Influence of Narrow Reading and Narrow Reading Plus Morphological Awareness Training on Vocabulary Development

Abstract

The present study sought to investigate the effects of narrow reading and a combination of narrow reading and morphological awareness training on intermediate Chinese college English learners’ vocabulary acquisition and retention. To these ends, 54 Chinese college English as foreign language learners (EFL) were randomly divided into three groups—a narrow reading group (NR group); a narrow reading plus morphological intervention group (NRMI group), and a control group (CR group). The two experimental groups read the same five thematically-related expository passages over 5 weeks with the NRMI group receiving extra morphological training; while the CR group read five texts on different topics over the same period of time. Linear mixed model analysis results indicated that while two treatment groups performed significantly better than the CR group on both receptive and productive vocabulary tests, the NRMI group improved the most in vocabulary learning.