Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T07:28:25.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Morphological awareness and visual processing of derivational morphology in high-functioning adults with dyslexia: An avenue to compensation?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2017

JEREMY M. LAW ,
ANNELI VEISPAK ,
JOLIJN VANDERAUWERA  and
POL GHESQUIÈRE
JEREMY M. LAW*
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
ANNELI VEISPAK
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
JOLIJN VANDERAUWERA
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
POL GHESQUIÈRE
Affiliation:
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Jeremy M. Law, Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 32, Box 3765, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: DrJeremyLaw@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined the processing of derivational morphology and its association with measures of morphological awareness and literacy outcomes in 30 Dutch-speaking high-functioning dyslexics, and 30 controls, matched for age and reading comprehension. A masked priming experiment was conducted where the semantic overlap between morphologically related pairs was manipulated as part of a lexical decision task. Measures of morphological awareness were assessed using a specifically designed sentence completion task. Significant priming effects were found in each group, yet adults with dyslexia were found to benefit more from the morphological structure than the controls. Adults with dyslexia were found to be influenced by both form (morpho-orthographic) and meaning (morphosemantic) properties of morphemes while controls were mainly influenced by morphosemantic properties. The reports suggest that morphological processing is intact in high-functioning dyslexics and a strength when compared to controls matched for reading comprehension and age. Thus, reports support morphological processing as a potential factor in the reading compensation of adults with dyslexia. However, adults with dyslexia performed significantly worse than controls on morphological awareness measures.

Keywords

adultscompensationdyslexiamorphological awarenessvisual processing
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , May 2018 , pp. 483 - 506
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baayen, R. H., Piepenbrock, R., & Gulikers, L. (1995) The Celex lexical database. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, Linguistic Data Consortium.Google Scholar
Bane, M. (2008). Quantifying and measuring morphological complexity. In Chang, C. B. & Haynie, H. J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th West Coast conference on formal linguistics (pp. 69–76). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Berko, J. (1958). The child's learning of English morphology. Word, 14, 150–177.Google Scholar
Berthiaume, R., & Daigle, D. (2014). Are dyslexic children sensitive to the morphological structure of words when they read? The case of dyslexic readers of French. Dyslexia, 20, 241–260.Google Scholar
Bonnotte, I., & Casalis, S. (2010). Semantic priming in French children with varying comprehension skills. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 7, 309–328.Google Scholar
Bowers, P. G., & Wolf, M. (1993). Theoretical links among naming speed, precise timing mechanisms and orthographic skill in dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 5, 69–85.Google Scholar
Breznitz, Z., & Misra, M. (2003). Speed of processing of the visual–orthographic and auditory–phonological systems in adult dyslexics: The contribution of “asynchrony” to word recognition deficits. Brain and Language, 85, 486–502.Google Scholar
Brus, B., & Voeten, M. (1999). Een-minuut-test: vorm A en B (EMT). Nijmegen: Berkhout.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, 243–262.Google Scholar
Caravolas, M. (2004). Spelling development in alphabetic writing systems: A cross-linguistic perspective. European Psychologist, 9, 3–14.Google Scholar
Carlisle, J. F. (2000). Awareness of the structure and meaning of morphologically complex words: Impact on reading. Reading and Writing, 12, 169–190.Google Scholar
Carlisle, J. F., & Feldman, L. (1995). Morphological awareness and early reading achievement. Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 189–209). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Carlisle, J. F., & Fleming, J. (2003). Lexical processing of morphologically complex words in the elementary years. Scientific Studies of Reading, 7, 239–253.Google Scholar
Casalis, S., Colé, P., & Sopo, D. (2004). Morphological awareness in developmental dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 54, 114–138.Google Scholar
Cavalli, E., Colé, P., Pattamadilok, C., Badier, J. M., Zielinski, C., Chanoine, V., & Ziegler, J. C. (2017). Spatiotemporal reorganization of the reading network in adult dyslexia. Cortex, 92, 204–221.Google Scholar
Cavalli, E., Duncan, L. G., Elbro, C., El Ahmadi, A., & Colé, P. (2016). Phonemic-morphemic dissociation in university students with dyslexia: An index of reading compensation? Annals of Dyslexia. Advance online publiation.Google Scholar
Deacon, S. H., & Kirby, J. R. (2004). Morphological awareness: Just “more phonological”? The roles of morphological and phonological awareness in reading development. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 223–238.Google Scholar
Deacon, S. H., Parrila, R., & Kirby, J. R. (2006). Processing of derived forms in high-functioning dyslexics. Annals of Dyslexia, 56, 103–128.Google Scholar
Deacon, S. H., Tong, X., & Mimeau, C. (2016). Morphological and semantic skills in developmental dyslexia across languages. In Perfetti, C., Pugh, K., & Verhoeven, L. (Eds.), Dyslexia across languages and writing systems: A handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
De Pessemier, P., & Andries, C. (2009). GL&SCHR. Leuven, Belgium: Garant.Google Scholar
DeVellis, R. F. (2003) Scale development: Theory and applications (2nd ed.). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Diependaele, K., Duñabeitia, J. A., Morris, J., & Keuleers, E. (2011). Fast morphological effects in first and second language word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 64, 344–358.Google Scholar
Diependaele, K., Sandra, D., & Grainger, J. (2005). Masked cross-modal morphological priming: Unravelling morpho-orthographic and morphosemantic influences in early word recognition. Language and Cognitive Processes, 20, 75–114.Google Scholar
Diependaele, K., Sandra, D., & Grainger, J. (2009). Semantic transparency and masked morphological priming: The case of prefixed words. Memory & Cognition, 37, 895–908.Google Scholar
Duñabeitia, J. A., Perea, M., & Carreiras, M. (2007). Do transposed-letter similarity effects occur at a morpheme level? Evidence for morpho-orthographic decomposition. Cognition, 105, 691–703.Google Scholar
Duncan, L. G., Seymour, P. H., & Hill, S. (1997). How important are rhyme and analogy in beginning reading? Cognition, 63, 171–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elbro, C. (1989). Morphological awareness in dyslexia. In Von Euler, C., Lundberg, I., & Lennerstrand, G. (Eds.), Brain and reading: Structural and functional anomalies in developmental dyslexia with special reference to interactions, memory functions, linguistic processes and visual analysis in reading (pp. 189–209). London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Elbro, C., & Arnbak, E. (1996). The role of morpheme recognition and morphological awareness in dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 46, 209–240. doi:10.1007/BF02648177Google Scholar
Feldman, L. B., O'Connor, P. A., & del Prado Martín, F. M. (2009). Early morphological processing is morphosemantic and not simply morpho-orthographic: A violation of form-then-meaning accounts of word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 684–691.Google Scholar
Forster, K. I., & Veres, C. (1998). The prime lexicality effect: Form-priming as a function of prime awareness, lexical status, and discrimination difficulty. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24, 498.Google Scholar
Fowler, A. E., Liberman, I. Y., & Feldman, L. (1995). The role of phonology and orthography in morphological awareness. Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 157–188). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Grainger, J., & Ziegler, J. (2011). A dual-route approach to orthographic processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 54.Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Landerl, K., & Reitsma, P. (2005). Phonological and morphological consistency in the acquisition of vowel duration spelling in Dutch and German. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92, 322–344.Google Scholar
Law, J. M., & Ghesquière, P. (2017). Early development and predictors of morphological awareness: Disentangling the impact of decoding skills and phonological awareness. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 67, 47–59.Google Scholar
Law, J. M., Ghesquière, P., & Wouters, J. (in press). Phonological awareness's influences and outcomes: A study of MA, PA and auditory processing in pre-readers with a family risk of dyslexia. Developmental Science.Google Scholar
Law, J. M., Wouters, J., & Ghesquière, P. (2015). Morphological awareness and its role in compensation in adults with dyslexia. Dyslexia, 21, 254–272.Google Scholar
Lázaro, M., Camacho, L., & Burani, C. (2013). Morphological processing in reading disabled and skilled Spanish children. Dyslexia, 19, 178–188.Google Scholar
Leikin, M., & Zur Hagit, E. (2006). Morphological processing in adult dyslexia. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 35, 471–490.Google Scholar
Levesque, K. C., Kieffer, M. J., & Deacon, S. H. (2017). Morphological awareness and reading comprehension: Examining mediating factors. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 160, 1–20.Google Scholar
Levin, I., Ravid, D., & Rapaport, S. (2001). Morphology and spelling among Hebrew-speaking children: From kindergarten to first grade. Journal of Child language, 28, 741–772.Google Scholar
Mahony, D., Singson, M., & Mann, V. (2000). Reading ability and sensitivity to morphological relations. Reading and Writing, 12, 191–218.Google Scholar
Mahony, D. L. (1994). Using sensitivity to word structure to explain variance in high school and college level reading ability. Reading and Writing, 6, 19–44.Google Scholar
Marslen-Wilson, W. D., Bozic, M., & Randall, B. (2008). Early decomposition in visual word recognition: Dissociating morphology, form, and meaning. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 394–421.Google Scholar
Martin, J., Frauenfelder, U. H., & Colé, P. (2014). Morphological awareness in dyslexic university students. Applied Psycholinguistics, 35, 1213–1233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagy, W., Berninger, V. W., & Abbott, R. D. (2006). Contributions of morphology beyond phonology to literacy outcomes of upper elementary and middle-school students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 134–147. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.134Google Scholar
Nagy, W. E., & Anderson, R. C. (1984). How many words are there in printed school English? Reading Research Quarterly, 19, 304–330.Google Scholar
Peirce, J. W. (2008). Generating stimuli for neuroscience using PsychoPy. Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, 2, 10.Google Scholar
Pennington, B. F. (2006). From single to multiple deficit models of developmental disorders. Cognition, 101, 385–413.Google Scholar
Quémart, P., & Casalis, S. (2015). Visual processing of derivational morphology in children with developmental dyslexia: Insights from masked priming. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36, 345–376.Google Scholar
Raaijmakers, J. G., Schrijnemakers, J. M., & Gremmen, F. (1999). How to deal with “the language-as-fixed-effect fallacy”: Common misconceptions and alternative solutions. Journal of Memory and Language, 41, 416–426.Google Scholar
Ramus, F., & Szenkovits, G. (2008). What phonological deficit? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61, 129–141.Google Scholar
Rastle, K., Davis, M. H., Marslen-Wilson, W. D., & Tyler, L. K. (2000). Morphological and semantic effects in visual word recognition: A time-course study. Language and Cognitive Processes, 15, 507–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rastle, K., Davis, M. H., & New, B. (2004). The broth in my brother's brothel: Morpho-orthographic segmentation in visual word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11, 1090–1098.Google Scholar
Raven, J. C., & Court, J. H. (1998). Raven's progressive matrices and vocabulary scales. Oxford: Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Rispens, J. E., McBride-Chang, C., & Reitsma, P. (2008). Morphological awareness and early and advanced word recognition and spelling in Dutch. Reading and Writing, 21, 587–607.Google Scholar
Robertson, E., Joanisse, M. F., Desroches, A. S., & Terry, A. (2013). Past-tense morphology and phonological deficits in children with dyslexia and children with language impairment. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 46, 230–240.Google Scholar
Roman, A., Kirby, J., Parrila, R., Wade-Woolley, L., & Deacon, S. (2009). Toward a comprehensive view of the skills involved in word reading in Grades 4, 6, and 8. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102, 96–113.Google Scholar
Shankweiler, D., Crain, S., Katz, L., Fowler, A., Liberman, A., Brady, S., . . . Fletcher, J. (1995). Cognitive profiles of reading-disabled children: Comparison of language skills in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Psychological Science, 6, 149–156.Google Scholar
Snowling, M. J. (2000). Dyslexia. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Snowling, M. J. (2008). Specific disorders and broader phenotypes: The case of dyslexia. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61, 142–156.Google Scholar
Tong, X., Deacon, S. H., Kirby, J. R., Cain, K., & Parrila, R. (2011). Morphological awareness: A key to understanding poor reading comprehension in English. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103, 523.Google Scholar
Tsesmeli, S. N., & Seymour, P. H. (2006). Derivational morphology and spelling in dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 19, 587–625.Google Scholar
Van den Bos, K., Spelberg, H., Scheepsma, A., & De Vries, J. (1994). De Klepel. Vorm A en B. Een test voor de leesvaardigheid van pseudowoorden. Verantwoording, handleiding, diagnostiek en behandeling. Amsterdam: Berkhout Nijmegen.Google Scholar
Vellutino, F. R., & Fletcher, J. M. (2005). Developmental dyslexia. In Snowling, M. J. & Hulme, C. (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 362–378). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Vellutino, F. R., Fletcher, J. M., Snowling, M. J., & Scanlon, D. M. (2004). Specific reading disability (dyslexia): What have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 2–40.Google Scholar
Wilson-Fowler, E. B. (2011). Influence of morphological awareness on college students’ literacy skills: A path analytic approach (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/etd/897/Google Scholar