Separability of Lexical and Morphological Knowledge: Evidence from Language Minority Children

Abstract

Lexical and morphological knowledge of school-aged children are correlated with each other, and are often difficult to distinguish. One reason for this might be that many tasks currently used to assess morphological knowledge require children to inflect or derive real words in the language, thus recruiting their vocabulary knowledge. The current study investigated the possible separability of lexical and morphological knowledge using two complementary approaches. First, we examined the correlations between vocabulary and four morphological tasks tapping different aspects of morphological processing and awareness, and using either real-word or pseudo-word stimuli. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that different morphological tasks recruit lexical knowledge to various degrees. Second, we compared the Hebrew vocabulary and morphological knowledge of 5th grade language minority speaking children to that of their native speaking peers. This comparison allows us to ask whether reduced exposure to the societal language might differentially influence vocabulary and morphological knowledge. The results demonstrate that indeed different morphological tasks rely on lexical knowledge to varying degrees. In addition, language minority students had significantly lower performance in vocabulary and in morphological tasks that recruited vocabulary knowledge to a greater extent. In contrast, both groups performed similarly in abstract morphological tasks with a lower vocabulary load. These results demonstrate that lexical and morphological knowledge may rely on partially separable learning mechanisms, and highlight the importance of distinguishing between these two linguistic components.

Cognitive and Linguistic Skills Associated With Cross-Linguistic Transfer in the Production of Oral Narratives in English as a Foreign Language by Arabic- and Hebrew-Speaking Children: Finding Common Denominators

“…Moreover, based on their HMA performance, specifically on the HMA pseudo word task, we can infer that they have better understanding of morphological procedures, above and beyond specific lexical representation at the word level. This finding is a direct conformation of the proposal presented by Shahar Yames et al ( 2018 ), that suggested a separation of lexical and morphological knowledge among learners of additional language, who show much better performance on morphological tasks that are not dependent on extensive lexical knowledge, as measured in their case by pseudo word tasks. As further evidence of strong morphological awareness skills, the Arabic speakers performed within average range on EMA task (see footnote 3).…”

“…The fact that HMA pseudo can be the influential variable in EFL Total Narrative score is supported by numerous studies, that suggest strong relationship between MA and RC and MA and oral language development (Tomasello, 2005 ; Verhoeven, 2017 ). The choice of HMA pseudo as possible variable that may enhance the strength of the relationship between EFL skills and EFL narratives was dictated by the strong metalinguistic component of this particular task: manipulation of pseudo words implies strong knowledge of the underlying mechanism in creating appropriate morphosyntactic elements (Shahar Yames et al, 2018 ). Therefore, based on the assumption of the confounding hypothesis regarding the effect of a third variable in enhancing the relationship between the predictor and outcome variable, we wanted to see if HMA pseudo would have an effect on both, the ERC and Total narrative score.…”

“…However, there is no consensus regarding which particular factors, e.g., lexical, morphosyntactic, or general cognitive skills, may play mediating roles among learners of foreign languages in general, and among learners of EFL specifically, in their attempts to produce cohesive oral narratives in English. Despite the proposed interaction between lexical and morphological knowledge, there is also evidence that lexical and morphological knowledge may separate among second language learners, depending on the morphological tasks' reliance on general vocabulary (Shahar Yames et al, 2018 ).…”

Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning

“…In the current exploratory investigation, we included only a single measure of morphological awareness, tapping only one aspect of this meta-linguistic ability. Thus, this issue is ripe for a fuller investigation in future studies, which could include a wider array of morphological awareness and processing measures (e.g., Apel et al, 2013; Shahar-Yames et al, 2018). Along similar lines, because we only examined phonological and morphological awareness, we cannot determine at this stage whether phonological awareness in itself is an ability which influenced the consolidation, or alternatively, whether higher metalinguistic abilities of different kinds may also support efficient consolidation.…”

Adolescent word reading in English as a foreign language

“…Finally, morphological knowledge was not found to predict single word reading in the current study, although there is evidence that supports its recruitment in readers of English as an L2 (Casalis, Comissaire & Duncan, 2015;Diependaele, Duñabeitia, Morris & Keuleers, 2011, though see Silva & Clahsen, 2008, for conflicting results). In addition, morphological awareness and knowledge have also been linked to successful vocabulary acquisition in first (Sparks & Deacon, 2015) and second language (Shahar-Yames, Eviatar & Prior, 2018). Therefore, it might also be advisable to increase attention to morphological patterns, and specifically as they relate to accurate reading, within the EFL curriculum.…”