Morphological awareness in dyslexic university students

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis research assessed phonological and morphological awareness in dyslexic university students. We tested 44 dyslexic university students in phonological and morphological awareness tasks and compared their performances to those of both matched chronological age and matched reading level controls. In the phonological awareness tests, the dyslexic university students performed at the same level as their reading level controls. In contrast, they systematically outperformed their reading level controls in the morphological awareness tasks and almost reached the proficiency level of the chronological age controls. The results show that dyslexic university students develop their morphological awareness more than their phonological awareness. These findings add to the evidence indicating that morphological awareness is not deficient in dyslexia and could instead play a beneficial role in the development of literacy skills in this population.