Cover not available

Article In: Writing/Reading Interface
Edited by Terry Joyce and Constanze Weth
[Written Language & Literacy 28:1] 2025
► pp. 118–143

The role of morphology in early word reading and spelling

Evidence from Swedish children in Grade 2

ORCiD logo with link | Umeå University
ORCiD logo with link | Umeå University
ORCiD logo with link | Umeå University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
It has been proposed that morphological knowledge facilitates the integration of sublexical and lexical codes in both word reading and spelling and mediates the transition from reliance on sublexical cues to lexical cues during early literacy development (Bahr et al., 2020). However, the specific stage at which morphology begins to influence reading and spelling remains unclear, as does the question of whether there are differences across languages (Landerl, K., Castles, A., & Parrila, R. (2022). Cognitive precursors of reading: A cross-linguistic perspective. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(2), 111–124. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). In the present study, we explore the extent to which morphology may explain, in addition to the already known predictors of phonemic awareness (PA) and rapid automatic naming (RAN), individual variations in word reading and spelling within two groups of Swedish-speaking children identified with word reading difficulties (n = 77) and as typical reading (n = 59), respectively, in Grade 2. All children participated in standardized assessments of PA, RAN, morphological awareness (MA), vocabulary, word reading, and spelling at the beginning of Grade 2. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to investigate whether MA explained any additional variance within the dependent variables of word reading and spelling when controlling for word-reading group, PA, and RAN. As independent variables, word-reading group, PA, and RAN were included at the first step and MA was added at the second step. MA was found to have only a modest influence on the variances for word reading and spelling when controlling for group, PA and RAN. In conclusion, this study of beginning readers and spellers in Swedish, confirms previous findings that PA makes the more substantial contribution to the variation within early word reading and spelling, with MA contributing only modestly. These results support the view that phonics should provide the primary instructional foundations, with MA serving as a complementary component during the first years of literacy instruction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The role of morphological awareness in the development of word reading and spelling
    • 1.2Morphology in relation to the difficulties of word reading and spelling
    • 1.3Swedish orthography and morphology
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Procedure
    • 2.3Measures
    • 2.4Data analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Descriptive statistics for the independent and dependent variables
    • 3.2The relationships between phonemic awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness, and word reading
    • 3.3The relationships between phonemic awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness, and spelling
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1The contribution of MA to the variation in word reading
    • 4.2The contribution of MA to the variation in spelling
    • 4.3Limitations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Author queries
  • References
References (65)
References
Andersson, J., & Berggren, M. (2013). Paulin test av fonologisk medvetenhet: En normering samt utvärdering av testet och faktorer som kan påverka resultat [Master’s thesis, Lund University].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Angelelli, P., Marinelli, C. V., & Burani, C. (2014). The effect of morphology on spelling and reading accuracy: a study on Italian children. Frontiers in Psychology, 51, 1373. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anglin, J. M. (1993). Vocabulary development: A morphological analysis. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 58(10), v–165. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Apel, K., & Werfel, K. L. (2014). Using morphological awareness instruction to improve written language skills. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 45(4), 251–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ardanouy, E., Lefèvre, E., Delage, H., & Zesiger, P. (2024). Which skills underlie French-speaking children’s lexical spelling acquisition in elementary school? Insight from a cross-sectional exploratory network study from Grade 1 to Grade 5. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2451, 105963. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bahr, R. H., Sillian, E. R., Berninger, V. W., & Dow, M. (2012). Linguistic pattern analysis of misspellings of typically developing writers in grades 1–9. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 55(6), 1587–1599. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Nagy, W., & Carlisle, J. (2010). Growth in phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness in grades 1 to 6. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 39(2), 141–163. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bohnacker, U. (2003). Nominal phrases. In G. Josefsson, C. Platzack, & G. Håkansson (Eds.), The acquisition of Swedish grammar, (Vol. 331, pp. 195–260). John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brady, S. (2019). The 2003 IDA definition of dyslexia: A call for changes. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 45(1), 15–21.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burani, C., Marcolini, S., De Luca, M., & Zoccolotti, P. (2008). Morpheme-based reading aloud: Evidence from dyslexic and skilled Italian readers. Cognition, 108(1), 243–262. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Caravolas, M. (2004). Spelling development in alphabetic writing systems: A cross-linguistic perspective. European Psychologist, 9(1), 3–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2022). Reading and reading disorders in alphabetic orthographies. In M. J. Snowling, C. Hulme & K. Nation (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (2nd Ed., pp. 327–353). Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Caravolas, M., Lervåg, A., Mousikou, P., Efrim, C., Litavský, M., Onochi-Quintanilla, E., et al. (2012). Common patterns of prediction of literacy development in different alphabetic orthographies. Psychological Science, 231, 678e686. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carlisle, J. F. (1995). Morphological awareness and early reading achievement. In L. B. Feldman (Ed.), Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 189–209). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Morphology matters in learning to read: A commentary. Reading Psychology, 24(3–4), 291–322. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casalis, S., & Louis-Alexandre, M. F. (2000). Morphological analysis, phonological analysis and learning to read French: A longitudinal study. Reading and Writing, 121, 303–335. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Catts, H. W., McIlraith, A., Bridges, M. S., & Nielsen, D. C. (2017). Viewing a phonological deficit within a multifactorial model of dyslexia. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 30(3), 613–629. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deacon, S. H., & Bryant, P. (2006). Getting to the root: Young writers’ sensitivity to the role of root morphemes in the spelling of inflected and derived words. Journal of Child Language, 33(2), 401–417. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deacon, S. H., Kirby, J. R., & Casselman-Bell, M. (2009). How robust is the contribution of morphological awareness to general spelling outcomes? Reading Psychology, 30(4), 301–318. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deacon, S. H., Tong, X., & Mimeau, C. (2019). Morphological and semantic processing in developmental dyslexia. In L. Verhoeven, C. Perfetti, & K. Pugh (Eds.), Developmental dyslexia across languages and writing systems (pp. 327–349). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Defior, S., Alegría, J., Titos, R., & Martos, F. (2008). Using morphology when spelling in a shallow orthographic system: The case of Spanish. Cognitive Development, 23(1), 204–215. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Desrochers, A., Manolitsis, G., Gaudreau, P., & Georgiou, G. (2018). Early contribution of morphological awareness to literacy skills across languages varying in orthographic consistency. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 31(8), 1695–1719. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dressler, W. U., Ketrez, N. F., & Kilani-Schoch, M. (2017). Discussion and outlook. In W. U. Dressler, N. F. Ketrez & M. Kilani-Schoch (Eds.), Nominal compound acquisition (pp. 287–305). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elbro, C., & Arnbak, E. (1996). The role of morpheme recognition and morphological awareness in dyslexia. Bulletin of the Orton Society, 461, 209–240. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elliott, J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2024). The dyslexia debate revisited. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elwér, Å., Fridolfsson, I., Samuelsson, S., & Wiklund, C. (2016). LäSt: Test i läsförståelse, läsning och stavning för åk 1–6. Hogrefe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grigorakis, I., & Manolitsis, G. (2021). Longitudinal effects of different aspects of morphological awareness skills on early spelling development. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 34(4), 945–979. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hasenäcker, J., Mousikou, P., & Schroeder, S. (2023). The role of morphology in reading development. In D. Crepaldi (Ed.), Linguistic morphology in the mind and brain (pp. 199–213). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hultman, T. G. 2003. Svenska Akademiens språklära [The grammar of the Swedish Academy]. Svenska Akademien.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Järpsten, B., & Taube, K. (2013). DLS: för skolår 2 och 3. Handledning. Hogrefe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kirby, J. R., & Bowers, P. N. (2018). The effects of morphological instruction on vocabulary learning, reading, and spelling. In R. Berthiaume, D. Daigle & A. Desrochers. (Eds.), Morphological processing and literacy development: Current issues and research (pp. 217–243). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kirby, J. R., Deacon, S. H., Bowers, P. N., Izenberg, L., Wade-Woolley, L., & Parrila, R. (2012). Children’s morphological awareness and reading ability. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 25(2), 389–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kirby, J. R., Deacon, S. H., Georgiou, G., Geier, K., Chan, J., & Parrila, R. (2025). Effects of morphological awareness, naming speed, and phonological awareness on reading skills from Grade 3 to Grade 5. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2531, Article 106188. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuo, L., & Anderson, R. C. (2006). Morphological awareness and learning to read: A cross-language perspective. Educational Psychologist, 41(3), 161–180. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Landerl, K., Castles, A., & Parrila, R. (2022). Cognitive precursors of reading: A cross-linguistic perspective. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(2), 111–124. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levesque, K. C., Breadmore, H. L., & Deacon, S. H. (2021). How morphology impacts reading and spelling: Advancing the role of morphology in models of literacy development. Journal of Research in Reading, 44(1), 10–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Levesque, K. C., Kieffer, M. J., & Deacon, S. H. (2019). Inferring meaning from meaningful parts: The contributions of morphological skills to the development of children’s reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 54(1), 63–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Magnusson, E., & Nauclér, K. (1993). Bedömning av språklig medvetenhet hos förskolebarn och skolbarn. Pedagogisk design.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mattes, V., Sommer-Lolei, S., Korecky-Kröll, K., & Dressler, W. U. (Eds.). (2021). The acquisition of derivational morphology: A cross-linguistic perspective. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(Eds.). (2021). The acquisition of derivational morphology: A cross-linguistic perspective. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Melby-Lervåg, M., Lyster, S.-A. H., & Hulme, C. (2012). Phonological skills and their role in learning to read: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 322–352. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mellenius, I. (1997). The acquisition of nominal compounding in Swedish. [Doctoral thesis, Lund University]. Lund University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Melloni, C., & Vender, M. (2022). Morphological awareness in developmental dyslexia: Playing with nonwords in a morphologically rich language. PlosONE, 17(11). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moll, K., Ramus, F., Bartling, J., Bruder, J., Kunze, S., Neuhoff, N., Streiftau, S., Lyytinen, H., Leppänen, P. H. T., Lohvansuu, K., Tóth, D., Honbolygó, F., Csépe, V., Bogliotti, C., Iannuzzi, S., Démonet, J.-F., Longeras, E., Valdois, S., George, F.,… Landerl, K. (2014). Cognitive mechanisms underlying reading and spelling development in five European orthographies. Learning and Instruction, 291, 65–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mousikou, P., Beyersmann, E., Ktori, M., Javourey-Drevet, L., Crepaldi, D., Ziegler, J. C., Grainger, J., & Schroeder, S. (2020). Orthographic consistency influences morphological processing in reading aloud: Evidence from a cross-linguistic study. Developmental Science, 23(6). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nagy, W. E., & Anderson, R. C. (1984). How many words are there in printed school English. Reading Research Quarterly, 191, 304–330. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nagy, W. E., Carlisle, J. F., & Goodwin, A. P. (2013). Morphological knowledge and literacy acquisition. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 47(1), 3–12. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nunes, T., Bryant, P., & Barros, R. (2012). The development of word recognition and its significance for comprehension and fluency. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1041, 959–973. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pacton, S., & Deacon, S. H. (2008). The timing and mechanisms of children’s use of morphological information in spelling: A review of evidence from English and French. Cognitive Development, 23(3), 339–359. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennington, B. F. (2006). From single to multiple deficit models of developmental disorders. Cognition, 101(2), 385–413. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pennington, B. F., Santerre-Lemmon, L., Rosenberg, J., MacDonald, B., Boada, R., Friend, A., Leopold, D. R., Samuelsson, S., Byrne, B., Willcutt, E. G., & Olson, R. K. (2012). Individual prediction of dyslexia by single versus multiple deficit models. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121(1), 212–224. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perfetti, C. (2007). Reading ability: Lexical quality to comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 11(4), 357–383. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pittas, E., & Nunes, T. (2014). The relation between morphological awareness and reading and spelling in Greek: A longitudinal study. Reading and Writing, 27(8), 1507–1527. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rastle, K. (2018). The place of morphology in learning to read in English. Cortex, 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2022). Word Recognition III: Morphological processing. In M. J. Snowling, C. Hulme & K. Nation (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (2nd Ed., pp. 102–119). Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rothou, K. M., & Padeliadu, S. (2019). Morphological processing influences on dyslexia in Greek-speaking children. Annals of Dyslexia, 69(3), 261–278. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schiff, R., & Levie, R. (2017). Spelling and morphology in dyslexia: A developmental study across the school years. Dyslexia, 231, 324–344. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seymour, P. H. K., Aro, M., & Erskine, J. M. (2003). Foundation literacy acquisition in European orthographies. British Journal of Psychology, 941, 143–174. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sprenger-Charolles, L., Siegel, L. S., & Bonnet, P. (1998). Reading and spelling acquisition in French: The role of phonological mediation and orthographic factors. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 68(2), 134–165. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Taube, K., Tornéus, M., & Lundberg, I. (1984). UMESOL. Läsning och skrivning: Läs- och skrivanalys. Psykologiförlaget.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Treiman, R. (2017). Learning to spell words: Findings, theories, and issues. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21(4), 265–276. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Värmon, A.-L. (2005). Fonologiska test, Benämning. Språkpedagogiskt centrum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Venezky, R. L. (1999). The American way of spelling: The structure and origins of American English orthography. Guilford Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wagner, R. K., Zirps, F. A., & Wood, S. G. (2022). Developmental dyslexia. In M. J. Snowling, C. Hulme & K. Nation (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (2nd Ed., pp. 416–438). Wiley Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolter, J. A., Wood, A., & D’zatko, K. W. (2009). The influence of morphological awareness on the literacy development of first-grade children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 40(3), 286–298. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue