the word immediately after the training and again one week later to assess any differences in understanding between the two groups.
The study had a few key findings. First, they found that for the third graders, the group who received explicit instruction did not significantly outperform the group that received implicit instruction in regard to identifying the forms of the suffixes. However, researchers found that for the fifth graders, the explicit instruction demonstrated a marginal benefit over time in this skill. Researchers also found that explicit instruction significantly enhanced both groups and grade levels' ability to understand the meaning of the suffixes.
Overall, these findings demonstrate the importance of explicit instruction on the morphological structure of words to increase vocabulary understanding in young readers.
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