Morphological Development and Writing Ability in Children and Adults

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate morphological knowledge in spoken language and its relationship to written representation of morphemes by normally achieving second graders, language-learning disabled children, and adults with literacy problems. Research dealing with the written expression of populations with language-learning difficulties has consistently indicated that these populations tend to make morphemic errors when spelling words. If a deficit in morphological knowledge is an underlying factor, then these individuals might also be expected to perform poorly on tasks that require them to apply morphological rules in spoken language (an implicit level of morphological knowledge) or to analyze the morphemic structure of spoken words (an explicit level of morphological knowledge). Analyses found both these levels of morphological knowledge to be highly related to morpheme use in written language samples, and suggest that morphological knowledge does not develop solely as a function of maturation or exposure to language. Implications of these findings for assessment and intervention are addressed.