An Investigation of the Dimensionality of Morphological and Vocabulary Knowledge in Adult Basic Education Students

• Other Authors: Tighe, Elizabeth L. (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Psychology; Neurosciences
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-5449

The purpose of this study was to investigate the multi-faceted nature of morphological knowledge, the relationship between morphological and vocabulary knowledge, and the relationship of these skills to reading comprehension in adults enrolled in GED-level Adult Basic Education (ABE) courses. Morphological awareness, an understanding of how words can be broken down into smaller units of meaning, has emerged as an important contributor to children and adults' reading comprehension. However, there has been a lack of research investigating the construct of morphological knowledge and its relationship with vocabulary knowledge in adults with low literacy. A series of confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) revealed that morphological knowledge was multidimensional as evidenced by a breakdown of tasks with only real words versus tasks with only non words. Additionally, morphological knowledge, both real word and non-word, were separate, distinct factors from vocabulary knowledge. Finally, real word morphology, non-word morphology, and vocabulary knowledge accounted for a large amount of variance in reading comprehension for ABE students. The results of this study have important implications for morphological and vocabulary instruction in ABE programs. Moreover, the results of this study have practical implications for researchers assessing the construct of morphology because the findings indicate that different measures of morphological knowledge may be tapping disparate facets of the construct. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. === Fall Semester, 2012. === October 17, 2012. === Adult Basic Education, Morphological awareness, Reading comprehension, Vocabulary === Includes bibliographical references. === Christopher Schatschneider, Professor Directing Thesis; Carol Connor, Committee Member; Sara Hart, Committee Member; Richard Wagner, Committee Member.